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IMDbPro

The Mayor of Hell

  • 19331933
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
James Cagney in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:30
1 Video
41 Photos
  • Crime
  • Drama
  • Romance
Five members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangste... Read allFive members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed deputy commissioner as a political favor, arrives - complete with hip flask an... Read allFive members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed deputy commissioner as a political favor, arrives - complete with hip flask and blonde. Gargan falls for activist nurse Dorothy and, inspired by her, takes over the adm... Read all
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
  • Directors
    • Archie Mayo
    • Michael Curtiz(uncredited)
  • Writers
    • Edward Chodorov(screen play)
    • Islin Auster(based on a story by)
  • Stars
    • James Cagney
    • Madge Evans
    • Arthur Byron
Top credits
  • Directors
    • Archie Mayo
    • Michael Curtiz(uncredited)
  • Writers
    • Edward Chodorov(screen play)
    • Islin Auster(based on a story by)
  • Stars
    • James Cagney
    • Madge Evans
    • Arthur Byron
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 35User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    The Mayor of Hell
    Trailer 2:30
    The Mayor of Hell

    Photos41

    James Cagney in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney and Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney and Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney and Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney and Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney and Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney, Beaudine Anderson, Raymond Borzage, Charles E. Cane, Frankie Darro, Madge Evans, Allen 'Farina' Hoskins, Sidney Miller, George Offerman Jr., Andy Shuford, and Charlie Schneider in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney in The Mayor of Hell (1933)
    James Cagney and Madge Evans in The Mayor of Hell (1933)

    Top cast

    Edit
    James Cagney
    James Cagney
    • Patsyas Patsy
    Madge Evans
    Madge Evans
    • Dorothyas Dorothy
    Arthur Byron
    Arthur Byron
    • Judge Gilbertas Judge Gilbert
    Allen Jenkins
    Allen Jenkins
    • Mikeas Mike
    Dudley Digges
    Dudley Digges
    • Thompsonas Thompson
    Frankie Darro
    Frankie Darro
    • Jimmyas Jimmy
    Sheila Terry
    Sheila Terry
    • Blonde with Mikeas Blonde with Mike
    Robert Barrat
    Robert Barrat
    • Fred Smithas Fred Smith
    Allen 'Farina' Hoskins
    Allen 'Farina' Hoskins
    • Smokeas Smoke
    • (as Farina)
    Harold Huber
    Harold Huber
    • Joeas Joe
    Dorothy Peterson
    Dorothy Peterson
    • Mrs. Smithas Mrs. Smith
    G. Pat Collins
    G. Pat Collins
    • Brandonas Brandon
    • (as George Pat Collins)
    Edwin Maxwell
    Edwin Maxwell
    • Louis Johnsonas Louis Johnson
    John Marston
    • Hopkinsas Hopkins
    William V. Mong
    William V. Mong
    • Mr. Walteras Mr. Walter
    Mickey Bennett
    Mickey Bennett
    • Butchas Butch
    Sidney Miller
    Sidney Miller
    • Izzyas Izzy
    Hobart Cavanaugh
    Hobart Cavanaugh
    • Mr. Gormanas Mr. Gorman
    • Directors
      • Archie Mayo
      • Michael Curtiz(uncredited)
    • Writers
      • Edward Chodorov(screen play)
      • Islin Auster(based on a story by)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Jimmy and his gang go into a tobacco shop, and he orders some "Navy Twist" for his "old man". Also known as Navy tobacco, Navy cut, and Navy flake, the tobacco is twisted into a roll. For smoking, a slice (called a "twist" or "curly") is cut off and used in a pipe or sometimes to make a cigarette. Eventually all twisted or pressed tobacco was called "Navy".
    • Goofs
      When Dorothy goes into her office and locks Patsy out, there is a table outside the door on which four books are resting. In the next shot, a closeup of the table top, there are only two books.
    • Quotes

      Lawyer: Tell us what you know, I said! Never mind what you think!

      Mr. Hemingway: Excuse me, boss. I ain't no lawyer. I can't talk without thinkin'.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Drillbit Taylor/The Hammer/Sleepwalking/The Grand/Under the Same Moon (2008)

    User reviews35

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    A Typical Hokey-But-Entertaining Early '30s Cagney Film
    This is a typically fast-moving entertaining movie of the early 1930s. When you have James Cagney in the lead, these "pre-Code" films are even better: just fun stuff to watch. Usually, when films are "dated," it's a negative but not so with films from 1930-1934. Yeah, with the slang and the attitudes, dress, hairstyles, etc., they are dated but that's a big part of the fun. These films have an edge to them that almost always are fun to view.

    They also have a corniness which is appealing and fascinating. You see people - like the juvenile delinquents pictured in this film and their goofy parents - that you just don't see in any period but this one (early '30s). Early on this movie, the kids go before the judge and you sit and just laugh at these crazy characters that appear in court on behalf of their kids, one after the other. Yes, we get the stereotypical emotional Italian father; the Jewish dad; the Anglo-Saxon mom and a few other moms who all, in dramatic form, plead theirs is "a good boy." Even though things are predictable in some cases, you don't mind because everyone in here is so much fun to watch.

    This also teaches you that kids were punks 75 years ago, too, stealing, robbing, mugging, lying - hey, that's the human condition. This movie debunks the theory that "people were nicer back in the old days." No, people have always been rotten or good. The degree was aided by their environment, parents, financial situation and other things. Here, we get a bunch of "Dead End" kids who wind up in Reform School.

    The ridiculous and stupidly-liberal storyline has kids acting immediately like angels once they run the show at the reform school; not punished in the slightest for causing a man to fall to his death and setting the institution on fire (the explanation: he was a meanie and deserved it. So much for real justice and reform.); and "Patsy" shooting a guy bit never having to even be questioned by police because he's the good guy! Notice the subtle anti-religious dig in which the only guy seen praying is the evil "warden." That's no coincidence, no accident. That sort of negative-association things has been going on ever since the Hays Code was canned in the late '60s and was seen, as you see hear, in the Pre-Code early '30s.

    Dudley Digges, by the way, is outstanding in his "bad guy" role of "Mr. Thomson." I especially his voice was very effective and could picture him playing one of those similarly-evil roles as an institution boss in a Charles Dickens film adaptation. Cagney played his normal role, the take-no-guff tough guy who gets the pretty girl, "Dorothy Griffith," played by Madge Blake. Frankie Darro also was effective as the leader of the boys, "Jimmy Smith." Just the looks on Darro's face alone made his character believable. Some thing he was the real star of the film, but I'll still go with Cagney. The rest of the reform school kids weren't too believable and they were really ethnic stereotypes, but they were all fun to watch.

    I thought the most interesting part of the film was the first 20 minutes when we saw how bad these kids were and witnessed the good and bad and stereotypical parents in the court after the kids were arrested. Those scenes are pure 1930s Dead End Kids stuff. They always showed the kids to be bad news at the beginning of the film, but by the time the story was over they all looked acting more like Wally and Beaver Cleaver - hardly rough "delinquents." It's very far-fetched but it works, entertainment-wise.

    Overall, a hokey but very entertaining movie, typical of Cagney films and those of the early '30s. Almost all of them rate at least eight stars for their entertainment value.
    helpful•18
    9
    • ccthemovieman-1
    • May 27, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 24, 1933 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Italian
      • Yiddish
    • Also known as
      • Reform School
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $229,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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