The Mayor of Hell
Directed by Archie Mayo and Michael Curtiz
Written by Edward Chodorov, story by Islin Auster
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Lawyer: Tell us what you know, I said! Never mind what you think!
Mr. Hemingway: Excuse me, boss. I ain’t no lawyer. I can’t talk without thinkin’.
I loved all three James Cagney movies I watched for 1933 and this one was my favorite.
Cagney plays a ward heeler and gang leader who gets paid off for gathering votes with an appointment as Deputy Commissioner responsible for juvenile detention centers. This is not to take up too much of his time and attention. But when he arrives to see the reform school, he develops sympathy for the juvenile delinquents suffering therein from hunger and forced labor.
He falls for idealistic nurse Madge Evans who has a plan for reforming this hellhole. This involves improving conditions and creating a kind of Boy’s Town where the inmates form their own government and enforce the rules there own way. This works out splendidly but only while Cagney is actually present.
Cagney is great as is Frankie Darro, who plays the boys’ gang leader and title character. Dudley Diggs is excellent as the corrupt, evil, sniveling warden of the reformatory. Despite a quite incredible ending the whole thing works beautifully. Recommended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4skVEOZrIL4
