White heat 1949 - "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"

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IMDB rating: 8,2

Director: Raoul Walsh
Main Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly

"James Cagney made his name on screen as a criminal, and he gave his last truly great outlaw performance in White Heat, which may well be the most intelligent and striking work of his career. While Cagney always knew how to lend his characters a charismatic menace, his Cody Jarrett in White Heat is both menacing and uncomfortably bizarre. Given to strange semi-epileptic seizures, sudden bursts of horrible violence, and a bizarre attachment to his mother that stops just short of incest, Cody represents the criminal as head case, at once fascinating and disturbingly unstable. Cagney manages to lend Cody just enough of his traditional tough-talking, wise guy veneer that he seems like a conventional screen criminal at first, but it doesn't take long for Cody to reveal himself as a full-blown psychotic, and the perversely self-immolating 'Made it, Ma! Top of the world!' finale is only the most spectacular symptom of his madness. Raoul Walsh's direction is hardly as audacious as Cagney's performance, but it is crisp, efficient, and briskly paced, and in a way Cagney's portrayal may well be all the more effective in this context. While White Heat's narrative often seems like the traditional story of a charismatic bad guy who will be forced to pay for his crimes in the last reel, it instead houses a different and most puzzling sort of villain, who paved the way for the stranger, more brutal outlaws who would dominate crime cinema in the 1960s and 1970s." - www.allmovie.com

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The roaring twenties 1939 - The torrid, blazing, wild, lush, lurid twenties

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IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Raoul Walsh
Main Cast: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh

"Raoul Walsh was one of cinema's greatest action directors in both silents and talkies, and The Roaring Twenties was a breakthrough film for him. Though he had directed standard comedies and melodramas before the film, Twenties would secure him a reputation as a bankable action director at Warner Bros. in the late 1930s. James Cagney, one of the great leads of the gangster-movie era, turns in an assured performance in the film: his demise on the snowy steps of a church is one of the most famous death scenes in movie history. Humphrey Bogart has a memorable supporting performance, though he would not become a big star until two years after the film, in Walsh's High Sierra and John Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Cagney and Bogart appeared together in two other movies, the gangster melodrama Angels with Dirty Faces and the Western The Oklahoma Kid." - www.allmovie.com

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Going Hollywood 1933 - Davis follows Crosby to Tinseltown

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IMDB rating: 8,3

Director: Raoul Walsh
Main Cast: Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay, Stuart Erwin, Ned Sparks, Patsy Kelly

"Reportedly at the request of Marion Davies herself, Bing Crosby was borrowed from Paramount for the MGM Davies vehicle Going Hollywood.
When she discovers that the crooner she adores is 'Going Hollywood', a liberated school teacher dogs his steps all the way to the Studio sound stages.
Marion Davies tries her hardest to entertain in this tinsel town spoof, but neither the script (based on a story by the celebrated Frances Marion) nor the direction give her much leeway. Raoul Walsh seems a curious choice to direct this kind of film, but he must have had William Randolph Hearst's approval or he never would have been given the assignment. The trouble is that Marion has little chance to be anything other than sweet and pleasant - when finally given the opportunity to do a wicked spoof of co-star Fifi D'Orsay, she's terrific. Unfortunately, moments like that come all too rarely.
Leading man Bing Crosby comes off rather better, showing the casual charm that would make him a huge star. And he gets to sing some fine tunes by Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed, including the classic ‘Temptation' and the fun ‘We'll Make Hay While The Sun Shines.' Although his character is a bit of a cad, Bing never fails to deliver the goods to the audience. As was his wont, publisher William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies' 'very good friend', was present throughout the filming, making it difficult indeed for Bing Crosby to 'lose himself' in the kissing scenes.
Some of the best moments in Going Hollywood belong to Patsy Kelly, making her movie debut as Davies' wisecracking chum, and to the Radio Rogues, a comedy singing act specializing in impressions of contemporary radio celebrities." - www.allmovie.com

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Women of all nations 1931 - War, women and wine

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IMDB rating: 6,1

Director: Raoul Walsh
Main Cast: Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe, Greta Nissen, El Brendel, Fifi D'Orsay, Marjorie White, Bela Lugosi

"Flagg and Quirt, the eternally bickering 'friendly enemies' introduced in Lawrence Stallings' WWI play What Price Glory, were at it again in 1931's Women of All Nations. Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe reprise their screen characterizations as pugnacious, girl-crazy marine sergeants Flagg and Quirt, who in the course of the film's 71 minutes hopscotch from Panama to Sweden to Nicaragua to Turkey. In Sweden, the boys battle over the affections of icy blonde Elsa (Greta Nissen), while in Turkey they find themselves in the middle of a sheik's harem (where else?). Comic relief El Brendel has the film's best scene, in which he obeys Flagg's order 'Get me the lay of the land' by returning with coquettish Fifi D'Orsay! Humphrey Bogart was supposed to have played the romantic lead in Women of All Nations, but his role was all but eliminated in the final release print." - www.allmovie.com

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The big trail 1930 - An epic Western with pioneer filmmaking

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020691/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Raoul Walsh
Main Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power Sr.

The first major sound Western, The Big Trail is also one of the greatest of the early talkies. Filmed in an experimental 70 mm wide-screen format labeled Fox Grandeur and showcasing a raw young talent named John Wayne, it possesses a dramatic sweep and swagger that Hollywood would not capture again for some 20 years. From its opening scenes, it is a revelation, and its use of wide screen is not just a gimmick but instead is an effective means of conveying the enormity of the story. The plot and characters are outdated, there are some awkward attempts at comic relief, and the inevitable Indian attack - complete with a circling of the wagons - doesn't help matters, but overall, The Big Trail is cinematic storytelling at its best. Director Raoul Walsh visualizes for the viewers the sort of pressures the pioneers encountered, from devastating weather conditions to overwhelming physical challenges. the film was shot on location, adding to the authentic atmosphere. The photography is strikingly beautiful, and the natural approach to sound is innovative. Wayne gives one of his best performances, Marguerite Churchill makes a memorable leading lady, and the supporting cast is balanced by Tully Marshall and Russ Powell as two of Wayne's old buddies. The Big Trail almost certainly did not invent any of the Western clichés it employs, but it uses them in ways that make it one of the vital entries in the evolution of the movie Western. - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-big-trail-v5487/

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