Blonde Crazy

Roy Del Ruth's 1931 film is a con comedy carrying the looseness of Hollywood before the Hays Code. Bert, a hotel bellhop played by James Cagney, teams up with Anne, a chambermaid played by Joan Blondell, and the two work their way from city to city fleecing the rich. The appeal comes less from the plot than from the pair's speed; Cagney and Blondell made five films together that year, and a rhythm like this can only be built with that much work. The marks of the pre-Code era are plain: sex is stated rather than implied, the swindling goes morally unpunished, and Prohibition is addressed directly. The sudden turn to seriousness in the last section is a pattern common to comedies of the period. One of Ray Milland's early roles is here too. Who it's for: viewers interested in pre-Code Hollywood, Cagney's comic side and 1930s con films. Who it's not for: anyone who will find the period's physical comedy at women's expense uncomfortable, or who wants a consistent genre experience.