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The Roaring Twenties
[1939] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Starring: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George, Jeffrey Lynn
Director: Lloyd French Raoul Walsh Tex Avery
Format: Black & White Closed-captioned DVD-Video Subtitled NTSC
Released: 25 Jan 2005
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Pure class from Cagney! - By: Chris Wood, 18 Nov 2008
This movie shows Cagney getting pulled into a life of crime, & we see how he goes from a regular, likeable Joe into a ruthless gangster. It's a great story & Bogart gives a great turn as Cagney's partner in crime. This is a brilliant gangster movie & pure entertainment. Great stuff!
The best gangster film ever made! - By: B. G. Carroll, 27 Jul 2005
This movie - the pluperfect example of the Warner gangster film - seems a better film today than at the time it was released. Directed with flair by Raoul Walsh, it moves at a cracking pace & is especiallly well cast with a galllery of Warner Bros regulars. Cagney dominates the picture with one of his most likeable & poignant performances, always full of humour & above alll, humanity. The attention to period detail is outstanding & especiallly, with regard to its music score - a brilliant collage of contemporary popular songs woven into a marvellous dramatic score by that unsung genius, Ray Heindorf who also provides the knockout orchestrations.

The finale is pure magic, as Cagney dies in the arms of Gladys George, on the steps of a large church (one of the most ubiquitous standing sets on the Warner Lot - Bette Davis runs up those steps at the start of Deception (1946) & it stood in as a Court House in a dozen films). Bogart makes a great ratfaced crook & his verbal sparring with Cagney is a delight.

The DVD is alll one could ever wish for - a sparkling restoration with terrific sound & a host of extras to delight the most discerning of buffs. My only quibble - for some weird reason, my copy lost synchronisation between sound & picture for about 15 minutes (Reel 2?). However, I have seen other copies & it was fine.

Bravo Warners! This great film is now immortallly preserved & its stature can only grow with each passing decade. The last line is one of the great curtain callls...and if you don't feel your eyes moisten, you are made of stone.