James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart DVD reviews
Mark Voger | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Mark Voger
James Cagney's opening scene in "Taxi" (1932), in which he converses in Yiddish with an agitated bystander as a befuddled Irish cop looks on, is pure 1930s Warner Bros. gold.
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Taxi (1932)

$19.95, Warner Archive Collection

Made shortly after James Cagney's breakthrough in "The Public Enemy," "Taxi" captures Cagney at that heady moment when his star was on the rise.

His opening scene, in which he converses in Yiddish with an agitated bystander as a befuddled Irish cop looks on, is pure 1930s Warner Bros. gold.

Cagney plays Matt Nolan, a New York cabbie caught up in a territorial drivers' war. Matt marries waitress Sue (huge-eyed Loretta Young), whose father (Guy Kibbee) was a casualty of that war.

Did Warners figure we wanted to see the Cagney who shoves grapefruits in women's faces? Matt continually threatens Sue with violence, until he finally slaps her to a couch. (Well, she was protecting the baddie who killed Matt's brudder, er, brother.)

Watch for George Raft, Cagney's co-star in "Each Dawn I Die" (1939), as Matt's rival at a fox trot contest. Roy Del Ruth previously directed Cagney in "Blonde Crazy" (1931).

Frisco Kid (1935)

$19.95, Warner Archive Collection

Only three years later, Cagney is a maturing talent in "Frisco Kid."

In 1850s San Francisco, sailor Bat Morgan wins clout in the community after killing a feared local thug. Meanwhile, respectable locals organize a vigilante group to drive out the Barbary Coast riffraff.

For a 1930s flick, "Frisco Kid" can be pretty brutal. The bloody bar fight between Bat and the "Shanghai Duck" (Fred Kohler) is tough to watch — the one-handed Duck continually stabs Bat with his hook — and there are scenes of lynchings as a crowd cheers.

Cagney is glorious as always, though there are some head-scratchers in the script. (Was Ricardo Cortez in a really bad mood at the opera?) Lloyd Bacon earlier directed Cagney in "Here Comes the Navy" (1934).

You Can't Get Away With Murder (1939)

$19.95, Warner Archive Collection

Think of "You Can't Get Away With Murder" as the poor man's "Angels With Dirty Faces." There's no James Cagney, no Ann Sheridan, and only one Dead End Kid.

But it has the finest acting Billy Halop — the lead dirty-faced angel — has ever done, and a chilling performance by Humphrey Bogart back when he was still specializing in rats, before the sardonic "Bogie" persona kicked in.

Bogart plays Frank Wilson, a career criminal who takes hood-in-training Johnny Stone (Halop) under his wing. Johnny's sister Madge (Gale Page) is engaged to cop Fred Burke (Harvey Stephens). When Wilson kills a burglary victim using Fred's gun — Johnny "borrowed" it from his future brother-in-law — Fred is convicted of the murder. Later, a holdup charge puts Wilson and Johnny in Sing Sing, where Wilson keeps a watchful eye on his protege, who is racked with guilt over Fred's pending execution.

The Pat O'Brien surrogate is Henry Travers (Clarence the angel in "It's a Wonderful Life") as Pop, the ailing prison librarian who is unafraid to call out Wilson. George E. Stone plays Toad, an inmate who takes bets on executions, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson plays Sam, an inmate who reads sumptuous recipes aloud.

Jersey Shore alert: Just before knocking off a gas station, Wilson and Johnny pass a traffic sign showing the mileage to Belmar, Asbury Park, Eatontown, Red Bank, Point Pleasant, Seaside Heights, Lakewood and Atlantic City.

Lewis Seiler earlier directed Bogart and Halop in "Crime School" (1938).

Conflict (1945)

$19.95, Warner Archive Collection

By the time the very noir "Conflict" was released, Bogart's persona was irreversibly in place.

He plays Richard Mason, a man who is miserable in marriage; Mason falls in love with Evelyn (Alexis Smith), lovely younger sister of his shrewish wife Kathryn (Rose Hobart). Following a car accident — Mason was watching Evelyn in the rear-view mirror rather than the road — he is confined to a wheelchair. A getaway to a mountain resort is prescribed, but the couple must travel separately — and Kathryn vanishes en route.

Bogie's "Casablanca" buddy Sidney Greenstreet plays a psychologist who has a way with roses.

The payoff is so-so, but it's always great to spend time with Bogie — especially when he's squirming.

Curtis Bernhardt later directed Bogart in "Sirocco" (1951).

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