Based on the novel Beer And Blood by the film's screenwriters, Kubec Glasmon and John Bright (who were nominated for an Oscar for their work on this film), The Public Enemy is widely considered a classic of the early gangster films that Warner Brothers pumped out in the 1930s. What the film is best known for, however, is James Cagney's maniacally enthusiastic turn as lead thug, Tom Powers.

The film begins in Tom's childhood, where he and his best friend Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) are a pair of Hell raising kids who get set up with the wrong crowd from the get go. They start off with some small stuff, petty crimes here and there, and as the years go on, they get involved in some serious prohibition era schemes that ultimately lead to them finding their way onto the police's hot list.

A sub plot involving Tom and his gorgeous mistress, Kitty (Mae Clark), culminates with the famous scene in which he smushes a grapefruit right into her face, winds up when Tom instead decides he wants Gwen (the equally beautiful Jean Harlow in her only starring role for Warner Brothers). Gwen pretends she's not interested in Tom until he decides to move on, at which point she falls head over heels for him.

When Matt finds himself on the receiving end of a bullet, Tom goes all out to track done and get revenge on the schmucks who killed his pal, proving himself to be true public enemy…

Directed with a whole lot of rough style by William Wellman in four weeks for just a hair over $150,000.00, The Public Enemy is a fantastic and violent showcase for Cagney's tough guy persona. Whenever he's on screen he's magnetic, and it's not at all hard to understand why the women in the film are so attracted to him – he's the king of cool, and tough as nails. Sure, Tom Powers is anything but a good guy, he's about as far removed from a traditional movie hero as you can get, but that doesn't stop Cagney from getting us to root for his character as he chews his way through the scenery.

While the basic storyline isn't too far removed from other classic gangster films of the era (the original 1932 Scarface being a very solid example), it was a timely film that took a look at the real life situations affecting the cops and robbers of 1930s America and put them up on the screen for all to see. It's probably not much of a stretch to say that Powers was inspired by the exploits of Al Capone, the similarities are certainly there, but apparently Cagney's character was based more so on the true life adventures of a lesser known mobster operating out of Chicago named Earl Weiss. Cagney makes his character larger than life, and in doing so, indelibly left his mark on Hollywood forever with this film.

Video:

The Public Enemy is presented a 1.37.1 fullframe aspect ratio. Print damage is kept to a minimum and it looks like Warner Brothers has done a nice restoration job on this title. Black levels are pretty solid and quite stable and the contrast levels on the black and white image look to be dead on. There is the odd scratch and speck here and there on the print but it's never too severe or overly distracting. A very natural looking coat of grain covers the picture from start to finish, but again, this isn't a serious problem and has to be expected to a certain extent. Overall, The Public Enemy looks great.