Hard to Handle

Conceived in the classic ‘ripped from the headlines’ 1930s Warner Bros. style, LeRoy’s pre-Code caper serves as a frontline dispatch from Depression-era America. It stars Cagney as Lefty Merrill, an irrepressible schemer who turns his hand to any get-rich-quick scheme he can think of, including marathon dance contests, treasure hunts with no treasure, fat-busting cold creams and grapefruit-based wonder diets. He meets his match in Donnelly’s Lil Waters, the domineering mother of Ruth, who’s determined to marry her daughter off to a rich man, not a two-bit hustler. Cagney bursts from the screen with rat-a-tat dialogue and boundless physical energy, and the film barely pauses for breath throughout. Giddily enjoyable, it screens from an ex-BBC transmission print.

James Bell