City For Conquest (1940)

Dir.: Anatole Litvak
Plot: An ex-boxer returns to the ring to support his younger brother and impress his ambitious fiancee, with tragic consequences.

 James Cagney didn’t get too much credit as a serious dramatic actor before his Oscar-winning turn as George M. Cohan in 1942. City For Conquest is therefore a rather rare opportunity to see a pre-Yankee Doodle Dandy Cagney giving it his all in a heady, romantic melodrama which demands very little of the bantam histrionics which had defined him for much of the 1930s. An uneven, sudsy affair kept afloat by several strong, affecting performances, it is possibly most notable for its proto-Manhattan use of New York as a romantic metaphor.

Ever In My Heart (1933)

Dir.: Archie Mayo
Plot: A German-American family is torn apart by xenophobia during the First World War, with harrowing consequences.

One of the more unusual early Stanwyck B-pictures, Ever In My Heart is a breathless 68-minute melodrama with a strong first act, an excellent second one and an astoundingly dumb third one. But let’s start from the start.

Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

Dir.: William A. Wellman

Plot: Two suburban teenagers run away from home in search of work after their families are hit by the Depression and enter the dangerous world of underage hobos, at the mercy of police, railroad guards and each other.

 Eddie (Frankie Darro) and his friend Tommy (Edwin Phillips) are wisecracking best pals whose friendship is tested when they decide to run away from home after the Depression strikes their families. Leaving behind a carefree world of co-ed dances and jalopy rides they hop a train bound for Chicago and hopes of a job, but soon find they have become part of a wandering tribe of hundreds. Chased from town to town by police and attacked by train guards, these teenage outlaws drift from place to place and anger and desperation soon explode into violent confrontation.