Sinners' Holiday (1930)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

James Cagney made his cinematic debut as a reckless, irresponsible, narcissistic bootlegger who conceals his criminal endeavors from his long-suffering mother in director John G. Adolfi's "Sinner's Holiday," co-starring Joan Blondell. This early black & white movie is an adaptation of Marie Baumer's stage play "Penny Arcade." Since I haven't read Baumer's play, I cannot attest to the film's fidelity to its source material. This Warner Brothers/First National release concerns the activities of a Penny Arcade in New York City and the various hucksters who operate on W.C. Fields' credo that "There's a sucker born every minute." Character actor Grant Withers, who you might have seen in John Ford's memorable westerns "Fort Apache," "Rio Grande," and "My Darling Clementine," takes top billing as smooth-talking Angel Harrigan, and he has his eyes on pretty young Jenny (Evalyn Knapp of "His Private Secretary"), whose mother (Lucille La Verne of "Orphans of the Storm") owns the premises and rents out booths to various entrepreneurs. One of those entrepreneurs is a shady guy, Mitch (Warren Hymer of "Meet Joe Doe"), who bootlegs beers on the side. Ma Delano's son Harry (James Cagney) has fallen under Mitch's evil influence. Appropriately enough, Harry has learned not only the ropes of the bootlegging business, but he also plans to double-cross Mitch after the latter is pulled in a warrant by the police. Mitch happens to like Jenny, but she won't give him the time of day. One day when Angel irritates Mitch, Mitch gives him the boot, but Angel quits before he is officially fired. Ultimately, Angel and Jenny become a couple and she persuades her mother to hire Angel as a mechanic. After Mitch gets out of the slammer, he discovers that treacherous Harry has been swindling him. They encounter each other in an ally with firearms, and Harry plugs Mitch and then stashes the body out of sight in a building on the premises. Ironically, Harry's sister witnesses the shooting, but she clams up about it until the police decide to arrest Angel for the homicide. As it turns out, the revolver that Harry used to ice Mitch belonged to Angel. Ma Delano, who has already lost her husband, doesn't want to lose Harry. Initially, she tells Harry to put the revolver back in Angel's suitcase. Reluctantly, Jenny informs the police about the identity of real killer. Since the cops had closed down the arcade during their painstaking investigation, business resumes as usual with Angel back at work. This dated outing has some interesting period flavor, particularly in its blue-collar argot. At one point, Cagney's sniveling Harry perches himself on his mother's knees just as he would do decade later as Cody Jarrett in Raoul Walsh's classic "White Heat." Joan Blondell plays a woman who allows men to have their pictures taken with them. One of the most amusing sights—pretty risqué if you think about it—is a game where you get to sling balls at women sitting on chairs to win a prize. If you like old Warner Brothers' melodramas, you cannot do better than the 60-minute "Sinner's Holiday."

Save for the debut of James Cagney and Joan Blondell Sinner's Holiday is a rather lifeless early sound experiment of urban lingo spoken from the side of most of the cast's mouth. Chuck full of cynicism and greed with a murder and sappy romance thrown in for good measure it flounders from the outset.Ma Delano runs a penny arcade on the midway with her three kids. Two contribute but youngest Harry (Cagney) would rather work where the big money is with bootlegger Mitch McKane. After McKane fires his barker Angel Harrigan (Grant Withers) Ma takes him on. When Mc Kane ends up dead Harrigan becomes the prime suspect.Sinner's Holiday is filled with hard boiled eggs but most are rotten. It's endless tough talk and little else as director John Adolfi, probably ham strung by the microphone does little to bring any verve or suspense to his scenes. The mercurial Cagney and sassy Blondell bring some life to their limited roles but Withers sarcastic lead looks bored most of the time and Evelyn Knapp as his love interest about as engrossed as he. Holiday is no way to enjoy one.

Sinner's Holiday (1930) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Somewhat interesting drama about a small time crook (James Cagney) who kills a man in self defense but let's his sister's boyfriend (Grant Withers) take the blame. The most interesting aspect of this film is the fact that it was Cagney and Joan Blondell's screen debut. The film takes place inside Coney Island, which is another interesting thing to see. Other than that this early talkie is like many others of its day. There's way too much talking and none of it is very interesting. The direction is also pretty weak and there's just not too much life in the story. The relationship between Cagney and his mother played by Lucille LaVerne is also very strange in an incest type of way.

Gotta love these old pre-code black and white films; there is a great scene where if the fair-goer hits the target, the girl sitting on a swing lifts up her dress for a little "show". This straight-forward no-surprises murder story takes place during prohibition , in a penny arcade, which was also the name of the play on which it is based. It stars Cagney in his very first performance in 1930, brought in from the original play; Also in a big role is Joan Blondell, who had already made four films, but would go on to make eight more films with Cagney, as well as over 150 films on her own. The top bills are Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp, and Lucille Laverne, who had all started in silents. Also love the plain-talking mother who has an opinion on everything and everybody. John Adolfi, the director, had started as an actor in 1907, and worked mostly in silent films. This was one of his last movies as director. Due to its age, the sound and picture quality is a little iffy, but enjoy it as a fun, plain, simple story.