The Public Enemy

Name: The Public Enemy
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: May 15, 1931
Duration: 83 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Beryl Mercer, Donald Cook, Edward Woods, James Cagney, Jean Harlow

1931

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Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: May 15, 1931 | Passed

Starring: Beryl Mercer, Donald Cook, Edward Woods, James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell, Leslie Fenton, Lev Abramov, Murray Kinnell, Robert Emmett O'Connor

Summary: An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.

Director: William A. Wellman

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: Passed

Runtime: 83 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Empire Jake Hamilton

Still a classic of the gangster genre, showing neither glorifying the life nor pulling it's punches. Read full review

100

Josh Larsen

Crime may not pay, but The Public Enemy was one of the first pictures to recognize that it sure can be exciting to watch. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

This criminal tale excited audiences and landed the kinetic Cagney on the movie map. Now a classic, this is the movie in which Cagney famously crams a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face. Read full review

Crosby Day

Director William Wellman's The Public Enemy (1931), which was billed at the time of its release as being "devastatingly real," was the first film to seriously examine the causes of criminal behavior and to portray the gangster as a product of his environment. [22 Aug 1999, p.60]

Staff (Not Credited)

There's no lace on this picture. It's raw and brutal. It's low-brow material given such workmanship as to make it high-brow. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Time hasn’t been terribly kind to this 1931 gangster drama, which suffers more than it should from the glitches of early sound. But James Cagney’s portrayal of a bootlegging runt is truly electrifying (he’d already made three films, but this one made him a star), and Jean Harlow makes the tartiest tart imaginable. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

It is just another gangster film...weaker than most in its story, stronger than most in its acting, and like most maintaining a certain level of interest through the last burst of machine-gun fire. Read full review

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