Grant Wither's acting...


...seemed a little weird to me. Came off as very exaggerated and slightly hammy.

I can't tell if it's Grant, the direction he was given or maybe that's just how people acted back then.

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Slow and overdone -- yes. One reason Withers never became a star, or even a major character actor, though he worked in films (and later TV) all his life.

But I also blame the direction -- acting in early talkies was often pretty stilted and exaggerated. That's why Cagney stood out so much -- he was completely different than anyone else in front of the camera -- intuitive, dynamic, inventive, always moving, he grabs the audience's eye whenever he's on the screen, even just sitting down. That's a star.

As an aside, Evalyn Knapp was no great actress, but I thought she was exceptionally pretty, even beautiful -- much better looking than Joan Blondell. But, like Cagney, Joan had something in front of the camera that the beautiful Evalyn just didn't, and that makes all the difference.

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I totally agree. Did not see much in him at all. Well with Cagney on screen everyone kind of fades to the background.

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Just watched the film last week. Blondell and Cagney were already light years ahead of the nominal stars in terms of screen presence and naturalism.

May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

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