James Cagney Films of the 1930s by James L. Neibaur (review)

James L. Neibaur’s James Cagney Films of the 1930s presents an overview of Cagney’s early acting career, beginning with his work as a vaudevillian actor, then focusing on his transition into the Warner Brothers acting stables, and culminating with his emergence as a top tier Hollywood persona. The book follows a chronological history of Cagney’s 1930s films, with each of its thirty-four chapters focusing on one film, and it culminates in a brief discussion of Cagney’s career after the 1930s. Chapters follow a steady formula of brief historical context, plot summary, light character analysis, relevant trade reviews from the era, and a summary of how the film in question affected Cagney’s career trajectory.

Neibaur certainly provides a comprehensive history of the films that helped define Cagney’s star persona. Moreover, he outlines a trajectory that would continue after the 1930s and encompass some of Cagney’s most notable roles. Neibaur is clearly well versed in Cagney’s personal and professional life. Though a great deal of research went into the book, however, James Cagney Films of the 1930s never feels like more than a compilation of anecdotes. The repetitive, formulaic nature of each chapter prevents the book from being a coherent narrative. Neibaur has a propensity to include various versions of unsubstantiated rumors even while admitting that nobody knows whether the stories are true. Yet he doesn’t question whether this procedure is conducive to painting an accurate picture of his subject. Indeed, if the reader is looking for interesting personal stories from Cagney’s life, she would be better suited to read John McCabe’s biography, Cagney (Knopf, 1997). Given that Neibaur positions his book as a scholarly work, perhaps a different methodology would have provided more insight into Cagney’s early career and the business culture of 1930s Hollywood. Cagney’s complex and tenuous relationship with Warner Brothers could yield an interesting examination of Hollywood business practices at that time. However, Neibaur’s focus on minor anecdotes, as well as plot and character summaries (which are largely available already), results in a fairly superficial tour through Cagney’s 1930s career.

The highlight of most chapters is how Neibaur positions the historical context around a given film, including the casting process that led to Cagney’s participation in the film. Neibaur’s extensive knowledge about Cagney’s career is evident in his chapter introductions and conclusions, but he does not elaborate on the importance of Cagney’s career within the context of the studio system beyond his acting talent. One cannot help but wish Neibaur had devoted more words to business and historical analysis rather than repeating rumors or reprinting long reviews from the time about the given film. While these reviews provide an interesting glimpse into how Cagney was critically received, it would have been more helpful to the reader had he selected sections that discuss Cagney specifically rather than having us sift through longer passages for the relevant details. At times, moreover, Neibaur includes long quotes from other actors that are at best tangentially related to the subject at hand. While a broad look at Cagney’s early career is certainly an acceptable premise, the same broad strokes approach to primary source research and critical analysis leaves the reader feeling as though the book could have been more precise and concise. Similarly, the writing itself is unpolished, which can disrupt its narrative flow. There are a distracting number of typos and run-on sentences, and Neibaur often repeats himself both within and across chapters. As it stands, the reader is forced to act as both consumer and editor, cleaning up prose, eliminating redundant and extraneous information, and piecing together relevant anecdotes. More careful editing could have gone a long way toward making this book more accessible to Cagney fans and scholars.

Neibaur devotes much of each chapter to performance analysis. Unfortunately, the discussion of Cagney’s various performances are often rather superficial. Neibaur begins to broach Cagney’s contributions to...