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15 out of 15 people found the following review useful: Cagney Joins The Paparazzi!, 21 October 2006 Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States
This was great! It's vintage Cagney: tough, cocky, funny and endearing! The film is also typical early '30s: short, entertaining, fast-moving with some wild dialog and plenty of action and humor.Imagine the outcry today if they showed the hero pushing women around as James Cagney did here and in other films of the period. This particular story has Cagney playing "Danny Kean," an ex-con who quits his former mob and winds up at a tabloid newspaper as a member of the paparazzi! (I guess this story was ahead of it's time.) He does what he has to do get a picture for the paper, and a financial raise for his efforts. Along the way are several very pretty women "Pat" and "Allison" (played respectively by Patricia Ellis and Alice White); a number of sexual innuendos (which wouldn't have made it in the picture had this been made a year later); and just a fun-filled corny 1930s ride.I wish a bunch more of these entertaining films, especially with Cagney, were available.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Tough Mug goes "Legit", 5 April 1999 Author: Christopher Hope (housepainter@hotmail.com) from Lansing, Mi.
Everyone has seen Public Enemy and Yankee Doodle Dandy, but if you're a serious Cagney buff you've got to see this flick. Made in '33 it is set in that time period. Cagney gets out of the big house and goes legit, if being a paparazzi is legit. The formula is tried and true; with pluck and luck Cagney makes good. The characters are stock, on paper, but the actors breath so much personality into them that they become individuals. Though we know Cagney will prevail, we don't know just how he will succeed, and that is where the drama comes from. The pace is quick enough that you wont go to the kitchen for a sandwich without hitting the stop button first. Great acting, a good story, a happy ending, bouncy theme music, and those great cars of the 1930s. What more do you want?
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Early Papparazzi, 24 June 2005 Author: jotix100 from New York
James Cagney, who was always so intense, as the 'bad guy' in most of his movies, seems to be having a great time in "Picture Snatcher', this 1933 film directed by Lloyd Bacon.In fact, Danny Kean, is first seen being released from jail, after serving three years, but he has had enough of the crime life. He tells his criminal friends he wants out. Not knowing what to do, he decides to try his hand at photo journalism by applying to be a news photographer at the Graphic News. The friendly editor, Al Mclean, decides to give him a break.Thus begins Danny's adventures as a news photographer that gets the right picture, at the right moment for his paper. He also finds happiness with Pat, the lovely daughter of a friendly policeman. At the same time, he is being the object of a co-worker's desire, something he wants no part of, since he has decided to go straight.The great James Cagney is a joy to watch in the film. He was a charismatic actor that is always excellent no matter what he did. Another surprise is Ralph Bellamy, who played the editor that decides to give the ex-con a break. The lovely Patricia Ellis is the object of Danny's affections. Alice White plays a bad girl that wants to get Danny for herself.The film will not disappoint fans of Mr. Cagney for the change of pace it represented and the fun one gets by watching it.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Good fun with Cagney trying to go straight., 24 November 2004 Author: Stephen Alfieri (stevealfie@verizon.net) from Blauvelt, NY
At seventy-seven minutes in length, "Picture Snatcher" contains just enough action and comedy to support this little trifle.Cagney is terrific as a former mobster who gets released from prison and tries to make a go of it as a photographer for a local newspaper rag, which is edited by Ralph Bellamy.This film is from the first scene, where Cagney shows affection for the guards and warden, has a ridiculous story line all the way thru to the end. But it moves along at a breakneck pace and has several very good performances, so although we might know it's ridiculous, we really don't care.Alice White is terrific as a gun moll on the make for Cagney. Bellamy is good as Cagney's drunken editor.But the film belongs to Cagney, who turns in another terrific, under - appreciated performance.7 out of 10
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: An enjoyable little James Cagney comedy., 8 February 1999 Author: Rohan Berry Crickmar from Edinburgh, Scotland
As usual James Cagney provides nothing short of his usual high standard, in this light comedy/drama with a dark edge. Seeming more relevant now, especially with all the recent scandals involving the paparazzi and it's stars, this movie takes the usual 'Cagney' structure. He starts out a broke bad boy on the ropes, but with his wiley charm and dodgy dealings, does good. Cagney is impossible to hate, even when, as in this movie he becomes as obnoxious as ever. In particular the scene in which the Fireman, comes to find the man who got his picture on the front page. It is in scenes like this, that Cagney shows his deft comic touch, something so under-used in his long and prestigious career. In short The Picture Snatcher, is well worth an hour and a half of anyones time. Although by no means Cagney's best, it still holds up well against an 'Accidental Hero'. Enjoy!!!
7 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Newsgal, 30 June 2006 Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach
I'd like to recommend this to you for a couple reasons.I'm right now doing a survey of films that feature newsrooms. Its a simple sort of fold that wouldn't work today. Amazingly, right after seeing this, I saw the new "Superman Returns." Horrid little move, but it reminded me that Superman was invented in the 30s and that's why we have Lois as a reporter.In the 30s there were hundreds of movies set in newsrooms. Its roughly the same as a movie about the movie business, since the creation of stories and modeling of life was essentially a writer's game in that era. And the newsroom was one of the few places where women could be strong, sexy and articulate. And wow is this dripping with sex.In those days, women could be nurses, teachers, secretaries or whores. Or if they were particularly clever, they were reporters. It was a sort of shorthand, lost today. If your movie put you in a newsroom, it was a stage where stories were made. And to have a woman weave stories and in some way control the world. That was something.The story here is Cagney's typical gangster, head of a gang but imprisoned. He gets out and instead of returning to his gang, takes a job as a reporter. Actually — to make the folding good — as a photographer, hence the title. You can pretty much guess the story, knowing that he is both ruthless in invading lives and sweet on the daughter of the cop who "sent him up."Here's the really interesting part: the sexy, precode blond is a reporter in the same pool. She's the girl of Cagney's boss but hot for Cagney. He's being chased by another broad too. To both he's mean, but the encounters with them are directly sexual. Its odd. We see her as distinctly available, a silly blond. But we also know she is a crackerjack mind underneath. One scene: Cagney by subterfuge has obtained a picture of the execution of a murderess. He is chased all over town but makes it to the newsroom just under deadline. Breathlessly, he dictates the story to our sexy blond to type. He speaks in blunt gangster slang and we laugh at the notion that such a description would appear in the paper.She types furiously, then the editor reads it aloud and it is three times as long, cleverly and articulately written. Big joke. No one notices. Bigger joke.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: A star vehicle in the very best sense!, 14 June 2007 Author: TrevorAclea from London, England
Picture Snatcher isn't one of his greats by any means, but this fast-paced Warner Bros. newspaper movie is a perfect example of why Jimmy Cagney was such a big star in the 30s. It's an unashamed star vehicle built to exploit the star's fast-talking tough-guy charisma, here as a reformed gangster working his way up the ladder on the lowest scandal sheet in town with his ability to snatch the pictures no-one else can get – including one of a woman's execution. The Front Page it's not, but it fits its star like a well-tailored suit and does exactly what it sets out to do: to entertain for 77 minutes. A star vehicle in the very best sense!
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: It May Not Be Illegal, but is it legitimate?, 27 September 2005 Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
Paroled convict James Cagney is determined not to return to a life of crime and decides to go to straight. He wants to get into journalism, but the only place that will hire him is the Graphic Record, the National Enquirer of its day. And not as a reporter, but as a picture snatcher. Now we would call Cagney a papparazzi.Still and all it's a job and Cagney is pretty resourceful at getting sensational pictures. He photographs an electric chair execution and his ruthlessness gets his girlfriend's father in some heat. But later on he redeems himself with his knowledge of the criminal underworld.Considering at where papparazzi are in the social pecking order these days, the viewer of Picture Snatcher is left to wonder just how legitimate Cagney has gone. Joe Pesci almost sixty years after Picture Snatcher was done did a period piece called The Public Eye which explored the same concerns. I think the viewer would like both films and Picture Snatcher if they are Cagney fans.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Energetic Cagney Film, 9 August 2005 Author: mrb1980 from Arizona
Frantic, fast-paced film of ex-con Cagney getting a job at a local scandal sheet working for Bellamy and producing exclusive photographs for the paper. First he poses as an insurance adjuster to steal a photo, then through chicanery he manages to obtain a forbidden photo of a woman in the electric chair. Satisfying story conclusion has Cagney getting the girl and Bellamy playing the chump--again.This film moves like lightning, guided along by Cagney's seemingly inexhaustible energy. Lots of snappy dialog, great acting, and fine direction make this quite a little gem. Great 1930s feel, and watch quickly for Sterling Holloway (wearing outrageous glasses!) as a journalism student. Highly recommended.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: subtle? Nope--but very entertaining, 19 July 2006 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
This is a rather strange early Code film that features Jimmy Cagney as a sleazy ex-con who now devotes his energies to taking pictures for newspapers. But, given his larcenous nature, he specializes in getting the pictures no one else would dare take due to good taste! For example, at an execution, he insinuates himself into the prison as a witness to the execution and snaps a photo surreptitiously--getting his paper a big scoop on the competition. While Cagney's character is sleazy, he is also rather likable in the usual plucky and swaggering way the public learned to expect during the 1930s. However, in the film, all this bravado and lack of good taste eventually came to haunt him--after all, who would want a boyfriend or husband like that?! An interesting curio that is both entertaining and original.
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