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By
NICK ZEGARAC
A couple of Hell's Kitchen
hell raisers -- Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) and
Jerry Connolly (Pat O'Brien) part company after
being sent to reform school in Michael Curtiz's
classic "Angels With Dirty Faces" (1938).
For Rocky, the years of meditation transform him
into a first class criminal with a bitter grudge
and destiny to fulfill. For Jerry, the prospect of
becoming a career criminal is enough to scare him
straight into the priesthood. The years pass and
Rocky and Jerry are once more reunited; this time
in their old neighborhood but on opposite sides of
the law. In a sort of Father Flannigan twist,
Jerry wants to have a positive impact on the lives
of children who, like his former self, are on the
fast track to nowhere. Rocky resurfaces as a
ghetto gangster, exploiting Jerry's goodness to
suit his own end.
Ann Sheridan surfaces also, to great effect, as
Rocky's wickedly playful girl Friday, Laury
Ferguson. The Dead End Kids, a troop of street
urchins who became model citizens through
celluloid worship and pop culture are in this one
to -- playing themselves for either saintly
salvation or sinful self-destruction.
Director Curtiz is in top form with this meshing
of the light and the terrorized, inserting a
winning combination of action and comedy that is
engaging throughout.
Warner's DVD is not as successful. The image is
often dark or seemingly underexposed. Film grain
and age-related artifacts are spread throughout
the print material, which shows signs of various
source materials being incorporated. Fine details
are often lost in darker scenes. Whites are
generally not clean, though at times they can be.
Flickering and shimmering occurs during several
key scenes. The audio is adequately balanced in
mono. A featurette, commentary by historian Dana
Polan, and Leonard Maltin's hosting of "Warner's A
Night at the Movies" are the extras you'll find.
Polan's audio is a bit flat and disengaged from
the material, and Maltin's segment seems somewhat
more rushed than on other Warner discs. However,
this film comes highly recommended for content,
despite the fact that the video presentation is
better than average but far from perfect. |
