Angels with Dirty Faces

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Timing: 1:37 (97 min)

7.561/10
302

All about film

Video 2

Photo 7

Actors and characters

Release date

1938-11-26

Country

United States

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre

Crime, Drama

Budget

$0

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Michael Curtiz

Actors

James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur

Producer

Samuel Bischoff, Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis

Operator

Sol Polito

Composer

Max Steiner

Artist

Audition

Steve Trilling

Editing

Owen Marks
All team (23)

• During filming, the underage actors practically terrorized the film's creative team. They regularly confused the other actors with their lines (which had nothing to do with the script), and once even stole Humphrey Bogart's (1899-1957) trousers. However, in the case of James Cagney (1899-1986), they picked on the wrong person. Cagney himself grew up on the streets and knew how to fight back. As soon as Leo Gorcey (1917-1961) started to cause trouble, Cagney punched him in the nose, and from that moment on, the underage actors began to behave themselves.
• In one scene, gangsters smash a shop window. In reality, this is a scene from William A. Wellman's (1896-1975) crime drama "The Public Enemy" (1931).
• While playing Rocky, James Cagney relied on his memories of growing up in a disadvantaged area of Manhattan, and in particular, on memories of a perpetually stoned pimp who stood all day on the corner of the block, constantly hitching up his trousers and continuously scanning his surroundings.
• During the filming of a shootout between James Cagney's character and the pharaohs, he was supposed to stand directly under the window through which a burst of machine-gun fire would be directed. Obeying some incomprehensible impulse, he stepped aside, and when the machine gunner opened fire, one of the bullets ricocheted and hit the wall right where the actor's head would have been had he remained in his assigned position. This incident convinced Cagney of the need to use blank cartridges instead of live ammunition in such situations.