Rent The Roaring Twenties (1939)
4.0 of 5 from 109 ratings
1h 42min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
The speakeasy era never roared louder than in this gangland chronicle that packs a wallop under action master Raoul Walsh's direction. Against a backdrop of newsreel-like montages and narration, it follows the life of jobless war vetran Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) who turns bootlegger, dealing in 'bottles instead of battles'. Battles await eddie within and without his growing empire. Outside are territorial feuds and gangland bloodlettings. Inside is the treachery of double-dealing associate (Humphrey Bogart). It would be 10 years before Cagney played another gangster (in White Heat), a time in which gangster movies themselves became rare. 'He used to be a big shot'. Panama Smith (Gladys Goerge) says at the finale, marking Bartlett's demise...and signalling the end of Hollywood's focus on the gangster era. - Actors:
- James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh, Paul Kelly, Elisabeth Risdon, Edward Keane, Joe Sawyer, Joseph Crehan, George Meeker, John Hamilton, Robert Elliott, Eddy Chandler, Abner Biberman, Vera Lewis, Eddie Acuff, Ernie Alexander, Murray Alper
- Directors:
- Raoul Walsh
- Producers:
- Mark Hellinger
- Narrated By:
- John Deering, Westbrook Van Voorhis
- Writers:
- Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen, Mark Hellinger, Earl Baldwin, Frank Donoghue, John Wexley
- Aka:
- The World Moves On
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- Films & TV by topic, Memory Lane: Films Set in 1920s, Top 10 Films By Year, Top 10 Films of 1939
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/03/2024
- Run Time:
- 106 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio commentary with film historian Lincoln Hurst
- New interview with critic Gary Giddins
- Excerpt from a 1973 interview with director Raoul Walsh
- Trailer
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/03/2024
- Run Time:
- 106 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
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Reviews (1) of The Roaring Twenties
Gangster Nostalgia. - The Roaring Twenties review by Steve
The last of the '30s Warner Brothers gangster films looks back on prohibition and organised crime with nostalgia. There's a declamatory newsreel style narration which takes us from the armistice to the repeal of prohibition. James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart play doughboys who turn to bootlegging to get rich during the depression. Priscilla Lane sings hits from the period.
Because this era is being filed away into history rather than the present threat it was in the early thirties, Raoul Walsh is allowed to be relatively frank about how the gangs made their money and spent it. We see the speakeasies, the fashions, the machine guns and sedans. Real people from the period are featured, and infamous news stories are re-enacted.
Walsh keeps the story moving and the stars are excellent. Cagney and Bogart repeat their good gangster/bad gangster dynamic from Angels With Dirty Faces. It feels like Bogart has now arrived as an actor and is just waiting for a better role than Warners' were willing to give. But he still dies a quivering coward at the end of Cagney's shooter.
The usual bases of Warners' social realist mob pictures are covered. There is a progressive ethic. The film condemns prohibition and supports Roosevelt's new deal. Though it's a tough, terse, entertaining film, the action feels like pastiche and the nostalgia is sentimental. WWII ended the first classic era of the gangster film, and it's great to see Cagney still at his peak as the genre that he dominated fades to black.
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