zardoz-13 "Each Dawn I Die" is a crackerjack, black & white, Warner Brothers' prison yarn expose. The Burbank studio shifted its agenda away from gangster pictures to prison pictures. Rather that lionize mobsters, they tackled the grim conditions in prisons but they relied on gangsters to maintain tension and suspense. The plot is pretty preposterous, not only for the way that our hero James Cagney is railroaded into jail and the unlikely stunt that George Raft pulls to get him out of stir. The violence is staged with such finesse that you know what happens even though you never see the outcome. When a callous prisoner guard dies at the hands of the inmates, we see the primary inmate arm himself with a curved hook. The guard tries to get away from the angry inmates, but he is pulled back into the crowd. You know that he dies and you know how he dies, but you don't see the homicidal act. Meantime, this trim 92-minute melodrama emerges as a stinging indictment of corruption both inside and outside of prison. Cagney is as pugnacious as ever, and the Warner Brothers' stock company is as strong as ever. When he fails to get the goods on crooked district attorney Jesse Hanley (Thurston Hall), Cagney lands behind bars when the district attorney frames him for manslaughter in a hit & run. When Ross's newspaper refuses to print a retraction, the D.A.'s henchmen abduct Ross, douse him with liquor, and turn him loose in a car. A dazed Cagney collides with another car, and three die in the other automobile. A solemn, forthright judge sentences Cagney to one to twenty years in the pen. Meantime, George Raft is a gangster sent up to serve life. Society is definitely flawed in this scorching melodrama. No sooner does Cagney wind up in prison than he learns the corruption runs from the D.A.'s office to prison. Director William Keighley and scenarists Norman Reilly Raine, Warren Duff, and Charles Perry don't pull any punches. Everybody on Ross' newspaper knows that he was framed, but they haven't got a shred of evidence to substantiate their contention. While Ross is locked up, he intervenes when a treacherous inmate Limpy Julien (Joe Downing) tries to kill 'Hood' Stacey (George Raft), and Stacey promises to help Ross out of his predicament. "No matter how tough it looks or how long it takes," vows Stacy, "I'll get you out." Ross agrees to confess to the Warden John Armstrong (George Bancroft) that he saw Stacy with the incriminating murder weapon. Stacey wants Ross to turn stool pigeon so he will get a trial outside of prison. During the trial, Stacey leaps out of the courtroom from the second floor and lands on a truck with a cushion so he can escape. Conditions in prison are depicted mighty. Inmates are not allowed to speak unless they are on the exercise yard. A crippled guard, Lang (Willard Robertson), who harbors nothing but contempt for the inmates pits prisoner against prisoner and loves to generate discord amongst them. After Stacy successfully dives out the window to freedom, Lang and a gang of guards beat him up in a futile effort to extract information from him. Armstrong walks in on Lang and his cronies, and he warns him in no uncertain terms of the consequences he will face. "I've told you before I will not tolerate brutality in this penitentiary. I've laid down punishment rules that are fully adequate. And as long as I'm warden, those rules will be obeyed." This is a very important dialogue exchange because it shows that prisons were not flawed institutions. Instead, prison corruption was an aberration created by disgruntled men like the prison guard. Meantime, Ross winds up in solitary confinement, handcuffed to the bars, with no hope. Armstrong visits him in solitary and promises to get him open if he will divulge the truth behind Stacy's jailbreak. A hardened Ross refuses to sing. "You haven't got a thing on me and you're not going to get a word out of me. I know where Stacy lamed to but I'm glad he made it. I'm here on a phony rap and you've no right to keep me here. You've got no right to keep me here. So get this, from now on the rules are off, I'm going to talk when I please and do what I like. I'm going to be as mean and dirty and hard to handle as the worst con in the joint, and I will skull drag any screw who gets in my way." Meantime, Ross' girlfriend Joyce (Jane Bryan) appeals to Stacey to honor his promise to Ross. At first, Stacey hated Ross because he believed the former newspaperman had double-crossed him by alerting the press about Stacey. Anyway, Stacey tracks down the man who can clear Ross, but to achieve his goal, Stacey must go back to prison. Stacey knows that one of the inmates in the pen participated in the scheme to railroad Ross. The big finale occurs when the inmates orchestrate a jailbreak, but the National Guard shows up to thwart them. Stacey corners the canary, Shake Edwards (Abner Biberman of "The Roaring Twenties" who framed Ross, and Armstrong hears the confession. The National Guard close in and toss in tear gas. Stacey bids Ross goodbye and goes out in a hail of gunfire with Shake. "Each Dawn I Die" is worth watching despite its outlandish premise.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . George Raft did not know "how to quit" James Cagney, either, in EACH DAWN I DIE. From their first exchange of shirts to their last stolen embrace, Raft's "Stacey" and Cagney's "Frank" are caught in the throes of a tie before its time. Their hot passion sees Frank sniveling like a babe in diapers during a forced separation, which is ended when Stacey ignores his 199-year sentence to take a cab BACK to Rocky Point Penitentiary when Frank's powerful pull on him overcomes his own sense of self-preservation. In today's happier times this odd couple might have tied the knot at their county courthouse. But in the 1930s, theirs was a love that could not be named. Therefore, actress Jane Bryan was cast to portray Frank's "beard," Joyce, and one of the not-so-tough-guy pair must bite the dust before this story can end, with a literal "till death do us part." As in last year's IMITATION GAME, the best acting performances always are turned in by gay men acting straight when the world is not quite AC\DC. So two thumbs up for Cagney and Raft in EACH DAWN I DIE!!

berfedd The Plot: Wrongfully imprisoned reporter James Cagney and mobster George Raft strike up an unlikely friendship while in jail, and find themselves dependent on each other to win their respective freedoms, both practically and psychologically.I was initially reluctant to watch this, mainly because of the thought of Raft's droning voice. However, decided it to give it a look.Raft certainly plays to type, but is young and relatively animated here, and comes over as a sympathetic character (although not one you'd invite to a dinner party). The plot very much depends on the conflict between his priorities as a mobster and the relationship he strikes up with Cagney's integrity-beset reporter. Raft was known for hobnobbing with mobsters in real life, and is even alleged to have prevented a 'hit' on Cagney when the mob had taken a dislike to him because of his union activities, so there are curious parallels on-screen with their off-screen lives.Cagney is simply excellent. A scene where he suddenly breaks down in front of a parole board is very moving, as are his restrained facial expressions when he is forced to stand back while terrible things are happening around him during a prison riot.The plot keeps one guessing. One kind of knows that the good guy will win, but not how, or where Raft's surprisingly complicated character will fit in to this. It is also a nicely put-together movie, from screenplay to shot composition to final editing.

Bill Slocum This solid Jimmy Cagney tough-guy film offers a striking twist: Cagney's not its most interesting player, letting co-star George Raft all-but run away with the picture.As reporter Frank Ross, Cagney uncovers scandal in high places and is punished by being framed for a fatal drunk-driving accident. That lands him in the Big House, where he meets gangster "Hood" Stacey (Raft) and finds himself running afoul of a nasty prison system while stubbornly insisting on his innocence.Ross is the kind of part Cagney played often and well, not a bad guy but tough when cornered. Cagney's intensity electrifies several key scenes. So I sense he knew what he was doing when he let Raft dominate their scenes together, knowing it would make a better film as well as offer a chance to shine to his friend and new Warners colleague. Raft certainly makes the most of it.Totally cool but never cold, Raft has a great opening scene with Cagney where he asks the reporter: "How tough are you, babe?" When Ross responds by taking a swing at him, Stacey seems almost amused. Even before that, Raft gets off the first of many great lines, this about reporters, "smart guys that are always writing about 'crooks are yellow' and 'crime don't pay.' The DA don't like that because he knows better."Raft's performance, and his chemistry with Cagney as the film goes on and their characters forge an unlikely friendship, is so winning I feel bad not liking this film more than I do. "Each Dawn I Die" is a fast- paced character study of men living under pressure and behind bars which manages to unobtrusively weave serious social concerns into a suspenseful crime story. Still, it's almost too efficient in the way it is constructed, with archetype characters (the snitch, the crazy, the good-natured ox, the sadistic guard) and clichéd dialogue abounding. It seems everyone in this film but Cagney calls someone else "a dirty rat" at some point. (Cagney himself never uses the famous phrase, but does get called "a dirty little rat," which must have stung.)The secondary performances aren't anything to write home about, even with some recognizably excellent Warner players in several roles. But they make an impression in their hammy way, and with Raft and Cagney in the lead roles, it's hard to complain. Cagney's big moments include a breakdown in front of the parole board and tearing up when his mother visits with a home-cooked meal. Raft eschews histrionics, exuding a quiet, almost smug authority, his limpid, beady eyes glowering in anger only in brief, key moments. We are encouraged to like Stacey, but know he means business.Raft also does a great job selling the film's big open question: Why would Stacey go so far helping a reporter who openly disapproves of his livelihood? "You're the only guy I ever met who gave me a break and didn't put the bee on me for dough," is how Stacey answers that, and with Raft delivering the line so naturally, you have to buy it.Prior to this film, I saw Raft in "Some Like It Hot" and the original "Scarface," but never thought him as good a performer, or even in the same league as, the big three crime-movie stars of his time: Cagney, Bogart, and Edward G. But by George, I need to rethink that one! He's not only believable, but a grace note in what otherwise is a heavy- handed, serious film. He also adds a layer of moral ambiguity to a film that asks us to distrust authority and root for the bad guys.Director William Keighley gets you to care about the characters and the story, and works things up to a big finish involving a violent prison break. It still packs a punch. The rest of the film isn't quite at that level, especially a rather draggy middle section, but "Each Dawn I Die" is never dull, and Keighley's emphasis on his two leads pays out handsomely by the climax.Cagney fans will enjoy "Each Dawn I Die" for the chance to see their man in another high-energy performance, but I suspect many will walk away more impressed with Raft, and wishing the two stars had had more chances to ply their trade together.