City for Conquest (1940)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Anatole Litvak directed this drama that begins with actor Frank Craven talking directly to the audience, saying how there are lots of stories in New York City, and he presents one of them: James Cagney plays Danny Kenny, a truck driver who is also a prize fighter, though has little interest in it. His brother Eddie(played by Arthur Kennedy) has dreams of being a concert pianist, which lead Danny to enter the fight racket to pay for his brother's tuition, though there will be tragic consequences...Ann Sheridan plays Peggy Nash, Danny's girlfriend who has dreams of becoming a professional dancer, but must put up with her lecherous male partner(played by Anthony Quinn). All three of them will have their fates intertwine in this interesting and well-acted film, especially Cagney, who does a fine job convincing the viewer he is blind... New Yorkers in particular will like this.

Dedicated to his craft, Jimmy Cagney underwent a grueling twelve week training regimen to lose weight and get into shape as a prize fighter. At forty two, his weight had gone up to a hefty one hundred eighty pounds, but his enthusiasm for the film motivated him to drop thirty five pounds for the role. Apparently the film recognized his actual weight in fight posters in which he's listed as a hundred forty five pound welterweight."City For Conquest" was one of three pictures teaming Cagney with feisty Ann Sheridan. Both actors are personal favorites of mine, and "Angels With Dirty Faces" earns a spot in my personal Top Ten film list. Like 'Angels' this one will tug at your heartstrings at the finale, although the situations presented are significantly different. Reduced to selling newspapers after a vicious fight in which he loses his eyesight, Danny Kenny (Cagney) is overcome with joy at hearing a symphony his brother (Arthur Kennedy) wrote. Equally moving, Danny is reunited with his childhood sweetheart Peggy (Sheridan).The picture is non stop in terms of action and dialog. From the opening scenes, there's always a sense of hustle and bustle emanating from the streets and neighborhoods of the picture's locale, New York City. In that respect it's vintage Warner Brothers, brought to life by the crisp black and white photography of James Wong Howe and Sol Polito.Backing up the principal actors are veteran Warner contract players Donald Crisp and Frank McHugh along with a couple of casting surprises. Anthony Quinn appears as the suave but seedy dance partner who guides Sheridan's character to stardom, and future director Elia Kazan pops up in a small but significant role as one of Danny's friends who goes the gangster route as time goes by. I have to say, his performance seemed pretty natural to me and had he stayed with it, might have made his mark as an actor with the same success he achieved on the other side of the camera.As good as the film is, and as well as it was received by the public when it was released, this turned out to be a picture Cagney didn't like at all. Part of that stems from his relationship with director Anatole Litvak with whom he argued constantly over the story's interpretation. So much so that he even wrote a letter of apology to Aben Kandel, the writer of the novel on which the film was based. Whether true or not, Cagney swore at the time never to watch another one of his movies. I don't think I would have bet the ranch on that one.Cagney's last professional work occurred in the 1984 TV movie "Terrible Joe Moran", in which he portrays a retired boxer. That picture offers up a number of scenes in which Cagney is shown mixing it up in the ring and for the longest time I couldn't figure out where the footage came from. Now I know that those clips were inserted from the boxing scenes appearing in "City For Conquest".

I've watched this film over the space of 35 years and my admiration changes but never diminishes. It's a powerful story of the immigrant saga, high vs. popular art, soul killing careerism, street America, brotherhood 'hoodism'... this picture has got a lot going on.If you don't like it, I don't like you.Anatole Litvak was an immigrant along with many WB employees. Donald Crisp, Elia Kazan, Sig Ruman are all here. It's an important film for Cagney and WB in The context of their place in history. So many WB films are more highly regarded but for me this is the best representation of the WB aesthetic.

Wow, is all that I can say about this film. What a wonderful movie. Even though I missed the first ten minutes, I was caught the tail end of Frank Craven's character in the beginning giving a prologue. At first, I was hesitant to watch this movie, because a long time ago, I saw the cut version of this movie, which excised most of Frank Craven's scenes. However, when I found out this was the restored version, I was excited, because I love to watch the original versions of movies. After watching this movie, I was truly moved. Everyone gave excellent performances and Frank Craven as the narrator, gave the movie more depth. I highly recommend this film and as I watched Elia Kazan's performance, I couldn't help but think that another Warner Brothers contract player, Ross Alexander, who died four years before this film was even made or released would have been excellent in Elia Kazan's role as "Googi". It was a very bittersweet experience.