Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

utgard14 Pre-Coder starring James Cagney as a hotel bellboy with a knack for conning people who falls for Joan Blondell and gets more than his fair share of trouble for it. Mixed bag but enjoyable enough. Jimmy's the main reason to recommend this one. He's delightfully cocky and energizes every scene. The way he moves and talks throughout the picture is fascinating to watch. He was still relatively new to movies but you would never know it by how confident his performance is here. Starts out like a comedy but turns more serious when Louis Calhern and Ray Milland enter the picture. It's not quite as enjoyable from that point on.

dougdoepke Blondell is the perfect match for Cagney. Both are brim-full of personality and feisty grit. Here they're sort of on-again off-again sweeties; that is, when Bert's (Cagney) not working a clever moneymaking scheme. Yes, it's the 30's favorite rags to riches guy working his way up from bellhop to globe trotter. Of course, in true Cagney style, he makes it by ignoring technicalities like the law. But don't expect tommy-guns blasting away. Instead, Bert's an up-and-coming con-man who both scams and gets scammed. I count at least four con-man schemes and maybe more, so you may need a scorecard. But they're clever and hard to see coming. Of course, cheating Cagney's like playing with fire, so someone should tell Louis Calhern (Barker) before he gets burned. And get a load of Calhern's aristocratic nose—I'd love to see him and the equally endowed Basil Rathbone in a scene together. Plus, there're all those colorful old flivvers rolling down the street, which is one reason I like these cinema antiques. Also, I was wondering whether Barker was going to put on Ann's panties or just admire them. And what about his inspecting that brassiere where Ann keeps her valuables. Then again, this is pre-Code 1931. But catch that ending that's a puzzler given the questions left hanging.Anyway, with its typical 30's bundle of energy, Warner Bros. again shows why it was the studio of record, and why Cagney remains truly trans-generational.

David (Handlinghandel) Roy del Ruth directed one exciting, racy movie after another in the days between the advent of talkies and the advent of the Code. This is definitely high on the list; but the lot sort of undoes everyone: It starts off as a naughty romp about a bellboy an a girl he gets a job in the hotel laundry. They are played by James Cagney (in one of his best roles, "White Heat" being probably my other favorite) and the always, always lovely and appealing Joan Blondell.Their spats, his calling her "Hon-EE" are charming. The scene in which she's in the bath and tells him her money is in brassiere is pretty darn risqué. Not to mention his holding her panties in front of his own lower torso and then, very quickly sniffing the finger that's held her undergarments! Their fleecing of Guy Kibbee is fine. He's a classic movie boob and they don't take him for a lot.Suddenly, though, Louis Calhern is a genuine gangster and they hook up with him. And this is not funny. Then the young, not very good or attractive Ray Milland appears and the plot gets really ugly.(I do like Milland in his later roles but he was a baby here.) Had it simply stayed a saucy comedy it would have rated an 8 or maybe a 9. It covers too many bases, though, and the

Ted-101 How would you like to go to a hotel and find out James Cagney is the #1 bell-hop, and Joan Blondell is your blond chamber-maid? That's where we start in "Blonde Crazy", and things get wild in a hurry. Cagney plays con-man Bert Harris, and he falls hard for the new chamber-maid, Ann Roberts, played by Joan Blondell. Peggy, another cute chambermaid, warns Ann to stay away from Bert. Ann says, "He can't be interested in me, I'm not important and I have no money." Peggy shoots back, "Oh yeah ... maybe you've got something else he wants." Bert makes a pass at Ann, and get his face slapped hard. When he next sees her he says, "I'm so stuck on you, I wouldn't mind getting slugged by you every day." Ann says, "Oh yeah," smiles, and hauls off and hits him again. Hold on, she's just warming up. Middle aged Guy Kibbee falls hard for Ann, and asks Bert, "What do you know about the blond chambermaid?" Bert smiles and sells the chump a bottle of booze at triple the price, knowing Kibbee will pay because he's been told, "It's the only stuff the blond chamber-maid drinks." After Ann and Bert rip off Kibbee big time, they head for the city and tangle with super chisler "Dapper Dan Barker", played to the hilt by Louis Calhern. Things get rough, with the con-artists ripping off one another, and thumbing their noses at the sap whose been taken at clean-out time. The dialogue is outrageous, and Ann wallops Bert a few more times along the way. Blondell slaps Cagney when he's bad, and slaps him when he's good, only a little softer then and with a big smile, just to let him know she still loves him. At one point Bert starts to walk in on Ann when she's in the tub. She shrieks and yells, "Hey, what's the big idea? I'm taking a bath." To which he cracks, "Oh yeah ... move over!" This is a great film. The only problem is that the ending is way to somber and dark in comparison to the breezy, good-natured tempo of the rest of the film. But this is one you've got to see. Blondell and Cagney are wonderful together.