'G' Men
**½/**** Image A- Sound A- Extras B+
starring James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Ann Dvorak, Robert Armstrong
screenplay by Seton I. Miller
directed by William Keighley
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover I feel sorry for anyone who's never seen James Cagney in a movie. Those fanboys who moon over stuff like Goodfellas, The Godfather, and the 1983 Scarface without checking out their forebears aren't just ignorant, they're cheating themselves cruelly: Cagney was the sort of performer capable of lighting up a bad script and becoming the focal point of a room full of dead-weight actors suddenly ennobled by his presence. Such is the case with G Men, a not-terribly-brilliant scenario and some average support staff electrified by a few choice shootouts, punchy William Keighley direction, and Cagney's ball of fire burning up the screen. If he's ultimately miscast as a lawman, Cagney can make any role his own in ways that shouldn't make sense but do.
Admittedly, the film, later used for propaganda purposes by J. Edgar Hoover himself, does its job of patching over the obvious discrepancy between the Public Enemy and the FBI. Their Code-demanded angle is to pitch Cagney's James "Brick" Davis as a lawyer from the streets educated with dirty money; when he decides to join the FBI (after fed colleague Eddie (Regis Toomey) is gunned down), his benefactor, Mac (William Harrigan), chooses to go straight right along with him. Not highly probable–but then, neither is the possibility of Davis staying with the force once they've connected him to Mac. There's nothing a stirring speech and a bit of Cagney elbow grease can't do, though, and soon Davis is ratting out his old connections and hunting criminals down with his own brand of street law.
In short, it's largely ridiculous. Set in the transitional period between the FBI being unarmed and when they could set the tune for the Thompson Jitterbug, the story is contrived to conjure up some dead feds so that they can be avenged with a thunder of guns. Logic is entirely beside the point–as it is with the star. It could be argued that the genuine flow of events would have been anti-Cagney, the point of whom is his ability to walk into a room, spit out a few choice colloquialisms, and get things done his way, manhandling anything–including the laws of cause-and-effect–that blocks his route. It's satisfying to hear his razor-sharp mockery triumph over hard facts and good sense, just as it's satisfying to see him bulldoze his way through another violent encounter with no-goodniks.
Perhaps that isn't saying anything particularly profound. After all, Hollywood has made book on outlandish premises redeemed by the aptness of their fantasizing. But Cagney's swift aggression fills bad fantasies with a gravitas they wouldn't otherwise have. Mixed with his up-from-the-depths persona, they feel less like Astaire/Rogers and more like palace revolution. It takes quite a bit to make a (J. Edgar) Hoover-approved film seem like something rebellious–the idea of the movie with anyone else is too square and virtuous to even contemplate. Yet Cagney triumphs in what ought to be merely average, and keeps you glued to the screen even when there isn't much to see. Who, nowadays, has the unpretentious skill to accomplish that?
THE DVD
Warner's DVD presentation of G Men is most creditable. The 1.33:1 fullscreen transfer is sharp and well-defined, with only a few obvious instances of edge-enhancement marring the image. The Dolby 1.0 mono sound is equally fine, perhaps a hair too soft but largely unblemished. A "Warner Night at the Movies" title, G Men's supplements break down as follows:
Commentary by Richard Jewell
Jewell acquits himself superbly here with a track that's full of facts beyond the usual recounting of the plot. He discusses the winding-down of the gangster cycle (and censorious attacks on same) that required the casting of Cagney as a lawman, observes Depression-era details, and reviews the film's depiction of federal agents, including its J. Edgar Hoover stand-in. All said, thorough and comprehensive.
"Morality and the Code: A How-To Manual for Hollywood" (20 mins.)
A half-decent elucidation of the consequences of the Production Code in which various experts and neo-noir personnel (Martin Scorsese, Talia Shire, Theresa Russell, etc.) weigh in on the pre–and post-Code eras. There's the usual cant about restrictions breeding creativity, but that doesn't stop it from serving as a fairly polished intro to the issue.
"How I Play Golf by Bobby Jones No. 11: Practice Shots" (10 mins.)
The golf star shows us his practice shot technique, though not before spectators (including Cagney himself) are introduced and a screechy woman has been silenced. My eyes pretty much glazed over the golfing instructions, but it's hard to stomach the female Stepin Fetchit's subsequent humiliation.
"Things You Never See On the Screen" (9 mins.)
Blooper reel. First the studio brass is humiliated through the miracle of intertitles and crosscutting, then those same titles set up big laughs that never arrive. Notable mainly for a couple of ethnic slurs.
Devil Dogs of the Air Trailer (3 mins.)
Laughs and romance with (but not among) Cagney and Pat O'Brien on an Air Force base. Cagney is frequently seen flummoxing O'Brien.
Newsreel (2 mins.)
G-men are seen busting up illicit stills using bullets and dynamite as well as confounding counterfeiters producing "bank note works of art."
The Old Grey Mayor (1935) (20 mins.)
Bob Hope wants to marry the mayor's daughter; the mayor has other ideas. This starts off unpromisingly with exploding-cigar jokes, but it has a terrific scene where the marriage license clerk, on orders from the mayor, spews gibberish while Hope and fiancée try to apply.
Buddy the Gee Man (1935) (7 mins.)
In this b&w Looney Tune, child figure Buddy is assigned to infiltrate a prison to institute reforms; there, he finds a warden against the inmates singing. It's sweet-tempered if unremarkable, although it features a gentle finale that no present-day cartoon would dare attempt.
Rounding out the disc, the film's trailer. Available individually or as part of Warner's "Tough Guys Collection".
86 minutes; NR; 1.33:1; English DD 1.0; CC; English, French, Spanish subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; Warner
