SimonJack For as big a star as James Cagney was in his day, he is one of the least remembered or watched in the 21st century. That's because the type of films he made were so set in their time and not of enduring entertainment. Cagney was a very talented actor who could sing and dance as well. He made some very good movies, a few of which carry on with audiences. But for the most part, the bulk of his tough-guy criminal and convict character films are a thing of the past. That said, "Lady Killer" is something unique in that it has Cagney in that role but then transitioning to a guy who goes straight. Hollywood came calling, and his Dan Quigley soon makes his mark in films. Some of his former associates in crime catch up with him and try to use him to pull off jewel robberies of the famous of Hollywood. Douglass Dumbrille is Spade Maddock, whom Dan eventually helps bring down. Another different aspect of this Cagney character is that he didn't go for killing, which some of his cohorts didn't worry about. In many of his gangster films, he portrayed a mad or crazed tough guy who would just as soon shoot somebody as argue with them. Some others of the cast here are good as well. This film doesn't have particularly good production qualities. Unlike the films with set stages that came across quite well, when Hollywood sent to the outdoors it was iffy in these early years. The problems with staging, shooting and editing really show up here in the car chase scenes. Overall, this is a light comedy crime film in which James Cagney is a good guy – well, better than most of the rest, at least.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . in Warner Bros.' urgent 1933 warning flick LADY KILLER, in which Warner's psychic prognosticators cast Jimmy Cagney as the potential destroyer of our USA Homeland, that Deplorable White House Resident Rump. Between the 46 and 48 minute mark of LADY KILLER, Cagney unleashes a crate of two dozen Capuchin Monkeys at actress "Lois Underwood's" housewarming party (which is Warner's warning about the caliber of Rump's Basket of Deplorable Cabinet Choices that could be expected IF or when the Billionaire's Rich People Party suddenly is allowed to run characters from the Doonesbury Comic Strip--check out the 1989 run--for Our Nation's Most Hallowed Office: polls show that Mickey Mouse would have SWEPT the Undemocratically Racist Electoral College in EVERY Presidential Election held since 1932 HAD MICKEY ONLY BEEN nominated by the Repubs!). Cagney\Rump's crate of Terrorist Capuchins in LADY KILLER immediately set about destroying Lois' priceless antiques and furnishings, as well as her expensive light fixtures, while contaminating all the food she's set out for her guests (symbolizing We the People of America). Anyone exposed to REAL News these past few weeks (as opposed to Fox's Fake and Unhinged "Reports") will immediately notice that Cagney\Rump's Capuchins are eerily accurate in predicting the Havoc in store for We Patriotic True Blue Loyal Normal Union Card Americans who are NOT Corrupt Billionaires: Each member of Rump's Cabinet of Horrors is carefully selected by his Puppetmaster Vlad "Mad Dog" Putin's Red Commie KGB as the person best suited to totally DESTROY the departments which they've been appointed to ruin. Most of them are on record as being life-long cranks and charlatans viciously opposed to these vital organs of the U.S. Government. Thus the Energy Secretary--aided by Secretary of State Rex "Exxon Valdez Tillerson and Environmental Pollution Agency (EPA) chief Tom "The Mad Fracker" Pruitt (look for the latter's Doppelganger swinging from the chandelier) will ruin our domestic energy grid like the Capuchins ransacking Lois' fixtures, the Health Secretary Tom Price will contaminate our food like a chimp peeing in the punch bowl, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will teach us that she devolved from a more advanced branch of the Primate Family so recently that she spells worse than a Capuchin. YOU must watch LADY KILLER (Rump's fraternity nickname) to see the other 81 Warner Bros. warnings against this whole Rump\Scents Stink-O-Rama!

blanche-2 Roy del Ruth directed this early pre-code Cagney film, "Lady Killer" from 1933, also starring Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, and Douglas Dumbrille.Cagney plays Dan Quigley, a movie usher who, after he's fired, find a woman's (Mae Clarke) purse. He tries to catch her but can't. So he goes to her house and returns it. She's Myra Gale, and she invites him in for a drink. Turns out some men are at her place gambling, so Dan joins them and loses $50. As he's leaving, he sees another man coming up the stairs with a purse. Dan says he's related to Myra and will return it. When Myra sees him at the door, she tries to shut it but he forces his way in, goes into the back room and demands his money back. Then he offers to expand the operation so they can all make money. The guys agree.Soon the dough comes rolling in, and the gang go to a society woman's house, where Dan pretends to have had an accident. He's carried into the house and cases the joint. The ambulance (his cohorts) picks him up and takes him to the hospital. Then they rob the house. Unfortunately they do it the same day, and soon the cops are onto the gang. They all take off, and Dan is picked up in LA on a New York warrant. When he asks Myra to bring him his money so he can post bail, she splits with the money, leaving Dan to fend for himself. He's finally released due to lack of evidence.After the police threaten to arrest him as a vagrant, Dan finds a job as a film extra. He and a friend write dozens and dozens of fan letters and the studio notices, and he becomes a film star! He falls for fellow film star Lois Underwood, but runs afoul of the old gang. Now that he's making good, they hold his bad deeds over his head and want help casing Hollywood mansions.Interesting film with lots going on in something like 76 minutes. Cagney is terrific, and he and Mae share an in joke when she reads the fruits grown in California, one of which is "grapefruit." We see a bit of behind the scenes movie making. Also, "Lady Killer" has some noirish touches, though this is a decade or so before noir.Fun film with a nice mix of humor and drama carried by Cagney's strong performance, ably assisted by Clarke and Lindsay.

whpratt1 Thought I had seen all of James Cagney's films, but this film was a complete surprise to me and I enjoyed the unbelievable talents of Cagney in this film which is filled with comedy and drama. Cagney plays the role as Dan Quigley who is an usher in a movie house and gets himself fired for not abiding by the rules. Dan meets up with a bunch of con-men who try to cheat him out of fifty bucks and he discovers their racket and then decides to join them in other crooked adventures. Dan decides to go to Los Angeles, California and is soon discovered by a Hollywood producer who needs a person who looks like a crook and so Dan starts getting some bit parts in films and begins to be discovered as a great actor. Dan also meets up with Myra Gale, (Mae Clarke) who is a big film star and they get along just great until Lois Underwood, (Margaret Lindsay) is found in his bedroom by Myra and the relationship cools off rather quickly. This is a very entertaining film and Cagney is at his very best as far as I am concerned.