Lady killer 1933 - Cagney as a Hollywood gangster

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IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Main Cast: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton

"Mae Clarke, in her autobiography Featured Player (1996), claimed that James Cagney and director William Wellman basically created the famous grapefruit incident in The Public Enemy (1931) without her consent and that the viciousness of the attack had shocked her. The scene is, of course, unforgettable and a follow-up inevitable. It came two-thirds of the way through Lady Killer when gangster-turned-movie star Cagney discovers a kittenish Miss Clarke in his bedroom - much to the consternation of his movie-star girlfriend Margaret Lindsay. Despite his newfound sophistication, Cagney acts as he would have in Hell's Kitchen: He drags the unwelcome guest out of the room by her hair! This time, happily, Clarke was in on the gag and she is visibly holding on for dear life to Cagney's wrists. The scene is still startling in its brutality, especially coming in what is really a comedy. And despite this act of physical abuse and a climactic shootout that leaves bodies scattered all over what appears to be Mulholland Highway in Los Angeles, Lady Killer is a comedy and a good one. As always, the Warner Bros. stock company is in high gear throughout and there are especially enjoyable performances by Douglas Dumbrille as Cagney's former partner-in-crime and Herman Bing as an autocratic director of Western movies. Lady Killer is vintage Cagney, throwing virtually every one of his star-making attributes (including one cute reference to his legendary 'grapefruit scene' in 1931's The Public Enemy) into one entertaining 76-minute stew." - www.allmovie.com

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Turn back the clock 1933 - A charming fantasy comedy

Lee Tracy and Mae Clarke

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024704/
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Edgar Selwyn
Main Cast: Lee Tracy, Mae Clarke, Otto Kruger, Peggy Shannon

"Directed by Edgar Selwyn, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ben Hecht (Underworld 1927 & The Scoundrel 1935), the story is a very clever exploration into the 'what if', as in 'what if I made a different choice at a pivotal moment in my life' and what would have happened. It stars Lee Tracy (The Best Man 1964) as the man who gets the opportunity to 'see' how his life may have been had he chosen to marry one girl vs. another in his youth.
Selwyn and Hecht delivered a small masterpiece in 1933 that might seem familiar now to later generations. Everyone from Frank Capra to Rod Serling has used the same theme successfully - the lesson to be learned: you can't change the past without consequences, so maybe its better just to be happy with what you have.
A truly imaginative fantasy, Turn Back the Clock is acted with conviction by everybody from star Lee Tracy to a trio of bit players (in the wedding sequence) who later called themselves The Three Stooges." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/turn-back-the-clock-v114664

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