In The Doorway to Hell, an early crime-gangster talkie directed by Archie Mayo, Lew Ayres plays the lead, Louis Ricarno, a vicious crime lord, and James Cagney is cast as his rival in what was his second role (billed fifth), heralding the beginning of a glorious career.
Grade: B- (**1/2* out of *****)
| The Doorway to Hell | |
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Theatrical release poster: Lew Ayres and James Cagney
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This pre-Code film was based on the story “A Handful of Clouds,” written by Rowland Brown. The film’s title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films.
The marketing was also typical of the era. The tagline rae, “The picture Gangland defied Hollywood to make!”
Louie Lamarr, the “Napoleon of the Underworld” according to the Chicago newspapers, is a ruthless gang leader so successful that he becomes the underworld boss of the entire city.
He organizes the gangs in a classic protection racket: They pay him a cut, and he enforces territorial boundaries, makes good on losses, and when there’s rule-breaking, a deadly punishment follows. The result is peace on the city streets and profits all around.
Everyone is satisfied except for Rocco who wants the kingpin slot for himself, and Pat O’Grady an honest police officer who has known Louie since he was an orphaned street kid. Louie has a young brother, Jackie who goes to a fine military boarding school in a different city. Jackie remembers being destitute and hungry, and he is proud of his successful brother but knows nothing of Louie’s business.
Louie meets and falls for Doris, a gold-digger who is secretly in love with Louie’s best friend, Mileaway (Cagney). Louie wants to get out of the rackets while the getting is good. With just one surprise last meeting to say goodbye to his associates—and warn them not to try to find out where he is going Louie and Doris marry and head to Florida, stopping on the way to visit Jackie.
In the end, ‘The ‘Doorway to Hell’ proves to be a one-way door. There is no retribution—no plea for further clemency. The little boy walked through it with his head up and a smile on his lips. They gave him a funeral—a swell funeral that stopped traffic—and then they forgot him before the roses had a chance to wilt.”
By standards of the time, it was an innovative film, displaying elements that would become prevalent conventions in the gangster genre, including tommy guns carried in violin cases, shoot-outs, lots of rum-running rivalry, two brothers (one bad, one g00d), and use of classic opera as background.
Made on a budget of $240,000, the movie was a commercial hit, earning three times as much at the box-office.
Oscar Context:
This early gangster film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story.
Oscar Context
The Original Story Oscar went to The Dawn Patrol.
Cast
Lew Ayres as Louie Lamarr
Charles Judels as Florist (scenes deleted)
Dorothy Mathews as Doris
Leon Janney as Jackie
Robert Elliott as O’Grady
James Cagney as Mileaway
Kenneth Thomson as Capt. of Academy
Jerry Mandy as Gangster
Noel Madison as Rocco
Eddie Kane as Dr. Morton
Tom Wilson as Gangster
Dwight Frye as Gangste
Credits:
Directed by Archie Mayo
Screenplay by George Rosener, based on Handful of Clouds by Rowland Brown
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Cinematography Barney McGill
Edited by Robert O. Crandall
Music by Erno Rapee
Louis Silvers
Production company: Warner Bros.
Release date: October 18, 1930
Running time: 78 minutes
Budget $240,000
Box office $688,000
