Dear Bruce and MOPO,
Hi from Joe Bonelli in New Orleans.
I just finished watching PUBLIC ENEMY last night. An incredible film and
star-making turn by Cagney. The sequence in the rain torward the end of the
film just blew me away-- as did the final scene!
Actually Warners has hyped that release as part of it's Classic Gangsters
collection. I watched LITTLE CAESAR the other night. I also have devoured all
the extras on both-- except I need to re-watch ENEMY with the commentary track
on.
It's really a fascinating film history lesson to traverse these films in
chronological order of their release. (Next is THE PETRIFIED FOREST.) Though
ENEMY was released on ly a year after CAESAR, it is light years ahead
technologically. No question that progress was being made on that front daily
in that post-Jazz-Singer era.
And Cagney is indeed fabulous in ENEMY. Having seen only the famous Mae
Clark-grapefruit sequence in the past, I was bowled over by his stunning
presence. What an impression it must have made in the theatre in 1932 during
the height of the Great Depression when anyone's kid could have been turned in
the direction of the film's "hero."
It will be fun to see the rest of the Collection with new eyes and in these
eye-popping restorations. You might know that soon a Doris Day package will
see the long-awaited (by me and friends at any rate) dvd release of LOVE ME OR
LEAVE ME-- Cagney's Oscar-nominated return to that type character-- the
third-rate "mug" Marty "the Gimp," Snyder -- who pushed the career of his
girlfriend, singer Ruth Etting-- her recreation a true singing/acting highlight
of Doris Day's career.
So we'll have early and late Cagney all restored-- and within a few months. I
believe these and similar releases by Warners and Fox herald new interest in
film history. Perhaps the younger folk will eschew some special effects to see
how the Power of Personality can eclipse the CGI-Explosion in making for
fascinating entertainment.
One of the great things about the Warners Gangster Collection and most of their
other "classic" restoration-releases, is the use of original poster art on the
covers. I'd love to know more about some of these posters. Is the reason we
don't see more of them the fact that they are so desirable that few collectors
will part with them or so "dear" in price that they just don't show up on the
market? Or could the usual WWII paper needs be the culprit.
And what about the posters themselves? I'd love to see what many of our
resident experts think of the original advertising for these films and to see
as well some more examples.
Glad to see you back on the list and to set up such a great topic for
discussion.
Thanks,
Joe Bonelli
>
> From: Bruce Carteron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: 2005/03/10 Thu AM 01:03:13 EST
> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
> Subject: [MOPO] Cagney Classics
>
> Hello - this is Bruce Carteron, back on Mopo again after many years gone.
> Hello to everyone I know on here - you know who you are. Anyone here fans of
> James Cagney's "PUBLIC ENEMY"? Did you know the new DVD release restores lost
> footage that hadn't been seen since 1931? It was way cool to see that! Maybe
> Warners' - since getting their film library back will have more good things
> to come. They didn't hype this at all. They did show out takes of "WHITE
> HEAT" (another classic Cagney) on that release. Anyway - good to be back.
> Hope someone wants to discuss this
> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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> cool Cagney stuff. - Bruce
>
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