We will be presenting one of the first-rate Warner Brothers films for the year 1940… a banner year in Hollywood for great films… and this is no exception.

Though I need no arm twisting to run a film with Ginger Rogers in it, I have attempted to present a cross-section of as many of the great classic film actors as one can when running only one film a month.  Since we started two years ago we have seen films starring, Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Clint Eastwood, Cliff Robertson, Robert Duvall, Randolph Scott, Clark Gable, Jeanette McDonald, Charlie Chan with Warner Oland, Charlie Chan with Sidney Toler, Basil Rathbone, Fred Astaire, David Niven and others along with Ginger.  Next come two of my favorite performers, James Cagney and Ann Sheridan.

I never told Ginger this, but when I was twelve years old, even though I had a child’s crush on her… she had competition.  When I saw Ann Sheridan in King’s Row (We may run that some day.) I just knew I’d grow up to marry someone just like her.  Well… twelve year-olds get over it, but I never stopped admiring her talent.  She carved out an area for herself at Warner Brothers that was not only different from that of the queen of the lot, Bette Davis… but was one where Davis could never compete.  The film we are going to show is a great demonstration of that… CITY FOR CONQUEST.

CITY FOR CONQUEST is, as are all Cagney’s films, his story… not the girl’s story.  However, Ann excelled in these types of Warner Brothers working class films and this is one of the best… and it brings Cagney one of his best roles.  Always great in either gangster films or musicals, here Cagney plays an ordinary working-stiff who only wants to continue working and marry his true sweetheart (Ann).  He’s just an ordinary guy.  But she has stardust in her eyes and therein lies the drama behind this romantic melodrama.  My suggestion is to bring a handkerchief… you may need it.

But there is another reason to watch this film… the music is by Max Steiner, the composer of GONE WITH THE WIND.  His music goes far beyond the physical story of the central characters in this film.  It extends outward and upward into the city itself.  His music affirms as nothing else does, that this is not only the story of the people who live there, but it is a story of the city they live in.  Jack Warner, who had gone to great lengths to get Max to come to Warners from RKO, gives him an unprecedented six minutes near the end of the film for his “Magic Isle Symphony,” a sweeping piece of Gershwin –inspired music that takes us from the subways to the bustling streets to the tops of the buildings reaching to the sky.  But then, Steiner had arranged one of Gershwin musicals for him.

If this isn’t enough reason to watch CITY FOR CONQUEST, there are three other reasons.  It is Arthur Kennedy’s first film after leaving the Broadway stage.  It also stars Anthony Quinn who is so outstanding in his role of a sleaze that I never could forget it the many years later.  And… it has the great director and film-maker, Elia Kazan, in a small but unforgettable role as another of Cagney’s friends.

I’m so enthusiastic about this film that I haven’t even mentioned when it screens.  The date is August 19 at 7 PM at Old City Hall.  That’s the third Friday in August.

AND….. of course we will have a cartoon… and what could be more appropriate than MOUSE IN MANHATTAN starring Jerry from the team of Tom and Jerry.

See you on the 19th!

Paul Becker