Warner Brothers and producer Darryl F. Zanuck cast James Cagney in his second film role; a Lew Ayres vehicle directed by the legendary Archie Mayo. Ayres plays Louie Ricarno a smart young wise guy that organizes the multiple gangs of Chicago. The beer barons honoring each others territory and things running smoothly, Louie decides to put the gangster life behind him and marry a moll named Doris(Dorothy Mathews)and retire to Florida. The new bride begins missing the former lifestyle and her boyfriend Steve Mileaway(Cagney)left to keep the crime organized. But things rapidly fall apart and Steve urges Doris to convince Ricarno to return and straighten things out again. Its the old tommy gun carried about in a violin case; reckless shoot outs and murders caused by beer rivalry. This role allows Cagney to ease into his famed gangster persona. Others in the cast: Leon Janney, Jerry Mandy, Noel Madison, Robert Elliott and Tom Wilson.

... even though many people complain that the role should have gone to Cagney. Ayres' baby-faced good looks and polished exterior were supposed to clash with the reality of the gangster that he was - that is part of the whole point of the film.Ayres plays Louie Ricarno, a gangster who has decided to take the warring gangs of the city and run them like departments of a corporation of which he, of course, is president. In spite of some beefing by the other gangsters at first, in the long run this ends the in-fighting and all the gangsters make more money in the bootleg booze business and like the arrangement. Ricarno makes more money than any of them and this enables him to marry his dream-girl, retire, and live the life of a gentleman in Florida. At something like the tender age of 25 he is even writing his memoirs. However, he has two problems. First, you can take the girl out of the speak-easy (his wife) but you can't take the speak-easy out of the girl. Secondly, once Louie is retired, the same old in-fighting starts up again among the gangsters he left behind and they yearn for Louie to return and restore order. When he refuses, a couple of the gangsters cook up a plan to force him to return that goes horribly wrong and ends up killing someone close to Louie. Full of vengeance, Louie does return home, but not to restore order.Cagney here has a minor role as right hand man to Louie and one-time boyfriend of Louie's now bored wife Doris. He's perfect in the role since his openly wise-guy exterior is in sharp contrast to Ayres' gee-whiz personna, in spite of the fact that they are equally violent.Louie is a sympathetic character in many ways. He isn't someone who just picked crime as a career. Instead he grew up in poverty, lost his parents at a young age, lost two siblings to typhoid from bad milk, and just doesn't know any other way to live than dog eat dog. This doesn't excuse what he does, but it is something of an explanation. In this sense this film is ahead of its time in complexity. Also interesting is Louie's almost-friendship with Captain Pat O'Grady, the cop that is determined to get Louie and his gang off the street once and for all.

The Doorway to Hell is yet another step up the ladder for James Cagney as the Brothers Warner discover that the guy they signed for a one shot deal to repeat his stage role from Penny Arcade was in fact future star material. He was certainly unlike some of the classical emoting stars from the silent period, unlike anything that ever had been on screen before.Lew Ayres is the lead in this film, Cagney's his chief henchman. Ayres is an ambitious guy who's determined to bring a little organization to the bootleg booze business in his city. And then as soon as he gets it going, he quits. He wants to spend time on the golf course and with his new wife. The wife, Dorothy Matthews, is bored with early retirement mainly because she's been two timing Ayres with Cagney and Cagney's not around.The story is pretty silly in any number of ways. First the various mob heads resent Ayres taking over, then they resent when he leaves. Secondly, it's not made clear at all why Cagney isn't capable of running this thing by himself, he sure looks capable enough. And the plot where two of the gangsters have the brilliant idea to kidnap Ayres's little brother from military school to bring him back is frighteningly stupid.Ayres, Cagney, Matthews and the rest muddle through this dumb mess. Ayres was already a star due to All Quiet on the Western Front. And Cagney you had no doubt was going to be a star if the right vehicle was found for him. Even if Cagney had been in Ayres's role, I'm not sure The Doorway To Hell would have been it.

To see this movie on the Big Screen(like my Father,his uncles, and my Grandfathers did)would have been a treat. Well,not in my Dad's instance,because when my Dad saw the film on the Screen, it was shortly after Bogart's death and Cagney was already a long since established star.But still a treat nonetheless. Anyway for the Old oldtimers,they had to have the attitude:"This Cagney guy is gonna be around. Can't wait to see him again." Cagney always made his surroundings crackle with anticipation and uncertainty. You never really knew what was gonna happen. Doorway to Hell took risks. Real life gangsters dared Hollywood to make this movie because it hit close to home, for them. It's an interesting film to watch because of the miscasting. A thing William Wellman took note of during the filming of "Public Enemy", and had Cagney and the Lew Ayres clone "switch roles"...because "this Cagney guy has that gutter quality that this story needs to become effective". A must see movie.Especially for the buffs.