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IMDbPro

The Roaring Twenties

  • 19391939
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
14K
YOUR RATING
Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Trailer for this film about an era
Play trailer3:29
1 Video
41 Photos
CrimeDramaFilm-Noir
Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
14K
YOUR RATING
    • Raoul Walsh
  • Writers
    • Jerry Wald(screen play)
    • Richard Macaulay(screen play)
    • Robert Rossen(screen play)
  • Stars
    • James Cagney
    • Humphrey Bogart
    • Priscilla Lane
    • Raoul Walsh
  • Writers
    • Jerry Wald(screen play)
    • Richard Macaulay(screen play)
    • Robert Rossen(screen play)
  • Stars
    • James Cagney
    • Humphrey Bogart
    • Priscilla Lane
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 109User reviews
    • 53Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    The Roaring Twenties
    Trailer 3:29
    Watch The Roaring Twenties

    Photos41

    James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in "The Roaring Twenties," 1939 Warner Bros.
    James Cagney "The Roaring Twenties"
    James Cagney and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    James Cagney and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    James Cagney and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    James Cagney and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    James Cagney, Murray Alper, Frank McHugh, and Dick Wessel in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
    James Cagney and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)

    Top cast

    Edit
    James Cagney
    James Cagney
    • Eddie Bartlett
    Humphrey Bogart
    Humphrey Bogart
    • George Hally
    Priscilla Lane
    Priscilla Lane
    • Jean Sherman
    Gladys George
    Gladys George
    • Panama Smith
    Jeffrey Lynn
    Jeffrey Lynn
    • Lloyd Hart
    Frank McHugh
    Frank McHugh
    • Danny Green
    Paul Kelly
    Paul Kelly
    • Nick Brown
    Elisabeth Risdon
    Elisabeth Risdon
    • Mrs. Sherman
    • (as Elizabeth Risdon)
    Edward Keane
    Edward Keane
    • Henderson
    • (as Ed Keane)
    Joe Sawyer
    Joe Sawyer
    • The Sergeant - Pete Jones
    Joseph Crehan
    Joseph Crehan
    • Michaels
    George Meeker
    George Meeker
    • Masters
    John Hamilton
    John Hamilton
    • Judge
    Robert Elliott
    Robert Elliott
    • First Detective
    Eddy Chandler
    Eddy Chandler
    • Second Detective
    • (as Eddie Chandler)
    Abner Biberman
    Abner Biberman
    • Henchman - Lefty
    Vera Lewis
    Vera Lewis
    • Mrs. Gray
    John Deering
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
      • Raoul Walsh
    • Writers
      • Jerry Wald(screen play)
      • Richard Macaulay(screen play)
      • Robert Rossen(screen play)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This marked the end of James Cagney's cycle of gangster films for Warner Bros. Cagney wanted to diversify his roles: he would not play a gangster again until White Heat (1949), ten years later.
    • Goofs
      The film is full of classic songs from the 1920s, but the arrangements and vocal styles are those of 1939. No attempt is made to reproduce the actual sound of 1920s dance music.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Panama Smith: He's dead.

      Cop: Well, who is this guy?

      Panama Smith: This is Eddie Bartlett.

      Cop: Well, how're you hooked up with him?

      Panama Smith: I could never figure it out.

      Cop: What was his business?

      Panama Smith: He used to be a big shot.

    • Connections
      Edited from The Public Enemy (1931)
    • Soundtracks
      I'm Just Wild About Harry
      (1921) (uncredited)

      Music by Eubie Blake

      Lyrics by Noble Sissle

      Played during the opening and closing credits

      Also played during the 1922 montage

      Sung by Priscilla Lane at the club

    User reviews109

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Newspaper memory
    Sometimes I come to a film because it looks like it can directly fulfill, sometimes because it can provide precious background to other things that matter, letting them stand.

    It's watchable in itself, this one; a misfit's rise and fall played against the passing of times. Released on the cusp of WWII, it opened a portal back to more careless times, taking us on a journey from WWI trenches through the highs of Prohibition to the lows of Depression, so we could have this clear moral stance: in the new world there's no room for scoundrels. Right.

    Interesting here is that only a year or two before Citizen Kane we have a similar saga about the passing of the times, but one that asks no fundamental question of us, casts no doubt on its testimony. It's as lurid and constructed as newspaper headlines of the time, a main contrast in Welles' film about its world-creating newspaperman. It's machinegun history written in the staccato sounds of a newspaperman's typewriter.

    What I really wanted to see though was Cagney.

    I am in the middle of a film noir quest looking for its machinery, and as an aside I was brought to explore its roots in 1930's crime stuff. Cagney is a force in this niche. He had so much energy that he could turn into presence. He is not just amused, he doesn't coast on pushing things back like Bogart; he throws himself on the encounter, bitterly cutting himself on the edges.

    Not so here. He was asked to play a basically decent guy led astray by the prospect of easy money, meaning to reflect the broader American endeavor that ended on Black Tuesday. Usually in a Cagney film he lets loose in the end. They asked of him here the precise opposite; he sleepwalks, numbed by failure, a human ruin clawing at redemption. He looks like he gives it his all, but it's just not who he is. It's as if you asked Welles to strut like Wayne.

    If you want to see Cagney in top form, look him up in Footlight Parade fully in command of a show, White Heat to see him face real demons.
    helpful•8
    1
    • chaos-rampant
    • Sep 11, 2013

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 28, 1939 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Stage 19, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 46 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Mono

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