Movie Review: The Irish In Us (1935)
Erik Lundegaard
WARNING: SPOILERS This is one of the weaker of the mid-30s Cagney movies. Its an ensemble piece about an Irish mother (Mary Gordon) and her three grown-up boys, all of whom live with her in a...
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WARNING: SPOILERS

This is one of the weaker of the mid-30s Cagney movies. Its an ensemble piece about an Irish mother (Mary Gordon) and her three grown-up boys, all of whom live with her in a fairly spacious tenement apartment onI imaginethe lower east side. Its like an Irish version of Gertrude Bergs radio series The Goldbergs. It even begins in the same fashion: calls across the tenement courtyard; sharing butter with neighbors.

For the first half, one of the boys, Pat (Pat OBrien), a cop, is courting the captains daughter, Lucille (Olivia de Havilland, making her film debut). Meanwhile, the neer-do-well but happy-go-lucky youngest, Danny (James Cagney), is involved in another get-rich-quick scheme: He becomes boxing manager to Carban Hammerschlog (perpetual Cagney foil Allen Jenkins), who, whenever he hears a bell, slugs the nearest person. Antics ensue.

The third brother, Mike (Frank McHugh), a fireman, has a wry sense of humor and a fondness for gin. Danny steals Pats suit for CarbanI forget whyso Pat doesnt have it the first time Lucille comes over to meet the family. Antics.

None of it is particularly funny.

For a time, I thought, Well, its nice that Pat OBrien gets the girl and Cagney doesnt get into a fight. Yeah, no. Lucille falls for Danny, causing rifts with Pat; and then Carban gets drunk before his big fight with the middleweight champ so Danny has to climb into the ring in his stead. He wins the fight and gets the girl.

So much for ensemble. Not with a star.

One of 130 movies directed by Lloyd Bacon (none particularly famous) and one of 68 writing credits for Earl Baldwin (ditto). In his autobiography, Cagney only mentions the film in passing, as yet another of the cuff operas to which actors and director would ad-lib, trying to improve the script.