Let's be realistic.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The opening twenty minutes works well, with Cagney getting fired as a movie usher and getting taken into a gang by a lost purse/gambling scheme. At this point the movie starts to make wild jumps that throw all believably out the window. For example, Cagney threatens a group of cheap gangsters with exposure and they let him into the gang. In the next scene, he is head of the gang and they own an expensive nightclub. How did that happen?A wealthy woman shows up at the nightclub and for no particular reason the gang does a robbery of her house. Why pick a nightclub patron as their target? It doesn't make any sense. One of the gang kills somebody during the robbery. Up to this point, the movie has been comical, but this makes Cagney into a real criminal who has caused the death of a maid. The movie turns dark and mildly suspenseful for about 15 minutes.The movie then goes completely off the tracks by having Cagney arrive in Hollywood and suddenly be picked to play an extra in a motion picture. The movie turns back into a comedy. Cagney is satirizing Cagney the actor, but this completely undercuts Cagney the gangster character in the first half of the movie.The first half of the movie is really a bad remake of "Blonde Crazy" (1931). That movie has Cagney as a conniving hotel bellhop, just as this movie has him as a conniving movie usher. In that movie too, Cagney is tricked by a scam into becoming part of a group of gangsters.That movie also makes some leaps, but it doesn't run out of ideas half way through as this movie does, or fall into a chaotic mess as this movie does.With the minor exception of Mae Clarke, the other actors are quite forgettable in their roles.

Arrogant movie usher James Cagney (as Dan Quigley) is fired from his job for rudeness, chewing gum, and shooting craps in the men's room. Played for a fool by scheming Mae Clarke (as Myra Gale), Mr. Cagney turns the tables on the slit-dressed woman and joins her gang. All goes well until an innocent maid gets seriously hurt during a heist, instigating a police investigation. To avoid capture, Cagney leaves New York for Los Angeles. He quickly builds an impressive career as a Hollywood "he-man" star. Cagney meets pretty and successful movie actress Margaret Lindsay (as Lois Underwood) while playing an Indian chief. All seems great, until the old gang wants in on the action...Cagney is great fun to watch, but "Lady Killer" bounces around so much we get lost. Every 20 minutes, or so, it seems like you're watching a different movie. There is no difficulty in following the changes as they occur, but there are times when you wonder if the movie that started might have ended, and another begun. Each time Clarke reenters the picture, it's time to scratch your head...Don't blink after about 20 minutes, it's when as Cagney lightly kisses Clarke's (clothed) left breast. Cagney's grabbing of Clarke by the hair and throwing her out of his room happens after about 54 minutes of running time. Cagney's character was in a violent mood, having just left a bad movie reviewer stone cold in a men's room (hopefully, he lived). We know those being punched out and dragged about weren't hurt, but two dozen monkeys are not treated nicely. The monkey segment is when Cagney celebrates Ms. Lindsay birthday by releasing the animals, to wreak havoc. In many cases, it appears as if stage hands and/or crew people are abusively throwing the monkeys into camera range.***** Lady Killer (1933-12-09) Roy Del Ruth ~ James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay. Leslie Fenton

Lady Killer (1933)I love these multi-part stories, where one set of scenes shifts to a whole new set, and then they eventually intertwine. And I also love movies that show the inside of Hollywood, with actual recreations of movie sets and movie shoots.Lady Killer has both, and James Cagney, too. It's fast, furious, funny, and shot with a bright, glinting intelligence. Not quite a gangster film, it does have crime and some crooked thugs. And not quite a comedy, it pulls out quite a few laughs, mostly because Cagney is a card. There are two fabulous first ladies (and they naturally must view for our man), Mae Clark and Margaret Lindsay, and a slew of second men who hold up their characters with caricature. In all, there is no Warner message here, except maybe the virtue can sometimes prevail. It's just a lot of great scenes, witty dialog, and a play of good guys against bad guys. Look for some stunning rain scenes in California (yeah, I know), and for a huge range of interior and exterior set ups, fairly elaborate for Warner Bros. budgets. For Cagney fans, it's a riot to see him take on, briefly, a series of roles as Indian chief, Italian lover, and prisoner on work detail. The latter, of course, is close to the real roles that made him famous, and his role here is actually a little lighter than that, a bad guy who is all wisecracks and cheerfulness. Look for some insider jokes, like the poster (and mention) of the Edward G. Robinson film, and the movie ushers wearing hats all with the Warner Brothers logo on it.Great stuff. I loved it even as I knew it wasn't quite a masterpiece. Oh, and the new (2010) Warner DVD is sparkling, a first rate print!

This was a real pre code surprise. The writers really had some fun at the expense of the gangster genre and the Hollywood studio machine. Cagney looks as if he enjoyed every minute in this film, having as much fun as he did in Footlight Parade. Highlights of this film are the scam that Mae Clark runs - dropping purses to lure men to her apartment. Cagneys bit as an Indian Chief with his Yiddish name. Cagney in bar - looking like he's about to become a lost man. My personal favorite - Cagney writing his own fan mail to get better film parts. You know this bit came from a real story in early Hollywood. Cagney tossing Mae Clark out of his apartment. That was a nice bit of stunt work on her part. The dialogue is fast, the morals loose, and the story improbable. The end is a joke, more like a Keystone Kops crossed with a gangster film. I think that might have been the point too. If it looks and smells like a send up - then it probably is. Why bother with 'reality' TV trash when there are fun films like this to discover.