Ceiling Zero (1936)

I recently watched the 1936 James Cagney movie Ceiling Zero, and it was kinda good. James Cagney was great as Dizzy Davis, the playboy aviator who creeps me out. But he was annoyingly cocky to the point where I couldn't stand him. He wore that stupid mustache again and it drove me crazy! He was also pretty weird. But still, I couldn't stop looking at him for some reason. Pat O'Brien was also pretty good as the head pilot and the paterfamilias of James Cagney; I think I liked him better than James Cagney in this movie, which isn't really unusual because he's my favorite of Jimmy's male co-stars!


Ceiling Zero was a successful Broadway play and the film version was directed by Howard Hawks. Hawks, himself a pilot with combat experience win WWI, selected Ceiling Zero for its nostalgic appeal. The film's action is chiefly the changing weather. "Ceiling zero" meant total fog or similar atmospherics that prevented flight but that some daring flyers ignored, usually to their peril. One such is Dizzy Davis (Cagney), who is chief pilot and frequent heartache for Federal Airlines and is underling of old flying comrade Jake Lee (Pat O'Brien), head of the company's Newark, New Jersey airfield.

The critics ranked Ceiling Zero as near-prime Cagney and certainly a good example of its genre. A forerunner to Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Ceiling Zero, though dealing with aviation, is a very stagebound exercise primarily confined to an unconvincing airport control room. (God, was that set fake! You could easily tell it was shot in a studio or on the backlot! But I don't really care because that at least tells me how or where the film was made. Remember that I like learning how films are made; I don't, however, like learning about the literary symbolism in a film.) Frantically parrying loads of the original production's dialogue at each other, Cagney and (especially) O'Brien nearly chew the bad set to its very foundations.

James Cagney's characters was also pretty childish. According to the book "James Cagney: A Celebration" by Richard Schickel:

Actually, that pencil-thin mustache [that Cagney wore] spoke, if not
volumes, then paragraphs, about Dizzy Davis, the dashing flyer he portrays.
Cagney was trying to vary the characters he had been doing since Here Comes the
Navy, draining it of heroic overtones, and the facial decor said something about
the childishness of his vanity. So did the inveterate womanizing the script
called upon him to undertake. So did a line Cagney insisted on writing into a
scene where O'Brien, as usual representing maturity and responsibility, is
dressing him down. The script permits him to expose the fact that, without
family, and given the wandering nature of his barnstorming career, the
characters played here by O'Brien and Stu Erwin constitute the only family he
has [ever] known. 'I'd cut my heart out for you,' the script has him say. After
which comes the line, lovely in the simplicity with which it reveals the
permanent childishness of his nature and which, the minute he heard it, Hawks,
himself an inveterate scribbler [of] improvised dialogue on the set, told
Cagney to write in. It is: 'Please don't be mad at me.' And it is, of
course, a line most of us start practicing on our parents almost as soon as we
can talk, but which we hesitate to use once we've grown-up. To hear it here, in
this bustling, bristling all-male world is a shock. And a subtle blow for
psychological truth in a unlikely context.

I didn't really watch the crashing scenes because I thought they were too dramatic. And I did find one scene real amusing; it's James Cagney's introductory scene where he jumps out of his plane when he lands at the airport after doing some aerial acrobatic stunts. In a joyous reunion, he is tossed around like a football by the other pilots for hugs. I found that pretty funny; I'd toss him around like a football any day. I didn't feel for Cagney when his friend's widow yelled at him for how his irresponsiblility and recklessness caused her husband's death (he faked a heart attack get out of a mail run to Cleveland so his friend volunteered to take over for him) but I did feel sorry for him when he lost his license. This is one of the James Cagney movies I desperately wanted to see and I can't tell you folks how happy I was I first watched this film: I was overcome with euphoria!! Anyway, I would definitely recommend this film for any James Cagney fan--unless you hate seeing him in a mustache. Happy commenting!!! And have a Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Holiday season!!


(Next blog [for sure]: Something to Sing About [1937]) Clips from Ceiling Zero:

The Crowd Roars (1932)

I recently watched the 1932 James Cagney movie The Crowd Roars, but not for the first time, and it was full of thrills and chills! It's wasn't one of James Cagney's best (or memorable) films but then again, it wasn't one of his worst films. He was on his way to major stardom when he was making this movie, but he was still good as Joe Greer, the hard-drinking hotshot racecar driver who is revered by his kid brother. Joan Blondell was also good as the loose slut whom Cagney hates and Frank McHugh was pretty fun as Cagney's friend. (In fact, it was during the production of this film that Cagney and McHugh became dear lifelong friends. Read the "gory" details in TCM's article about this film .)

I found the race scenes very thrilling and action-filled but they weren't my favorite scenes. In fact, my favorite scenes were the romantic drama scenes where James Cagney acts like a jerk towards his girlfriend. I actually felt very sorry for him when I saw him as a disheveled hobo near the end of the film. He and his brother were split from each other— relationship-wise—halfway through the film, but they were reunited while racing in the climax of the film and they ride away in an ambulance together after the race (they are injured but alive).

It was while shooting The Crowd Roars that Jimmy Cagney had the first of his many bouts with Warner Bros. about his ridiculously insufficient salary; he was only making $400 a week, and we all know that he was worth than that! So Cagney's bout with Warner Bros. was pretty reasonable. He certainly had the guts to fight against the overbearing studio system of the day!(Besides him, Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis also fought against the studio overlords.)

There were actually real accidents during the filming of this movie, and the Warner publicity department publicized them in American newspapers. Also, the racing scenes in this film were later edited into the film Indianapolis Speedway (1939), which starred actors who have also co-starred with James Cagney: Pat O'Brien & Ann Sheridan. And another thing: I actually based the James Cagney character in my sneak preview blog on the Cagney character in this movie. (For some reason, I find a hard drinker charismatic.)

The first time I saw this movie was back in May; it was among the many racing movies that TCM was showing (it was right before Memorial Day weekend, which is when the Indy 500 is usually held, so that's why they were showing car racing movies).

I would recommend this film for any James Cagney fan who loves watching him in melodramatic, action-packed adventure/thriller films. Once more, comments and opinions on this film are encouraged. (A few notes before I go: Because of the car racing, this film reminded me of the Disney Pixar movie Cars [2006]; for some reason, I thought James Cagney's character was from Los Angeles when in fact he is from Phoenix, AZ; and James Cagney is supposedly living with his girlfriend [which was almost unheard of back in 1932] in this movie, even though it doesn't seem that way when u actually see the movie.)