I love this movie so much

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

. . . Ann Dvorak says to James Cagney after five minutes of THE CROWD ROARS. Warner Bros. feels that Ann's observation is so important that they have Cagney repeat it to his kid brother five minutes later for the benefit of theater late-comers. Was Warner cautioning ONLY contemporary audiences about "race" cars Snailing along at Today's Go-Kart pace with this line of dialog? Obviously not, since little if any effort is made toward Realism with THE CROWD ROARS' production. Depicting "Indy Cars" tooling around on a dirt half-mile horse track in blinding clouds of dust as their tires fray faster than Firestones in a desert surely was intended then (and now) to be taken as a metaphorical allegory by Warner Bros.' always prophetic Early Warning Providers. A few years following the release of THE CROWD ROARS, Warner's future Farm Team--MGM--rehashed the Racist Confederate Red Staters' perennial fascination with and hankering for Bloody Wrecks during the opening party scene of GONE WITH THE WIND. Because Southern Bigotry could not long survive without a Fellow Traveler, Warner itself dropped the other boot stomping America to death around the same time as MGM's yawner (the snooze-fest GWTW).Warner's CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY shows large subsets of the USA's Urban Population as they fall under the sway of Rich People Party Fascism. In THE CROWD ROARS, Cagney half-strangles his sister-in-law Joan Blondell and literally burns his employee "Spud" to death in front of Spud's family. The latter incident causes Cagney to complain about Air Pollution (anticipating the Real Life on-site Nazi Death Camp wive's lament a decade later), but Cagney doesn't give a thought to Spud's widow and child. This, of course, foreshadows the Deplorable Misogyny and Miserly Callousness later epitomized by America's Fascist President #45. THE CROWD ROARS' Irish-on-Irish violence takes GWTW's Racism to its ultimate extreme, as subtle clan and class distinctions cause Cagney to reject Blondell as being "beneath" his kid brother. Warner's implication is that only some sort of Incestual In-Breeding can satisfy these insular insecurities demanding a "Purer" Breed. Warner further warns us of the dangers of putting Trainwrecks on any ballot in America: The Confederate Nazis will rig the election for the Choo Choo Crash every time!

Here is a movie with a split personality; any scene with James Cagney in it is captivating: Cagney plays a generally unlikable race-car driver with his usual brand of fanatical intensity, and the wonderful tics that make Cagney Cagney: physically and psychologically manhandling the men and women around him, adjusting his tie and jacket with a formal roll of his shoulders, spitting out lines like a machine gun. Wonderful stuff! But when he is off screen, you may or may not care that much. The pace is fast, with classic Warner Brothers 1930's dialogue, but... Ann Dvorak gets tiresome with her endless weeping and paranoid, irrational devotion to a man (Cagney) who mistreats her so...and Eric Linden, as Cagney's little brother, is just plain not appealing, and his harsh New York City accent doesn't help. Joan Blondell is his girlfriend. It doesn't work, because she is a beautiful mature woman, and Linden looks to be about 14 years old.There are some interesting things to look for in this film. Frank McHugh, Cagney's best and most ubiquitous Warner's supporting actor, plays, unusually, a wise married man, rather than his normal unattached, not too bright hanger-on. He does still get to do famous high-pitched "ha...ha" laugh a couple of times.Being a pre-Code film, look for unmarried couples in the film living in sin! And as noted by other writers, the old racing films are quite fascinating, but the endless close-ups of Cagney, Linden and NcHugh pretending to drive in front of obviously fake projection screens are tiresome indeed.Cagney's work toward the end of the film, when he plays a contrite and humbled Joe Greer, is extremely appealing, probably the best scenes in the movie. There is something quietly awesome about this little man with a critical mass of energy, desperately hanging on to a last thread of self-respect and dignity. These are beautifully acted indeed. And the scene where his tightly-wound emotions finally bubble to the surface and he collapses in sobs is definitely a highlight moment, one that I can watch over and over again.Keep your eyes on Cagney, and you won't be disappointed. And in these little throwaway movies that Warner relentlessly pumped out in the 30's, does the plot even really matter? Just give me more Cagney!

Hard-drinking racecar champ James Cagney (as Joe Greer) doesn't want hero-worshiping kid brother Eric Linden (as Eddie Greer) to join in any reindeer games. But, during a visit home, Mr. Cagney learns young Linden has been following in his brother's footsteps. Linden has become a racing enthusiast, with his own hot rod. Although Cagney is worried about risks of death or injury, he admires Linden's skill behind the wheel, and consents to take him on the circuit.Linden becomes a professional success; and, despite Cagney's attempts to protect him from booze and women, Linden finds both with leggy Joan Blondell (as Anne Scott). His brother's seduction results in Cagney having a falling out with mistress Ann Dvorak (as Lee Merrick), who wants Cagney to quit the dangerous sport, and marry her.Interestingly, the script identifies the appeal of racing (and this picture) twice, as "watching for wrecks and roaring for blood." Probably, 1932 audiences were more entertained than insulted. Cagney and the cast perform spectacularly, considering the weakness of material.****** The Crowd Roars (4/16/32) Howard Hawks ~ James Cagney, Eric Linden, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak

The seven is for the racing footage; I'd have to give the film as a whole something lower; this looks like a standard "programmer" from the period. I've seen "TCR" several times, and this time decided to watch it to try to determine where the racing footage was shot and what kind of cars these are.I have to (somewhat educatedly) guess that we're looking at the old Jeffrey's Ranch Speedway in Burbank in the first racing sequence. It was pretty close to the Warner back lot, and (according to racing historian Harold Osmer) in operation from '31 to '35.The stands are covered, and there are a lot of large trees close by, as well as equestrian facilities, all three items definitely not the case at Legion Ascot or Huntington Beach. I've been told that Culver City's half mile of that period did not have any equestrian facilities, either, which deals with all the tracks in the region in '31 and '32.The cars in these shots are largely Ford-Model-A-block / any-odd-freer-breathing-head, rear-drive, backyard/filling-station bombs on Ford rails rather than anything from Harry Miller's shop in nearby Vernon, though there might be an early Miller 200, 220 or 255 (the basis of the famed Leo-Goosen-designed, "Offy" 255/270 built by Offenhauser & Brisko and, later, Meyer & Drake).This is doubtful, however, as those engines and complete (usually two- or three-year-old) Miller chassis rarely ran anywhere but Legion Ascot in the LA area at that time.The second (nighttime) sequence is at Legion Ascot, and its 20,000 seats look to be pretty full, which, even when they weren't shooting a feature film, were pretty full even in the nadir of the Great Depression. Veteran dirt track fans will note that Ascot's oiled surface runs pretty much dust-free compared to the old horse track in Burbank.The third group of action sequences shot at the Brickyard feature top-of-the-line Miller and Deusey rails, as well as several of the very best drivers of the period including Fred Frame and Billy Arnold, both Indy winners (1930 and 1932, respectively; Lou Schneider won the '31 race in the Bowes Seal Fast Special seen momentarily here). Careful listeners will hear the unmistakable snarl of the early "Offy" fours in the background.Sadly, the sound era was just getting underway as the legendary Miller 91s and the incredible board tracks they ran on were phased out in '29. Open-wheel racing in the '30s was -good-, but OW racing in the previous decade (at tracks like Beverly Hills and Culver City) was as big -- and spectacular, and fast -- then as NASCAR is now on mile ovals. The Indy scenes feature the (more nearly "stock car") two-seaters and "poor man's" engines that were mandated at the time to reduce costs and break the high-tech/high-buck, Miller stranglehold of the late '20s. There were Deusies, Fords and even Studebakers running the big tracks in those days, but Harry Miller's cars and engines continued to dominate.