Each Dawn I Die
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Norman Reilly Raine and Warren Duff from the novel by Jerome Odlum
1939/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing; Netflix rental
[box] Frank Ross: I’ll get out if I hafta kill every screw in the joint![/box]
This is an OK prison film with the always enjoyable James Cagney in the lead.
Crusading journalist Frank Ross (Cagney) is framed by corrupt officials for vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to one to twenty years. Frank’s reporter friends work on the outside to prove his innocence. The prison is a hell hole of sadistic guards. Early on Frank becomes friendly with gangster “Hood” Stacey (George Raft). Frank is a believer in following the rules but eventually gets so fed up that he assists Stacey with an escape attempt so that Stacey can help find the truth on the outside. With George Bancroft as the warden.
This is pretty standard prison film fare but entertaining. There are a couple of good scenes where Cagney cracks up reminiscent of White Heat.
Re-release trailer
Raft and Cagney in the same film at least is worth a look. This is not a bad film but they have done better. I always thought that Raft’s best performance was his coin flipping gangster in “Scarface” and I loved “Bolero” with Carole Lombard only for that completely sexy dance scene. Raft could have been a bigger star if he hadn’t kept turning down parts that made Bogie a star…..”High Sierra” and “Maltese Falcon”. Not very good professional choices. Plus I could never figure out his ethnic background and.his eyes were amazing….sloe-eyed I think it is called. Did you ever notice how long his ears were? ….not big, just long.
What struck me was how similar Raft’s voice was to Bogart’s. I wonder if those movies would have made Raft such a big star as Bogart. I think Bogart had something extra special and made the movies great rather than the other way around.
You are probably right. It was the mystique (I don’t know what else to call it) of Bogie that made him special rather than the films…..but he was around for several years before he hit it big. Not so for Raft but I guess he wasn’t the best actor on the block……but there was something strangely attractive about him.