The Warner Archive has released a Blu-ray special edition of the 1939 crime flick "Each Dawn I Die", based on a novel by Jerome Odlum. The film is primarily notable for the teaming of James Cagney and George Raft, two perennial favorites in Warner's lucrative gangster movie sagas. Like most of these films, this one was shot on a modest budget and consists mostly of interior shots, with "exteriors" largely filmed on the Warner back lot. Nevertheless, it's an unusual movie in Cagney's career because of the character he plays. This time he's on the right side of the law as Frank Ross, a big city crime reporter for an influential newspaper who has been relentlessly exposing powerful elected officials and business titans as criminals. In response, they hire some goons to kidnap Frank, knock him unconscious and drench him in alcohol. They then place him behind the wheel of a car and send it speeding into an intersection where it causes an accident and the deaths of innocent people. At his trial, Frank pleads that he's the victim, but the local D.A. and judge are part of the rackets and ensure he's sentenced to 20 years hard labor. En route to prison, Frank meets fellow prisoner "Hood" Stacey (George Raft), a renowned local gangster. The two men get off to a tense start but when Frank prevents Hood from being stabbed with a shiv, he earns the gangster's respect. Hood concocts a plan to use a forthcoming courtroom appearance as a means to enact an elaborate escape plan. Frank agrees to help him by pretending to be his adversary while secretly aiding in the escape based on Hood's promise to track down the people who framed Frank and force them to confess. The escape goes well but Hood receives mistaken information that Frank had tried to double-cross him, thus leading Hood to drop his promise to aid Frank's cause. Frank faces serving his full sentence, his despair only alleviated by the continued loyalty of his girlfriend and fellow reporter, Joyce (Jane Bryan) and his mother (Emma Dunn), both of whom continue to lobby for his release. Most of the suspense comes from the plot device of when and how Frank and Hood will inevitably resolve their misunderstanding.The film culminates with an attempted major prison break and a resulting battle with National Guard forces, as would later be seen in "Brute Force".
Under the direction of William Keighly, the film is engrossing throughout and ranks as one of the better Warners crime films of the era. On the accompanying informative commentary track, film historian Haden Guest points out that Cagney had been going through a tense period while under contract with the studio, as he held out for more interesting roles. "Each Dawn I Die" represented a victory for him in that he was no longer playing a wisecracking gangster. In fact, Cagney's performance is dramatically different than what audiences had been used to. He's an every day guy who tries to play by the rules under a prison system so cruel that only the warden is the soul official who shows any humanity or compassion for the inmates. It's a largely humorless role for Cagney, who does the unthinkable at one point: he breaks down and cries due to his seemingly helpless situation. Cagney was happy to let George Raft have the flashier role and Raft certainly runs with it, playing the kind of mob boss Cagney was rebelling against playing again. They provide the expected on-screen chemistry but the screenplay by Norman Reilly Raine and Warren Duff tends to be rather confusing at times due to the references to many villains of varying degrees of importance to the story and what their roles are in framing or exonerating Frank. While "Each Dawn I Die" doesn't rank with all those fabled classics released in 1939, it's good, solid entertainment throughout.
The Warner Archive's Blu-ray provides a sterling transfer and a wealth of great bonus extras. On the aforementioned audio track, Haden Guest provides insights into the fact the movie tended to buck the much-hated Production Code which provided self-censorship guidelines for studios that ensured all gangster movies had to uphold the theory that crime doesn't pay. Haden points out that the film nevertheless paints a dim view of public officials by presenting them are rotten to the core. The movie also presents the prison guards as ruthless sadists and the parole board as corrupt. It's surprising this much candor was left in the final cut. Other bonus extras are all from 1939:
A newsreel about Japan's invasion of China narrated by Lowell Thomas
a 1949 reissue trailer
The Oscar-nominated cartoon "Detouring America" as well as bonus cartoon "Each Dawn I Crow"
The documentary color short "A Day at Santa Anita"
The trailer for "Wings of the Navy", a current release from WB that is promoted in the film when the prisoners see it during a movie night
The featurette "Stool Pigeons and Pine Overcoats: The Language of Gangster Films"
"Breakdowns of 1939": a compilation of movie set bloopers
Radio show version of the film with George Raft and Franchot Tone.
This crime movie release from the Warner Archive is an offer you can't refuse.
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