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The Roaring Twenties

  • 1939
  • Approved
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
17K
YOUR RATING
Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Priscilla Lane in The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Trailer for this film about an era
Play trailer3:29
1 Video
92 Photos
GangsterTragedyCrimeDramaThriller

Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.

  • Director
    • Raoul Walsh
  • Writers
    • Jerry Wald
    • Richard Macaulay
    • Robert Rossen
  • Stars
    • James Cagney
    • Humphrey Bogart
    • Priscilla Lane
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.9/10
    17K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Raoul Walsh
    • Writers
      • Jerry Wald
      • Richard Macaulay
      • Robert Rossen
    • Stars
      • James Cagney
      • Humphrey Bogart
      • Priscilla Lane
    • 132User reviews
    • 91Critic reviews
    • 80Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins total

    Videos1

    The Roaring Twenties
    Trailer 3:29
    The Roaring Twenties

    Photos92

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    Top cast99+

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    James Cagney
    James Cagney
    • Eddie Bartlett
    Humphrey Bogart
    Humphrey Bogart
    • George Hally
    Priscilla Lane
    Priscilla Lane
    • Jean Sherman
    Gladys George
    Gladys George
    • Panama Smith
    Jeffrey Lynn
    Jeffrey Lynn
    • Lloyd Hart
    Frank McHugh
    Frank McHugh
    • Danny Green
    Paul Kelly
    Paul Kelly
    • Nick Brown
    Elisabeth Risdon
    Elisabeth Risdon
    • Mrs. Sherman
    • (as Elizabeth Risdon)
    Edward Keane
    • Henderson
    • (as Ed Keane)
    Joe Sawyer
    Joe Sawyer
    • The Sergeant - Pete Jones
    Joseph Crehan
    Joseph Crehan
    • Michaels
    George Meeker
    George Meeker
    • Masters
    John Hamilton
    John Hamilton
    • Judge
    Robert Elliott
    Robert Elliott
    • First Detective
    Eddy Chandler
    Eddy Chandler
    • Second Detective
    • (as Eddie Chandler)
    Abner Biberman
    Abner Biberman
    • Henchman - Lefty
    Vera Lewis
    Vera Lewis
    • Mrs. Gray
    John Deering
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    • Director
      • Raoul Walsh
    • Writers
      • Jerry Wald
      • Richard Macaulay
      • Robert Rossen
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews132

    7.916.8K
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    Featured reviews

    9ptb-8

    Bullets blondes and bootleg

    It is hard to believe so many truly great films were made in 1939, and I can only guess that the sheer volume of excellent pix from that year is the only reason why THE ROARING TWENTIES does not have truly major classic status. 1939 seems to be cluttered with a plethora of cinematic riches, thus burying this astonishing and entertaining crime film. I also have been roaring (with laughter) at some of the astonishing silly comments also on this film's viewer comments page: from: "Blondell's haircut is worth the price of a ticket" (Joan Blondell is not in this film, sweetie, read the credits!) - to '"Another MGM gem"...hello? pal, the opening of the film has a great big shield with WB stamped on it followed by "Warner Bros Presents". Almost everyone commenting then proceeds to tell the whole story, each one after each one as thought they are the only person writing a comment. Yeesh. I am the only person who firstly reads what is already there in order to NOT duplicate plot points or characters or the same old same old same old? For genuine long lasting flabbergastering I prefer the movie's solid direction by Raoul Walsh the sensational crackling screenplay by Mark Hellinger and Jerry Wald and mostly the truly major performance by James Cagney. This role and it's ride is possibly the best I have ever seen from him, especially in the latter scenes on skid-row. It's a very mean cruel story with Bogart's jawdropping viciousness several points above censorship rulings - all thankfully intact and now in crisp DVD clarity. The production values are equally solid well decorated nightclubs and houses and rooms and very believable and expansive sets and scenes - especially in the WW1 intro. Yes it even has a terrific Citizen Kane style march of time newsreel tone and urgency. This is a genuine gangster masterpiece and well worth finding and sharing with other vintage WB (not MGM) crime buffs. THE ROARING TWENTIES deserves to be one of the most famous gangster films for everyone of its plot, acting , character and production qualities - they are all there on show. I would love to know the budget and the box office. I know the film was a big hit but exactly how big? It deserved to be massive. Also, the best saddest role of a lifetime to the superb and endearing Gladys George as Panama. As if everything else wasn't perfect enough! This film is a collectors must-have. If remade today, it would be exactly the same, such is it's timeless tone and production. In fact it is had to believe it was made 20 years earlier than SOME LIKE IT HOT. Both films look identical. Don't waste another day, put THE ROARING TWENTIES top of your must see list.
    8AlsExGal

    The final Cagney/Bogart pairing...

    ... before Bogart's star really begins to rise in the 1940's though not at Cagney's expense, but instead at George Raft's. But I digress.

    The Roaring Twenties traces about 20 years of American history, from 1917 to the mid 1930s, starting with three men in a fox hole in France in WWI - Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney), George Hally (Humphrey Bogart), and Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn). You get to know their basic character here. Lloyd doesn't want to shoot a German soldier because he's just a kid of about 15. George shoots him instead and seems to enjoy it. Immediately afterwards the war ends. No thought or mention of the 15 year old who just bought it seconds before the war ended. As for Eddie - He is pragmatic. He doesn't enjoy violence but realizes it is sometimes necessary.

    Back in America, Eddie can't catch a break and find a job. His old job was given to somebody else, so he drives his friend's (Frank McHugh as Danny) cab when Danny is off duty in order to make ends meet. One day, after Prohibition begins, Eddie delivers a package for a fare and ends up getting caught for violating the Volstead act - the package has liquor in it. The woman who would have gone to jail, saloon keeper Panama (Gladys George) pays Eddie's fine and brings him into the liquor business with her. Eddie can be tough, but he hasn't had to use gunplay until he decides to expand and bring his old war buddy George into the business. George, the guy who enjoys killing, gets Eddie in deeper as far as the violence goes, and George's slimy little weasel ways are Eddie's ultimate undoing.

    So Cagney's character is the tough guy with which you can sympathize - he didn't start out a criminal but was rejected by the country he served and the woman he loved, Bogart is the evil guy who is at least smart enough to not play the stock market in 1929, and Gladys George is the tough "broad" who loves Cagney's Eddie but realizes it will never be mutual. Surrounding all of this is a great score with that brassy Warner Brothers orchestra front and center.

    This is not the best of the 1930s gangster films - Those were made in the precode era when they could be more realistic. But this one has WB's best contract players and stars of the era and is a fun ride with a minimum of moralizing considering this is a production code era film.
    8ccthemovieman-1

    Interesting Foursome

    Two of the most famous actors of their day - James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart - are featured here, along with two very interesting women (Priscilla Lane and Gladys George). That foursome would be fun to join anywhere.

    Lane is the wholesome pretty girl and George is the tough female bar owner. The latter may not look as good but she delivers the best film noir lines in the movie near the end.

    In addition, Jefferey Lynn is good as the clean-cut, nice-guy attorney and Frank McHugh draws laughs as Cagney's buddy (as in real life). Paul Kelly is convincing as a hood.

    With this cast, you know you are going to get a well-acted movie. It moves at a good pace, too, with few lulls. The gangster language of the period was fun to hear.

    The first time I saw this film I was disappointed. Maybe I expected too much. On the second viewing, I throughly enjoyed it. Having a great DVD transfer on the second viewing didn't hurt, either. It's a nice sharp picture.
    Tony43

    Vintage Warner Brothers of the thirties

    Not as well remembered as "Little Caesar" or "Public Enemy," "The Roaring Twenties" is the culmination of a decade's worth of Warner Brothers gangster films. It was also James Cagney's last tough guy role at the studio for almost a decade.

    Cagney is criticized by some in this one for not packing the cinematic punch he did in "Public Enemy" or "White Heat." But this film was the brain child of former Broadway columnist Mark Hellinger and was written as almost an ode to the Damon Runion-like characters Hellinger knew when he prowled the great white way during the 20s. Hellinger was a regular at the famous El Fey club and friend of Texas Guinan, the wild saloon hostess who personified the twenties. Cagney's good/bad guy character, Eddie Bartlett, was in fact based on Larry Fay, the cab driver turned bootlegger who opened the El Fey and hired Guinan as his hostess. Fay is also believed to have been one of the inspirations for F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Bartlett is meant to symbolize,not a psychotic criminal, but more the social confusion that resultedfrom the passage of a highly unpopular law meant to regulate character,which wound up having the absolute opposite effect, spawning an era of lawlessness.

    Although Cagney dominates every scene he is in, the more ominous gangster in the film is played by Humphrey Bogart in one of his best performances prior to assuming character roles in the late 40s. His trigger happy hood was probably fashioned after Owen "Ownie the Killer" Madden, the bootlegger who bought into Harlem's Cotton Club and formed a loose alliance with Fay.

    Strong supporting work comes from Gladys George, who plays Panama Smith, the Texas Guinan character.

    This picture is slick, well produced, uniformly well acted under the direction of action specialist Raoul Walsh and features some great Cagney stick. When he exploded on screen, there was no one like him.
    8Xstal

    Opportunity Knocks...

    A spell of time spent on the front in World War One, leads to a life of opportunity and fun, as a decade makes an entrance, rules of the game become song and dance, with some liquor, a bit of conflict and some guns. Prohibition creates possibilities, to entertain the crowds in so called speakeasies, brewing spirits then creates, the drinks the Volsted Act just hates, though drinking too much might make you, a bit queasy. Alas new Presidents curtail the operations, meaning that changes come to all organisations, markets sink, then fall, decline, your social status realigns, in the end, was it all worth it, you will opine.

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    Related interests

    Marlon Brando and Salvatore Corsitto in The Godfather (1972)
    Gangster
    Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea (2016)
    Tragedy
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This marked the end of James Cagney's cycle of gangster films for Warner Bros. Cagney wanted to diversify his roles: he would not play a gangster again until White Heat (1949), ten years later.
    • Goofs
      The film is full of classic songs from the 1920s, but the arrangements and vocal styles are those of 1939. No attempt is made to reproduce the sound of 1920s dance music.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Panama Smith: He's dead.

      Cop: Well, who is this guy?

      Panama Smith: This is Eddie Bartlett.

      Cop: Well, how're you hooked up with him?

      Panama Smith: I could never figure it out.

      Cop: What was his business?

      Panama Smith: He used to be a big shot.

    • Connections
      Edited from The Public Enemy (1931)
    • Soundtracks
      I'm Just Wild About Harry
      (1921) (uncredited)

      Music by Eubie Blake

      Lyrics by Noble Sissle

      Played during the opening and closing credits

      Also played during the 1922 montage

      Sung by Priscilla Lane at the club

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 28, 1939 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Streaming on "Crucial Classics Movie Reactions" YouTube Channel
      • Streaming on "Famvio" YouTube Channel
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Héroes olvidados
    • Filming locations
      • Stage 19, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 46m(106 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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