Blonde Crazy

James Cagney and Joan Blondell

Roy Del Ruth's Blonde Crazy, from 1931, is a routine Warner Brothers feature of the pre-Code period enlivened by its stars, Jimmy Cagney and Joan Blondell. Cagney plays a bellhop in a small town Midwest hotel who flips when he spies Blondell and connives to get her a job as a chambermaid. Cagney's bellhop is a grifter, selling hootch to the hotel's guests on the side and soon enlists Blondell in his schemes. They manage to fleece Guy Kibbee of some $5000 before heading east in search of bigger fish. There, they are themselves swindled by Louis Calhern and his band of brigands, but soon turn the tables. Blondell falls for the more respectable Ray Milland, but he turns out to be even more of a heel than Cagney is and true love emerges triumphant.

With the exception of a wonderful crane shot of Blondell visiting Cagney in jail, Del Ruth's direction is dull. A lot of run of the mill two shots and close-ups. He does leave a lot of room for the antics and double takes of his star twosome: what one would expect from a former gag writer for Mack Sennett.

Blondell and Cagney had appeared together on Broadway in Penny Arcade. Warner Brothers scooped them up for the film version (the movie debut for the both of them) which they retitled Sinners' Holiday. The twosome would make seven movies with each other though they were not always paired together romantically onscreen. Blondell never achieved major stardom, but she was a much better actress than most of the leading ladies of the era. She is always feisty and adept at dialogue. She shares Cagney's razzmatazz and physical dexterity. In Blonde Crazy, she even matches him blow for blow. Cagney is a force of nature whether ogling dames, smashing up a room or doing a tough guy routine. As his character puts it, "the age of chivalry is past, this is the age of chiselry." The anonymous Time magazine critic summed up his appeal in the 1930s thusly: "He can't even put a telephone receiver back on the hook without giving the action some spark of life."

Blondell, Charles Lane and Cagney

Sparks of life are also given to the cast by the already mentioned supporting players. In addition, Noel Francis and Polly Walters give the film some sass as ladies of disrepute. Uncredited players who give us memorable vignettes include Otto Lederer as a pawnbroker and Charles Lane as a persnickety desk clerk. The bathtub publicity photo above does not really reflect how that particular scene plays out. Cagney never goes into the bathroom, but stands wolfishly at the door. Still, Warner Brothers knew how to market its more raffish entertainments. There were plenty of publicity shots of Blondell in the tub, solo or not.