James Cagney and Joan Blondell in The Crowd Roars.

The Crowd Roars is a James Cagney vehicle from 1932 and directed by Howard Hawks. It is set against the backdrop of the then relatively new sport of motor-racing with Cagney playing Joe Greer, a small town fella that hit the big time as a racecar driver. As the story begins Joe has just returned to his hometown for a local race. His kid brother Eddie hero worships Joe and is eager to follow in his footsteps.

Joe at first protests against Eddie racing but gives in after witnessing his driving skills in action. But the one thing he won’t allow is for Eddie to get mixed up with any loose women; such as Joe’s girlfriend Lee’s BFF Anne. Joe goes ballistic after discovering Eddie having a drink with Lee while flirting with Anne.

Of course the kid brother does the opposite of what his older brother wants and starts seeing Anne anyway. During the race Joe causes another driver (played by the reliable Frank McHugh) to crash and die in a ball of fire. He loses his nerve and hits the skids while kid brother Eddie sees his star rise. Of course this all leads up to a contrived happy ending where Joe and Eddie reunite to win the Indy 500 together with Joe driving and Eddie riding shotgun as mechanic.

Cagney plays a different sort of character here. Oh sure he is still his usual brash and dynamic self but just why Joe is so determined to keep his younger brother innocent is never fully explained. Although the script is a bit of a mess Cagney gives his usual 110 percent including one very dramatic moment that he handles well.

The plot is filled with clichés and is the weakest thing about the movie. The cast is good. Ann Dvorak plays Joe’s sympathetic girlfriend Lee. She makes the most of her part which pretty much calls for her to sob a lot while pining endlessly after Joe. Joan Blondell (my all-time favorite Cagney leading lady) gets the juicier role of the sarcastic Anne. When Lee tells her that Joe thinks she is a bad influence on his kid brother she replies, “Well what kind of a kid is he for heaven’s sake, a sissy or something?” Eric Linden as Eddie holds his own with these veterans even though his baby face makes him appear far too young for Blondell.

Howard Hawks filmed some exciting racing footage featuring real-life racecar drivers. There are several realistic looking crashes with cars bursting into flames. It shows just how incredibly dangerous the sport was then with the drivers racing in open cars protected only by leather helmets. Unfortunately the scenes of Cagney behind the wheel (wearing those ridiculous goggles) were obviously shot using rear projection and they take you out of the picture.

The Crowd Roars is not a great movie but it is a must see for James Cagney fans. It gave him a chance to play something other than a gangster and it offers a time capsule look back at the racing industry in its adolescence.
 

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