Jimmy the Gent

The latest DVR viewing that's available courtesy of the Warner Archive was Jimmy the Gent.

Jimmy Corrigan (James Cagney) is decidedly not a gent at the start of the movie. He's a sort of private investigator, who looks for people who would be heirs of people who died either intestate or with only distant relatives set to inherit, and then sees that the heirs get what's coming to them -- for a sizable commission, of course. In the first scenes, Jimmy gets ticked at his right-hand man Lou (Allen Jenkins), throwing something at him and breaking the window in his office door. That's the kind of man Jimmy is. Oh, and if he can't find real heirs, he'll make some up.

Joan (Bette Davis) used to work for Jimmy, but he was so bad that she decided to go work for the much higher-class Wallingham (Alan Dinehart). Wallingham calls himself a genealogist, but really he's just in the same business as Corrigan. It's just that he presents himself as being more dignified. Jimmy still holds a candle for Joan, so he visits Wallingham and sees his competitor's classy office, which gives Jimmy the idea that perhaps this is the way to do business.

Anyhow, Jimmy has another chance to get Joan back and make a killing. A homeless lady dies, and in the lining of her coat a whole bunch of bonds and jewels are found. So the search is on for her living relatives. Two are found, Sara (Nora Lane) and her estranged father Monty (Arthur Hohl). Monty is going under an assumed name, because he's wanted for a murder rap. But Jimmy has an idea on how to get Jimmy off and get the inheritance. Wallingham, meanwhile, is representing Sara, so obviously wants Monty to be found guilty.

A wife can't be forced to testify against her husband, although as I understand it there was never any prohibition on a wife who wanted to testify against her husband doing so. In any case, there is only one witness who can convict Joe/Monty, that being Gladys (Mayo Methot). So Jimmy has to see that she and Monty get married. But first he has Monty get married to Lou's long-suffering girlfriend Mabel (Alice White), for reasons that will become clear later in the story. You'd think Jimmy and Joan are going to wind up together in the end, and they do, although how they get there is a surprise.

Jimmy the Gent is a comedy with dramatic elements, and is typical of the sort of programmer Warner Bros. was producing in the mid-1930s. Bette Davis wasn't quite the queen of the lot yet, as her first Oscar-winning performance Dangerous was still a year away. Cagney was a star, and it's a bit surprising to see him in such programmers. But this one fits him well. Cagney is great with the material, and the story is a whole lot of fun once you see how everything finally fits together.

Fans of 1930s movies will, I think, really get a kick out of Jimmy the Gent.