Film Review: Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Warner Bros. stood among the grand studios of Classic Hollywood for being specialised for gangster films. In that way, it delivered the least escapist of all Hollywood entertainment to audience, especially since its gangsters film had strong social undertones, with their content suggesting poverty, which had been increasing during Great Depression, as fertile ground for crime. This notion was very explicitly stated in Angels with Dirty Faces, 1938 film by Michael Curtiz, which is now hailed as one of the best films in the history of the gangster genre.

The plot begins in 1920 in impoverished Irish American neighbourhood when two youths – Rocky Sullivan (played by Frankie Burke) and Jerry Connoly (played by William Tracy) – attempt a robbery. They are pursued by police and, while Jerry manages to escape, Rocky gets caught and ends in reform school. Fifteen years later, now adult Rocky (played by James Cagney) is a hardened career criminal who is quite willing to spend three years in jail for another robbery. Before being sentenced, he agrees to take sole blame for the crime, while his corrupt lawyer and co-conspirator Jim Frazier (played by Humphrey Bogart) would guard Rocky’s 100,000 US$ share of the loot. After being released from jail, Rocky returns to old neighbourhood where he finds that Jerry (played by Pat O’Brien) had became a Catholic priest dedicated to bettering the lives of his parishioners. Jerry is at first happy to see an old friend, but his enthusiasm begins to wane when he realises that Rocky as a tough gangster represents extremely bad role model to the group of street youths Jerry had tried to set on the right path. In the meantime, Frazier doesn’t intend to meet his end of the bargain and instead wants to simply kill his crime partner and former client. This lead to escalation of violence that would lead to spectacularly melodramatic end for Rocky.

Director Michael Curtiz is usually not put into the first class of Classic Hollywood directors and some critics and film scholars even like to describe his best known film Casablanca as “happy accident”. However, when given an adequate resources and proper script, Curtiz was more than able to deliver a very good film, and Angels With Dirty Faces isn’t an exception. Such script was brought by John Wexley and Warren Duff, which had a simple story with clearly defined characters and plot which, despite some of melodramatic twists, looked realistic and quite understandable to audience. This provided excellent opportunity for James Cagney, who despite his misgivings about being typecast in violent gangster roles following The Public Enemy ultimately delivered one of the most iconic performances of his career. Rocky Sullivan is portrayed as street thug, but someone with intelligence, heart and his very personal code of honour; an antihero the audience could like and even partially sympathise with while at the same time being revolted with life choices that lead to well-deserved end. Cagney, who grew up in tough neighbourhood, found inspiration for his performance in Peter “Bootah” Hessling, childhood friend executed for killing a policeman.

Cagney’s brilliant work is well-matched by the rest of the cast. Cagney’s real life friend Pat O’Brien has great chemistry with Cagney while playing the role of Jerry, character that represents “normal” and “proper” perspective on the story. Father Jerry not only provides the moral anchor to the film, but also underlines how simple accident can alter people’s lives – Jerry became respected member of community instead of gangster simply for not being caught at the wrong time. Humphrey Bogart, another great icon of Classic Hollywood, delivers another strong performance in the role of corrupt villain, for which he was typecast before gaining the proper stardom in 1940s. Those three performances carry the film, which can’t be said for forgettable romantic subplot between Rocky and girl from old school played by Ann Sheridan. Casting group of young actors known as Dead End Kids, which represented 1930s equivalent of boy band, might not have looked most fortunate, but the presence of their characters, for whose souls Rocky and Jerry fight, gave foundation for the plot resolution. This resolution comes in the form of extremely powerful and emotional end scene, which is deliberately made in ambiguous way that allows different interpretations and fuels debate between critics and film scholars to this day. As such, Angels with Dirty Faces became not only one of the most memorable works of Classic Hollywood but also one of the greatest gangster films ever made.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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