James Cagney and Joan Blondell team up for the seventh and last time for "He Was Her Man," a Warner Brothers film from 1934.Cagney is Flicker Hayes. He tells the police about a robbery attempt so that they can catch the two men who put him in prison. One, Dan, escapes. The other kills a cop and winds up in the electric chair.Dan orders two hit-man to find Flicker and kill him. Flicker rents a room and meets Rose (Blondell), a young, sad woman who returns to the room to fetch her wedding dress. She is a former prostitute and needs a ride to a fishing village, where her betrothed, a Portugese fisherman (Victor Jory) is waiting to marry her.Sounds good to Flicker - it's obscure, anyway, so he accompanies her. The two fall for one another, and no doubt have sex when the camera isn't around - it is post-code, after all. Rose doesn't want to marry her boyfriend now, she wants to go away with Flicker. He buys a bus ticket for her and they go to the bus station together. Unfortunately, Flicker has been discovered by Dan and his thugs, who want to kill him.A dark film with two subdued performances by the leads, who are both very good. Cagney does a great job, as always - even though he's not a flying high, exuberant criminal, he still plays a confident man, and you can't help noticing him.Blondell, who did so many comedy roles, is dead serious here and very effective.Others in the cast, besides those mentioned, are George Chandler, Harold Huber, John Qualen - lots of familiar faces.Victor Jory is somewhat miscast but pulls off his role as a gentle person who truly cares for Rose.You're not really sure how this will end. It is a lovely ending, if poignant. Well directed by Lloyd Bacon.

HE WAS HER MAN (Warner Brothers, 1934), directed by Lloyd Bacon, in spite of its torch song sounding title for a musical film, is actually an offbeat melodrama starring James Cagney (with mustache) and Joan Blondell for the seventh and final time on screen. With Cagney naturally playing a vengeful tough guy with good qualities, it's Blondell, usually bright eyed and sassy, going against type as one of the most saddest characters ever portrayed. Often classified as their weakest collaboration, the Cagney and Blondell pairing still contains their usual star chemistry mainly because they're two of a kind.The plot gets underway at a Manhattan Turkish Bath where "Flicker" Hayes (James Cagney), a professional safe-cracker just released from prison, makes negotiations with crooks, Dan Curly (Bradley Page) and Frank "Red" Derring (Ralf Harolde) for their latest job. Because they're the ones responsible for sending him up, Flicker pulls a double-cross by notifying the chief of police (Willard Robertson) about the upcoming robbery that's to take place at the warehouse of the Empire Wholesale Drug Company. Caught in the act, Hayes makes his escape out the window as Curly is killed in a shoot-out with the law and Derring arrested for the killing of Patrolman Arthur Murphy. Because Derring was sentenced and executed for the crime, Curly hires fellow mobsters Ward (Harold Huber) and Monk (Russell Hopton) to get Flicker. In San Francisco, "Pop" Sims (Frank Craven), an informer for the mob, spots Flicker, now going under an assumed name of Jerry Allen, registered at the hotel, and notifies Curly of his whereabouts and instructions. Seeking refuge in Room 419, "Jerry" comes across a woman named Rose Lawrence (Joan Blondell) entering his room with the hotel key to retrieve a wedding dress she had hidden under the mattress before her eviction for lack of money to pay her bill. Because Rose is desperately broke and hungry, Jerry supplies her with food and assistance. Told of her upcoming wedding to Nick Gardella (Victor Jory), a man she met through a bellboy while boarding at the hotel, Jerry accompanies her by bus to an obscure fishing village in Santa Avila, unaware that he's being followed by Sims. Once there, Rose finds her love towards Jerry getting stronger and decides on going away with him after telling Nick that she can't go through with the wedding. Realizing both his gun and Pop, going under the assumed name of Jim Parker, have both disappeared, Jerry decides to leave town without telling Rose. He heads on over to the bus station the very same moment Ward and Monk arrive at Rose's bunk house asking about Jerry's whereabouts, with intentions on doing her harm if they don't get the information they want.Taken from a story by Robert Lord, HE WAS HER MAN lacks the general humor and excitement commonly found in many Cagney films thus far. No doubt this was an attempt in trying something more dramatic and entirely different for its leading stars, even to a point of lifting that memorable love theme from the 1932 success of ONE WAY PASSAGE (Warners) starring William Powell and Kay Francis. For being a Cagney film, Blondell is the one who gets full attention this time around. Although not clearly indicated, her character is that of a former prostitute who's fallen to hard times, using a kind-hearted fisherman for financial support. Her performance might have lead to stronger parts in latter films, but really didn't, for now anyway. She then returned to her usual sassy comedies the public loved so well. Co-star Victor Jory, best known for his villainous types, is unusually cast or miscast as an understanding Italian accented fisherman, a role that might have best suited that of a J. Carroll Naish whose Italian dialect would appear more natural than Jory's. Also in support are Sarah Padden as Jory's mother; George Chandler and James Eagles. John Qualen, who specializes in playing Swedish characters, is laughable here with buck teeth that appears to have been borrowed or stolen from a rabbit.Being the least known and overlooked of the Cagney and Blondell collaborations shouldn't be the reason to avoid viewing HE WAS HER MAN whenever it turns up on Turner Classic Movies. Often classified as one that was never be sold to commercial television might be true to some degree. Not counting other states that televised classic movies on the late show, HE WAS HER MAN did get a rare television broadcast in 1974 as part of the afternoon movie on Philadelphia's own WPHL, Channel 17, a home of obscure and famous Warner Brother films prior to 1975. Over a decade later, HE WAS HER MAN turned up on a public television's WNJM, Channel 50, in Montclair, New Jersey, around 1989-90, before becoming one of several Ted Turner cable channels in later years. Regardless of slow pacing and certain scenes to leave viewers wondering than satisfied, it's the agreeable combination of Cagney and Blondell that makes this 70 minute production worth while. (**1/2)

In his early years of stardom, James Cagney had a volatile working relationship with the brass at Warner Brothers. He rebelled against the interchangeable tough guy vehicles routinely foisted upon him, and if this standard issue product is any example, he had every right to grumble. It's a dour, slackly paced retread of "They Knew What They Wanted," and probably the least representative, most disappointing of Cagney's early showcases.As directed by Lloyd Bacon, this one doesn't even have the saving grace of the star's dynamic energy. Perversely, he plays a low-key, laid-back ex-convict (with polished diction, no less) on the lam from vengeful gangsters who hide out among Portuguese fishermen on the California coast.Perhaps Cagney's moribund performance was his way of blowing a raspberry at the lame material (earlier that year, he shaved his head in protest over the far superior "Jimmy the Gent"), and his lack of enthusiasm seems to have been shared by his co-stars. Joan Blondell, leading lady to Cagney in seven previous films, turns in one of her rare sullen performances as a hooker torn between the ex-con and a naive villager. It's a dispiriting spectacle to watch the Depression-era's most vivacious good-time girl reduced to a cloying, lachrymose sob sister, not to mention an ignoble end to a memorable screen partnership.

This was Cagney's and Blondell's last film together, as well as the last film for each released prior to the onset of the Production Code Administration (the "Hays Office"). It's mainly of interest to admirers of these two justly celebrated screen stars, mainly because of the downbeat story and characterizations.Warner Brothers apparently didn't think much of HE WAS HER MAN (lousy title) and wasn't interested in spending much money on developing it. Despite the presence of two of their biggest stars, this film has the look and feel of a "B" picture, as evidenced by its 70 minute running time. Cagney apparently didn't like the film either. The awful haircut he wore in his previous film, JIMMY THE GENT, and the mustache sported by Flicker Hayes in this film, were symbols of Cagney's increasing dissatisfaction with the roles he was getting, though it would be another year or so before he would try to break his Warner Brothers contract.The film's premise is promising. Career safecracker Flicker Hayes (Cagney) double-crosses a couple of fellow criminals after they frame him for another job. In the double-cross, one of the hoods kills a New York cop and is sentenced to die in the electric chair. Flicker flees to San Francisco, seeking a hide-out. A small-time Frisco hood, Pop Sims (Frank Craven), fingers Flicker for the New York mob. Two gunmen, J.C. (Harold Huber) and Monk (Russell Hopton), head for California to take care of Flicker.Meanwhile, Flicker (now calling himself "Jerry Allen") meets Rose (Blondell), a survivor who apparently has been selling her sexual favors to various men -- one of whom, surprisingly, has now offered to marry her. (The screenwriters make much of the written marriage proposal -- this was the era when "breach of promise" was still an actionable tort in most states.) Rose, despite her immediate attraction to Jerry, is on her way to join her fiancé in his little fishing village near Frisco. Jerry is attracted to Rose, too (and it's strongly implied they have a sexual encounter just hours after meeting), but he also smells a good place to hide out, and he offers to stake her and take her by bus to her new home.The fiancé', Nick Gardella (Victor Jory), is a salt-of-the-earth fisherman who tells Rose that her past life will be forgotten once they are wed. (There's more to Nick and Rose than the screenplay tells us, or could tell us under the censorship standards of that era. Nick met Rose "professionally." Here's a guy in his thirties, living with Mom in little, out-of-the-way Santa Avila -- and he seems pleased to marry a woman about whom he knows little save she's a prostitute?) Rose and Jerry arrive in Santa Avila and the wedding plans get underway. Jerry wants to stay and hide, but Rose is increasingly torn between Nick and her attraction to Jerry. Pop Sims follows Jerry to Santa Avila, posing as sports fisherman, to set up Jerry for the arrival of J.C. and Monk.That's a lot of plot for such a slight film, and it gets better, but the "B" picture limitations get in the way. It would have been nice if the studio would have allowed a little more air into the story, fleshing out the characterizations -- especially the relationships among Rose, Jerry and Nick -- and expanding the film to 90 or 95 minutes. (The quick attraction between Rose and Jerry is especially sketchy and needs more time.) This could have been the much better movie that the story hints at.Flicker/Jerry does the right thing by Rose and Nick, though apparently he pays for it with his life. (Another interesting point: Under the Production Code Authority, a movie killer had to pay for taking a life -- unless the killer is a lawman or soldier -- either by being arrested or by dying himself. We don't actually see Flicker/Jerry getting killed, and his likely assassins aren't punished. One wonders how this outcome would have been altered by the Hays Office just a short time later.) The film ends with a subdued wedding between Rose and Nick -- a happy occasion tempered by our knowledge of Flicker's apparent fate.Fans of Cagney/Blondell will find both actors dialing back their usual exuberance/perkiness in this film and playing characters who are more like real people than in many of their other early Warners' films. Jory tries to be a little too ethnic, but he effectively portrays Nick's essential kindness and decency. Huber and Hopton, as the gunmen, are surprisingly human, as is James Eagle(s) in a small role as their driver. Sarah Padden, as Nick's mother, is a bit over the top but charming, and it's interesting to hear John Qualen in a small role sans his trademark Scandinavian accent. Frank Craven's Sims is an interesting character too -- sinister but folksy. The dependable Lloyd Bacon directs with his usual understated style but should have made more of the exotic isolation of "Santa Avila."To summarize: HE WAS HER MAN is an unusual Warner Brothers film of the period, made as Hollywood was feeling the heat from the Legion of Decency and other pressure groups that would lead to the institution of the Production Code Administration in mid-1934. It's of interest mainly for Cagney and Blondell fans who want to see them in quieter roles that sharply contrast with their usual energy. Outside those contexts, though, I doubt you'll be favorably impressed.(Does anyone know if this film, or plot, was ever remade? Seems like something that Warners would use again, though I can imagine if they did so before 1945 they would have brightened it up considerably. One can imagine RKO doing something nicely noirish with the same story c.1948.)P.S. -- A "C" from the Legion of Decency? Not according to the listing of such "C" films in Wikipedia. What was its rating?