TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

LeonLouisRicci The most Glaring Creakiness of this Prototypical Gangster Movie from (of course) Warner Brothers, is the Slow-of-Pace Dialog and Mannerisms usually Associated with Early Talkies.The Pulp Banter, full of Street Slang and "Dick Measuring", is doled out in what seems like Slow Motion Today, but it's not without Underworld Charm. After a Gang Member pulls out a .45 Automatic, Lew Ayres, making His move to Lead the Mob, pulls up the window shades to reveal two WWI Mounted Machine Guns..."Put that away it's too small."...He says.Ayers, barely 21, has been accused of being too Young for the Part, but if You watch closely He's got the Posture and the Scowl, and it works. James Cagney, gets a lot of Ink nowadays because of His now Famous Filmography. He plays Ayers "Right Hand Man" and is never without Presence when On Screen.It's an Interesting Movie for many reasons, and is Worth a Watch for its Place in Film History. There are Subtleties and Flourishes of the Gangster Genre in its Infancy, and it is Pre-Code allowing for some more than usual "Questionable" Activity from the Coppers and others. A Must See for Fans of Gangster, Cagney, and Pre-Code Movies.Note...Also watch to find out that, perhaps, Professor Moriarty wasn't the only "Napoleon of Crime".

Consul_Incitatus This was better than I had expected. Maybe not quite up there with Public Enemy and the original Scarface, but not that far behind.The acting is pretty good for an early talkie. Cagney is great as usual as the head gangster's top henchman. Lew Ayres acts well as the head guy, "the Napoleon of crime", although he's perhaps a little too cleancut looking for the role.The story is good, and rather dark. Mobster Louie Ricarno, after uniting all the gangs in Chicago under one organization, tries to quit crime. But things fall apart in his absence, and he's forced to return for purposes of revenge. The ending is nicely grim and while there might be enough of a "crime doesn't pay" moral to keep the censors happy it doesn't rub it in your face. There's some good gangster violence along the way.- a number of well-done hits, and an over- the-top scene that resembles a full-scale battle.Two other things struck me as memorable: The adulterous relationship between Cagney and his boss' wife. At one point, she takes off her wedding ring, and then they "go somewhere".The police captain, O'Grady, is a rather ruthless character. He blackmails Cagney into a false confession for a crime he didn't commit, by threatening to tell Ayres about his affair with Ayres's wife! Later, he lets Ayres's rivals bump him off, rather than prosecute him and risk an acquittal. It also is implied that O'Grady's rejection of bribes is more the exception than the rule among police officials.It pays to watch this movie closely, as there is a lot that is implied and innuendoed.

bkoganbing The Doorway to Hell is yet another step up the ladder for James Cagney as the Brothers Warner discover that the guy they signed for a one shot deal to repeat his stage role from Penny Arcade was in fact future star material. He was certainly unlike some of the classical emoting stars from the silent period, unlike anything that ever had been on screen before.Lew Ayres is the lead in this film, Cagney's his chief henchman. Ayres is an ambitious guy who's determined to bring a little organization to the bootleg booze business in his city. And then as soon as he gets it going, he quits. He wants to spend time on the golf course and with his new wife. The wife, Dorothy Matthews, is bored with early retirement mainly because she's been two timing Ayres with Cagney and Cagney's not around.The story is pretty silly in any number of ways. First the various mob heads resent Ayres taking over, then they resent when he leaves. Secondly, it's not made clear at all why Cagney isn't capable of running this thing by himself, he sure looks capable enough. And the plot where two of the gangsters have the brilliant idea to kidnap Ayres's little brother from military school to bring him back is frighteningly stupid.Ayres, Cagney, Matthews and the rest muddle through this dumb mess. Ayres was already a star due to All Quiet on the Western Front. And Cagney you had no doubt was going to be a star if the right vehicle was found for him. Even if Cagney had been in Ayres's role, I'm not sure The Doorway To Hell would have been it.

Dr-Occult Fine early talkie that belongs along side Little Caesar and The Public Enemy as the gangster films that set the rules for the genre. Unlike those films however this film gives us a smart gangster who tries to get out while on top only to be dragged back in.