blanche-2 Jimmy Cagney stars in "Picture Snatcher," a 1933 film also starring Ralph Bellamy. Cagney is a prisoner who is finally released and impresses the editor of a tabloid-type newspaper with the photo he's able to get of a murder victim. He is hired.This precode has lots of sexual innuendo, loose women, physical abuse against women - you know, all the stuff of precode.Cagney is terrific in this fast-moving film that really shows his talents. In one scene, he manages to get back into prison to witness an execution. He's sitting down, one leg crossed at a 90 degree angle over the other, and when the execution begins, he quietly pulls up his pant leg and there's a camera attached to his ankle. Very funny scene.What makes the character great is that yes, he was in prison, yes, he lies his way in to get these tabloid photos, but he has a heart, which he finally realizes and acts on.I saw someone interviewed who said he was working in a restaurant and a hobo-like man came in wearing an old trenchcoat. It was Jimmy Cagney, probably trying not to be recognized. Whoever was being interviewed said he was the sweetest man he'd ever met in his life. Look at all the low- down guys he played.He was definitely worthy of the devotion of my father when he was a boy - he went to see Midsummer Night's Dream because Cagney was in it.Entertaining.Entertaining.

LeonLouisRicci Snappy Tabloid Journalism Story with James Cagney Developing into a Photographer out to get the Goods on those who are Down and can't Fight Back. But in this Yellow Journal Yarn He is so Energetic, Lighthearted, and Light on His Feet it All seems in Good Fun. The way the Picture is Handled it is, although the Subject Matter is Very Lurid at Times.Not the Pre-Code Sexual Stuff that has Pretty Dames Baring Some Skin and Making with the Bedroom Eyes, or Cagney Slapping them around when Their Sexual Advances are Unwelcome. But the Actual Assignments. Photographing a Woman at the Moment of Her Execution for Murder (with a camera smuggled into Sing Sing), a Firemans Breakdown after He finds His Wife in Bed with Another, or the Finale that is a Rousing Shoot em' Up with Machine Guns Blasting Away with Children in the Crossfire.This is some Pretty Gruesome Goings On Amidst the Comedic Banter and the Overall Tone of the Delivery that the Film Takes On. But Overall, it Works to the Benefit of Entertainment and the Film has a Distinctive Edge and Feel that After the Code would be Gone for Decades.

kidboots ....and with James Cagney at his crazy cocky best that is very hard to do!!! Unfortunately her type of role, indeed this type of movie would become extinct the next year when the dreaded production code came into force.Like Robinson, Cagney loved to kid his "tough guy" persona. Here he plays Danny Kean, a tough crook who promises himself he does not want to go back "inside" again so decides to go straight and follow his child- hood dream of being a reporter. He is given a "letter of introduction" to the editor of the Graphic News - a dirty rag at the bottom of the newspaper heap!! The editor, JR (Ralph Bellamy) takes a shine to Danny,but unfortunately has a drinking problem. Another person who takes a shine to Danny is flirty Alison (Alice White) - she throws herself at Danny at every opportunity - and he throws himself at her as well. She is probably the recipient of more thrown punches than anyone else in this movie. The scenes between them are exactly what I think a sexy pre-coder should be. In one scene when Danny is hiding out, Alison comes home and immediately starts changing into something more comfortable. There is no false modesty about her, no discreetly closed doors and Danny's reaction says it all.Cagney's expressions throughout are priceless - at one point he goes through a whole scene (wanting to be alone with his girl) with just his facial expressions. The girl, the right girl, is Pat - Patricia Ellis was very sweet but to me she just looked awfully young (she was only 16).Back to the story, Danny is relegated to being a picture snatcher as he has no experience at reporting and finds that his pugnacious personality can get him into situations were other more wary news hounds fear to tread. His first assignment has him accosting a fireman, mad with grief that his wife (and her lover) have been killed in a house fire. Danny covers his tracks by posing as a fire assessor. His next job is trickier and if he pulls it off he and the paper will be made - he has to try and get a picture of the execution of a condemned woman. This ghoulish assignment was based on real events. In 1927 Ruth Snyder was sentenced to the electric chair for the murder of her husband (it was the inspiration for "Double Indemnity"), a photographer from the Chicago Tribune took a photo with the aid of a miniature camera strapped to his ankle and the picture made headlines around the world. Danny gets the scoop but finds that his old sparring partner Officer Nolan has been demoted. Pat is his daughter and he has put his reputation on the line by vouching for Danny. Danny redeems himself by being on the spot when "Jerry the Mug" (Ralf Harolde) is gunned down and giving all the kudos to Nolan!!!The last scene is a doozy!! Alison (who is really much better suited to Danny than insipid Pat) uses her whiles on Danny once too often, Danny puts her in a coma in the back seat, JR drives off, not knowing Alison is there, she awakes, clangs JR on the head, he drives into a pole and the last shot is of Alison screaming her head off!!! Definitely a movie not to be missed. I was surprised to see Ralph Bellamy as Cagney's side kick, as actors they were poles apart (but apparently great pals in real life) but their characters blended so well, Bellamy playing with his usual laid back understatedness.Highly Recommended.

tedg I'd like to recommend this to you for a couple reasons.I'm right now doing a survey of films that feature newsrooms. Its a simple sort of fold that wouldn't work today. Amazingly, right after seeing this, I saw the new "Superman Returns." Horrid little move, but it reminded me that Superman was invented in the 30s and that's why we have Lois as a reporter.In the 30s there were hundreds of movies set in newsrooms. Its roughly the same as a movie about the movie business, since the creation of stories and modeling of life was essentially a writer's game in that era. And the newsroom was one of the few places where women could be strong, sexy and articulate. And wow is this dripping with sex.In those days, women could be nurses, teachers, secretaries or whores. Or if they were particularly clever, they were reporters. It was a sort of shorthand, lost today. If your movie put you in a newsroom, it was a stage where stories were made. And to have a woman weave stories and in some way control the world. That was something.The story here is Cagney's typical gangster, head of a gang but imprisoned. He gets out and instead of returning to his gang, takes a job as a reporter. Actually — to make the folding good — as a photographer, hence the title. You can pretty much guess the story, knowing that he is both ruthless in invading lives and sweet on the daughter of the cop who "sent him up."Here's the really interesting part: the sexy, precode blond is a reporter in the same pool. She's the girl of Cagney's boss but hot for Cagney. He's being chased by another broad too. To both he's mean, but the encounters with them are directly sexual. Its odd. We see her as distinctly available, a silly blond. But we also know she is a crackerjack mind underneath. One scene: Cagney by subterfuge has obtained a picture of the execution of a murderess. He is chased all over town but makes it to the newsroom just under deadline. Breathlessly, he dictates the story to our sexy blond to type. He speaks in blunt gangster slang and we laugh at the notion that such a description would appear in the paper.She types furiously, then the editor reads it aloud and it is three times as long, cleverly and articulately written. Big joke. No one notices. Bigger joke.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.