City for Conquest (1940)

Director: Anatole Litvak

Writers: John Wexley, Aben Kandel

Composer: Max Steiner

Starring: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Frank Craven, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh, Arthur Kennedy, George Tobias, Jerome Cowan, Elia Kazan, Anthony Quinn, Lee Patrick, Kit Guard

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A story with all the fire and fury of its two great stars!

Plot: Danny is a content truck driver, but his girl Peggy shows potential as a dancer and hopes he too can show ambition. Danny acquiesces and pursues boxing to please her, but the two begin to spend more time working than time together.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Cagney is a delight to watch.  I've yet to see him in anything where he didn't steal about every scene he's in.  This picture is a great showcase for his talents.  He gets to dance a little but here he's a boxer so that kind of activity is kept to a minimum.  He's nails the comedy and brings the drama and heavy where it counts.  The cast is great, too.  There's so much to like with this picture.  Anthony Quinn and Ann Sheridan dance beautifully together.  You should watch this just for Cagney and Quinn's first meeting at the dance.  It's a verbal sparring match and they're both so good at with some great dialogue that it's hard to decide who wins.  But that look Cagney gives him is priceless.  The picture is fast paced and there's a lot of ground covered.  It's pretty tight.  Oh, there's a scene where Cagney introduces an ex-boxer to his future manager and the once big time fighter had one fight too many.  His brain has gone soft and he's now a simple, happy man.  It's heartbreaking just thinking about that scene but it's done with such care and class.  The ending had me all choked up.  Cagney sells it like no one else.  This flick is given the respect it deserves on DVD.  The Warner Bros. disc is loaded with extras.  There's a commentary track with Richard Schickel, a featurette called Molls and Dolls: The Women of Gangster Films (20 minutes) which is curious as this isn't a gangster picture although this movie is mentioned in the short, a great gag reel from WB from 1940 (12 minutes), the Lux Radio Theater Broadcast of this story, the theatrical trailer and the always welcome Warner Night at the Movies which includes THE FIGHTING 69th trailer, a newsreel, a 20 minute short called Service with the Colors (in color) and a 7 minute cartoon, Stage Fright.