dougdoepke Plot-- A youthful gangster consolidates warring mobs in his city, turning them into a single money-making gang. Successful now, he retires with his wife (Mathews) to a golf course in Florida. But can he stay retired when rivalries again break out.Love those head-hugging cloche hats the women wear. Nothing says 20's flappers quite like that fashion. The movie may be an antique, but for a gangster film what it crucially lacks is needed grit. I'm guessing the boyishly handsome Ayers was cast as head gangster because he's supposed to be somewhat sympathetic in a way that the formidable Cagney, for example, wouldn't. Trouble is Ayers is too soft looking to be credible on the ruthless gangster side. Instead, he found his niche as the wholesome Dr. Kildare in that popular movie series.(Can't help noticing Ayers looks facially like his contemporary John Wayne then making oaters for Lone Star. See if you agree.).Except for Cagney, the supporting cast remains obscure, maybe even for that time. Mathews, the feminine lead, hasn't much to do except cuddle covertly with Cagney. In fact, women scarcely appear at all. As a whole the movie's none too convincing, unlike Public Enemy, a year later. However, the script is pre-Code so the line between cops and robbers is none too clear, while Mathews' infidelity goes unpunished. On the other hand, the pacing lacks needed snap in the slower manner of the 20's. Anyway, it's not hard to see why this gangster epic is not grouped with the classics of the day. But it does have its moments, like that deadly underside of a big truck.

kidboots In 1930 Lew Ayres was Hollywood's golden boy having scored a huge success in "All Quiet on the Western Front" for Universal, then Warners borrowed him for the baby faced gangster in "The Doorway to Hell". He plays Louie Ricarno, an Underworld king pin who proceeds to re-organise the rackets - not to everyone's satisfaction. While "Little Caesar" dealt with the rise of a mobster within an organised crime ring and "The Public Enemy" was about a pair of thugs making their way up in the criminal world, "The Doorway to Hell" tried to deal with the complexities of a gangster, even as the film starts, already called "King of the Underworld", who wants out but is not allowed to break away.The whole point of the film was (to me) someone struggling with their inner demons that were triumphing over his basic goodness. The role needed a clean cut actor who was believable, especially when he left the rackets to try and live a normal life and Lew Ayres was perfect, however he didn't have much of a presence in the scenes where he was doing some tough talking to his mob. It didn't help that his off-sider, Mileaway, was played by James Cagney - only his second film but he was already acting like a veteran. Even when he was almost out of the scene, a shrug of the shoulders, raised eyebrows, that "crazy" grin meant that audiences were watching him instead of Ayres - fortunately audiences were going to see a lot more of him in years to come.There is always a woman - this time, Doris (Dorothy Matthews), a moll, who thrives on the excitement of crime. Ricarno marries her and for her sake and for his little brother, Jackie (Leon Janney) who is away at military school, doesn't know what his big brother does and of course idolizes him - decides to give the mob away and try to write his memoirs. Doris is bored and misses Mileaway (with whom she is having a hot and heavy affair). In the meantime, without Louie's organization there is a lot of gangland violence and when two thugs, Gimpy and the Midget try to kidnap Jackie, their plan is stymied and as Jackie runs away from them he is run over and killed by a passing truck. This paves the way for Louie's return but strangely the film slows down after this. With many of the gangsters dead the police become more involved and the last 20 minutes really drag with Mileaway's confession (he only signs because he doesn't want Louie to find out about him and Doris, Louie, of course, believes he is a real pal). Louie battles with his inner demons - he may outwardly appear "preppie" but he idolizes Napoleon and feels War is the answer to the World's problems (obviously, in view of his real life beliefs, he didn't sound very convincing) - what a complete turnaround from his last role as the disillusioned soldier. He also has some scenes with honest cop, Captain O'Grady (Robert Elliot) who seems to be Louie's conscience.The film's pace could have been tighter and consequently the film doesn't have the same impact as "Little Caesar" or "The Public Enemy". It was interesting to see the violin cases come out and to know that it originated in this movie - now it is such a cliché. Noel Madison, who played Rocco, the only gangster, who didn't fall for Louie's tough talk, also made his debut, along with Cagney in "Sinner's Holiday" and was forever typecast as gangsters and thugs - a bit different to his stage career where he specialized in society types.Highly Recommended.

whpratt1 This is truly a great film and was very well produced considering it was in the early 30's. Lew Ayres(Louie Ricarno),"Calling Dr. Kildare",'38, was a crook trying to go straight and start a new life for himself and did everything to protect James Cagney,(Steve Mileaway),"The Public Enemy",'31, who was a fellow side kick in the rackets and was also fooling around with his wife. Louie's wife decided that by taking off her wedding ring it made it legal for her to fool around, which must have shocked the audiences of the 1930's. All these actors were just starting their careers in this film and gangster films were very popular. If you look close, you will also see Dwight Frye (Monk, a gangster),"Frankenstein",'31 and Ward Bond(a policeman that was uncredited in this picture) Ward Bond appeared in many of John Wayne Western Films. The producer of this film wanted the public to realize that "CRIME DOES NOT PAY".

MStillrage To see this movie on the Big Screen(like my Father,his uncles, and my Grandfathers did)would have been a treat. Well,not in my Dad's instance,because when my Dad saw the film on the Screen, it was shortly after Bogart's death and Cagney was already a long since established star.But still a treat nonetheless. Anyway for the Old oldtimers,they had to have the attitude:"This Cagney guy is gonna be around. Can't wait to see him again." Cagney always made his surroundings crackle with anticipation and uncertainty. You never really knew what was gonna happen. Doorway to Hell took risks. Real life gangsters dared Hollywood to make this movie because it hit close to home, for them. It's an interesting film to watch because of the miscasting. A thing William Wellman took note of during the filming of "Public Enemy", and had Cagney and the Lew Ayres clone "switch roles"...because "this Cagney guy has that gutter quality that this story needs to become effective". A must see movie.Especially for the buffs.