Lady Killer (1933)

Director:

Roy Del Ruth

Writers:

Rosalind Keating Shaffer (story)
Ben Markson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 December 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Is Hollywood howling ! at this inside story of The Screen Idol Who Threw -?- -?- -?- Out Of His -?- -?- -?- On Her -?- !

Plot:

When a movie theater usher is fired, he takes up with criminals and finds himself quite adept at various illegal activities...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Blackmail | Usher | Rehabilitation | Jail

Cast

James Cagney	...	Dan Quigley
Mae Clarke	...	Myra Gale
Margaret Lindsay	...	Lois Underwood
Leslie Fenton	...	Duke
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Spade Maddock (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Russell Hopton	...	Smiley
Raymond Hatton	...	Pete
Henry O'Neill	...	Ramick
Robert Elliott	...	Detective Joe Brannigan
Marjorie Gateson	...	Mrs. Marley
Willard Robertson	...	Detective Conroy
William B. Davidson	...	Director Williams (as William Davidson)
Douglas Cosgrove	...	Detective Jones

Also Known As:

Finger Man (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

76 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Yiddish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1934) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (1940)

Filming Locations:

Cocoanut Grove Nightclub, Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

When Myra (Mae Clarke) is reading from the California travel brochure, she gets a worried look on her face when she reads "Grapefruit." This is a reference to The Public Enemy (1931) (which also stars James Cagney and Clarke) where Cagney's character pushes a grapefruit into the face of hers.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Cagney's character asks film reviewer "Mr. Blair" into the men's room at The Cocoanut Grove to "discuss" his latest review, all of the stall doors are closed. After Cagney forces him to eat his review, the third stall door is open (no one enters or exits the room during this scene).

Quotes:

Spade Maddock: [discussing diamond-studded Mrs. Marley at the gang's speakeasy] C'mere - take a gander at her.
Dan Quigley: [eyeing her through a peephole] Did you say "gander?" I wonder how she'd go for a goose.

Movie Connections:

References Dark Hazard (1934)

Soundtrack:

Dancing with Tears in My Eyes

Vintage Cagney as hoodlum who goes Hollywood...

Very dated JAMES CAGNEY flick has him fighting to keep control over two leading ladies: good gal MARGARET LINDSAY who's a Hollywood actress, and bad girl MAE CLARKE who's the moll in a gangster's gang. On the lam after a robbery turns into murder, Cagney winds up in Hollywood as a bit player who soon graduates to stardom. His old gang from New York wants to blackmail him so they turn up and the heat is on.

It's the kind of story tailor-made for an actor like Cagney who takes to his street tough role like a duck to water. He gives pretty rough treatment to Mae Clarke again, this time not slapping her in the face with a grapefruit but pulling her across the room by her hair and then tossing her out in the hall and throwing her suitcase after her.

It's all on the implausible side and ends with a feverish car chase with the police tipped off that the gangsters are trying to kill him. Good triumphs over evil and Cagney is cleared of all charges in time for a standard happy ending.

Fairly entertaining, brisk little caper but nothing special. Only Cagney's ardent fans will want to catch this one.