3rd Mondays Talking Talkies with John Boschen: The Public Enemy (1931)

Join movie historian John Boschen as we dive into the early pre-code hollywood talking pictures of the 1930s. After a brief introduction by JB, you will get to see one of the all-time classic gangster films with the defining actor of the class James Cagney alongside silent film star Jean Harlow in The Public Enemy. In 1988 the movie was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and has an amazing 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Public Enemy received a nomination for best story at the 4th Academy Awards.

Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

CAST: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell, Donald Cook, Leslie Fenton

DIRECTOR: William A. Wellman

RUN TIME: 84 min