Redundant and unnecessary.

Load of rubbish!!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Available on an excellent Warner DVD, this is one of Cagney's best films. It moves fast, it moves fresh and it moves daringly, challenging authority figures and authority stances all the way. The dialogue is brisk and natural, with plenty of wisecracks and lots of daring characterizations. The plot turns are likewise original and natural, and despite their fast-moving pace, are easy to follow. Only in one or two cases, does the character played by Ralph Bellamy spend too much time explaining the score for the benefit of three or four dumb- bells in the audience. Otherwise, it's speed, speed, speed with plenty of changes of scene and unexpected plot developments – all delivered at a super-brisk pace by director Lloyd Bacon, of all people! Until Picture Snatcher came my way I always regarded Bacon as a competent but totally undistinguished craftsman, True, he did direct Cain and Mabel (1936) and that is a terrific movie, but most critics (including stupid me) ascribe its success to Marion Davies – a gal who really knew what she wanted and how to get it!

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.

....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.

The entire premise of "Picture Snatcher" is pretty weak, but put Jimmy Cagney in the lead role and you have the makings of an entertaining flick. Cagney shows all the energy and grit that made him a star as early as the 1930's, and here he's top billed as a former mobster going straight as of all things, a tabloid photographer and reporter for "Graphic News", described by journalism student Sterling Holloway as a 'filthy blot on American writing'. That pretty much sums it up, as Danny Kean (Cagney) uses all the street smarts and professional contacts he can muster to get the latest scoop.Before I ever saw the picture, I wondered what the term 'picture snatcher' might mean, and I guess I was pretty close. The story makes it clear that the job had to do with getting photos of down and out people who can't fight back, and in that regard, Cagney's character is a whiz. His very first job involved stealing a wedding picture of a couple that made front page news when the bride was caught cheating by her fireman husband. Stories like that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow today, but it sure looked sensational back in the day. We've come quite a way in seventy plus years.You know, I was curious about that invitation to an execution angle that revolved around the death of an inmate at the State Prison at Ossining, New York. The letter Danny Kean steals from a fellow reporter mentioned 'Sing Sing' by name in the letterhead; I wonder if that was for real. New Yorkers like myself, especially those from Westchester County will have fun with the place names and street addresses mentioned in the story. The harder part is trying to visualize them as they might have been back in the Thirties.It was way back in 1931's "Public Enemy" that Cagney gained notoriety for that grapefruit smackeroo in the kisser against Mae Clark. If anything, he's even rougher here sending Alice White flying into a chair using her face as a launch pad, and knocking her out and flipping her into the back seat of a car when his 'real' girlfriend (Patricia Ellis) approaches. Then of course there's all the sexual innuendo and banter that's strictly pre-code; how about "Keep in step, bedroom eyes". I had to rewind that one to be sure I heard it right.All in all, the whole tenor of the story is pretty unrealistic, even if you get past the part where Danny tells his mob he's going legit. But even so, it's vintage Cagney and that's good for something. Without him, the picture wouldn't even garner enough IMDb votes to give it much more than a five rating, but put the wise cracking hoofer in the lead and that's good enough for bonus points!