The Public Enemy
Encyclopedia
The Public Enemy is a 1931 American Pre-Code crime film
starring James Cagney
and directed by William A. Wellman
. The film relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld
in prohibition
-era urban America. The supporting players include Jean Harlow
, Edward Woods
, Joan Blondell
, Beryl Mercer
, Donald Cook
, and Mae Clarke
. The screenplay is based on the novel Beer and Blood by John Bright.
The Public Enemy was selected in 1998 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
) and his childhood friend, Matt Doyle (Edward Woods
), grow into young adults, the film follows them as they gradually progress from small crimes (such as stealing watches from a department store as children) to worse crimes (such as killing a policeman during a botched robbery attempt as teenagers), after being hired by local bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Tom quickly rises from apprentice to leading gangster by being more vicious and ruthless than his rivals. The bootlegging business becomes an ever more lucrative operation, and Tom and Matt are not shy about flaunting the trappings of gangsterism. Tom does not forget about his more humble origins, and offers support to his pathetically doting, and now widowed, mother. This brings him into conflict with his older brother, Mike Powers (Donald Cook
), a shell-shocked
war
veteran who strongly disapproves of his loathsome little brother. Arguably underlying the fraternal conflict is that Tom’s vicious immorality has brought generous material rewards while the straight-and-narrow path chosen by his brother has only produced a bitter casualty of war. Tom considers Mike self-righteous and hypocritical. When Mike quips that Tom's success is based on nothing more than “beer and blood” (the title of the book upon which the film is based), Tom retorts that “Your hands ain't so clean. You killed and liked it. You didn't get them medals for holding hands with them Germans.”
Tom continues his rise in gangland, but eventually his greed catches up with him when he challenges another gang, precipitating a catastrophic gang war. Arguably, the most famous scene is Tom “getting it” in the end, graphically setting the tone for the “crime doesn’t pay” theme that dominated crime films for the rest of the decade and beyond.
Uncredited cast members include Frank Coghlan, Jr., Frankie Darro
, Snitz Edwards
, Douglas Gerrard
, Robert Homans
, Eddie Kane
, Helen Parrish
, Mia Marvin
, Lee Phelps
, Russ Powell
, Sam McDaniel
, Purnell Pratt
and Lucille Ward
.
was originally cast in the lead role until director Wellman decided Cagney would be more effective in the part and switched the two actors. Another reason for the switch is that the sound technology used in The Public Enemy was superior to that used in earlier films, making it no longer imperative to have an actor in the lead role with impeccable enunciation. Although it was still a risk giving Cagney the starring role, his distinctive interpretation of the character, especially his machine-gun speaking style, was now technically feasible. Cagney was also short and seemed uncouth, compared to the typical finesse of a more conventionally cinegenic actor like Woods, helping to establish Warner Brothers' reputation for films that explicitly targeted working class
audiences during the Great Depression
. At the time of the role switch, Woods was promised by the studio that it would be made up to him with later assignments but this was never followed through and Woods subsequently fell into obscurity. Also, the childhood scenes with Cagney's and Woods' characters were never reshot with the children switched, confusing viewers for generations.
Principal filming took place in January and February 1931.
In the scene where Mike Powers punches his brother Tom, director Wellman privately took Donald Cook aside and, explaining his desire for authenticity in "Tom's" reaction, asked the actor to really hit Cagney. Cook played his part a bit too well, and he struck Cagney in the mouth with such force, he actually broke one of his teeth. Yet in spite of his genuine shock and pain, Cagney stayed in character and played out the rest of the scene. In another incident, live ammunition was used in a scene where Tom Powers ducks around the corner of a building to take cover from machine gun fire; the use of live ammunition was common practice at the time. The bullets struck the wall of the building at the position where Cagney's head had been just a moment prior.
In a 1973 interview featured in the Turner Classic Movies
documentary The Men Who Made The Movies: William Wellman, Wellman said he added the grapefruit "hitting" to the scene, because when he and his wife at the time would get into fights, she would never talk or give any expression. Since she always had a grapefruit for breakfast, he always wanted to put the grapefruit into her face just to get a reaction out of her, so she would show some emotion; he felt that this scene gave him the opportunity to rid himself of that temptation. Some, such as film critic Ben Mankiewicz
, have asserted that Mae Clarke's surprised and seemingly somewhat angry reaction to the grapefruit was genuine, as she hadn't been told to expect the unscripted action. In her autobiography, Clarke stated that Cagney had told her prior to that take what he planned to do. She said she was surprised to see the grapefruit take of the scene appear in the final film, as it had been her understanding that they were shooting it only as a joke to amuse the crew. According to Cagney, Clarke's ex-husband had the grapefruit scene timed, and would buy a ticket just before that scene went onscreen, go enjoy the scene, leave, then come back during the next show just in time to see only that scene again.
, with sinuous green lighting, which shows a puppet gangster shooting another puppet gangster in the back."
The music was performed by the Vitaphone
Orchestra, led by conductor David Mendoza.
, The Public Enemy all 26 of the critics reviewing the film gave it a "fresh" rating. Andre Sennwald, who reviewed the film for The New York Times upon its April 1931 release, called it "just another gangster film at the Strand, weaker than most in its story, stronger than most in its acting, and, like most, maintaining a certain level of interest through the last burst of machine-gun fire"; Woods and Cagney give "remarkably lifelike portraits of young hoodlums" and "Beryl Mercer as Tom's mother, Robert Emmett O'Connor as a gang chief, and Donald Cook as Tom's brother, do splendidly." Time magazine called The Public Enemy "well-told" and noted "Unlike City Streets
, this is not a Hugoesque fable of gangsters fighting among themselves, but a documentary drama of the bandit standing against society. It carries to its ultimate absurdity the fashion for romanticizing gangsters, for even in defeat the public enemy is endowed with grandeur." Variety
called it "low-brow material given such workmanship as to make it high-brow" which attempts to "square everything [with] a foreword and postscript moralizing on the gangster as a menace to the public welfare."
A theatre in Times Square
ran The Public Enemy 24 hours a day during its initial release.
At the 4th Academy Awards
, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story
, losing to The Dawn Patrol.
version of a scene from The Public Enemy was incorporated into The Great Movie Ride
at the Disney-MGM Studios
theme part in Orlando, Florida
.
In 1998, The Public Enemy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2003 the character of Tom Powers was among the AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains, placing 42nd in the villain list. In 2008, the film appeared on one of the AFI's 10 Top 10
lists—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres. The Public Enemy was listed as the eighth best in the gangster film genre.
was put into effect. Three scenes of the film were cut because of the Code. One is of a markedly effeminate
tailor measuring Tom for a suit, another with Matt and Mamie "rolling around" in bed, and the third showing Tom being seduced when hiding out in a woman's apartment.
The film was also re-released in 1954, with a written prologue added before the opening credits, advising that gangsters such as Tom Powers and Caesar "Rico" Bandello, the title character in Little Caesar
(played by Edward G. Robinson
), are a menace that the public must confront.
Pre-Code crime films
The era of American film production from the early sound era to the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934 is denoted as Pre-Code Hollywood. The era contained violence and crime in pictures which would not be seen again until decades later...
starring James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
and directed by William A. Wellman
William A. Wellman
William Augustus Wellman was an American film director. Although Wellman began his film career as an actor, he worked on over 80 films, as director, producer and consultant but most often as a director, notable for his work in crime, adventure and action genre films, often focusing on aviation...
. The film relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
in prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
-era urban America. The supporting players include Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
, Edward Woods
Edward Woods
Edward Woods was an American actor best known for his extensive role in The Public Enemy opposite James Cagney.-Early life:...
, Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, Beryl Mercer
Beryl Mercer
Beryl Mercer was a Spanish-born American-based actress of the 1920s and 1930s.Born to British parents in Seville, Beryl Mercer was best-known for her motherly roles in film and regularly appeared as a grandmother or cook or maid in some high profile films...
, Donald Cook
Donald Cook (actor)
Donald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work...
, and Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
. The screenplay is based on the novel Beer and Blood by John Bright.
The Public Enemy was selected in 1998 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Plot
After Tom Powers (James CagneyJames Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
) and his childhood friend, Matt Doyle (Edward Woods
Edward Woods
Edward Woods was an American actor best known for his extensive role in The Public Enemy opposite James Cagney.-Early life:...
), grow into young adults, the film follows them as they gradually progress from small crimes (such as stealing watches from a department store as children) to worse crimes (such as killing a policeman during a botched robbery attempt as teenagers), after being hired by local bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Tom quickly rises from apprentice to leading gangster by being more vicious and ruthless than his rivals. The bootlegging business becomes an ever more lucrative operation, and Tom and Matt are not shy about flaunting the trappings of gangsterism. Tom does not forget about his more humble origins, and offers support to his pathetically doting, and now widowed, mother. This brings him into conflict with his older brother, Mike Powers (Donald Cook
Donald Cook (actor)
Donald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work...
), a shell-shocked
Shell Shock
Shell Shock, also known as 82nd Marines Attack was a 1964 film by B-movie director John Hayes. The film takes place in Italy during World War II, and tells the story of a sergeant with his group of soldiers....
war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran who strongly disapproves of his loathsome little brother. Arguably underlying the fraternal conflict is that Tom’s vicious immorality has brought generous material rewards while the straight-and-narrow path chosen by his brother has only produced a bitter casualty of war. Tom considers Mike self-righteous and hypocritical. When Mike quips that Tom's success is based on nothing more than “beer and blood” (the title of the book upon which the film is based), Tom retorts that “Your hands ain't so clean. You killed and liked it. You didn't get them medals for holding hands with them Germans.”
Tom continues his rise in gangland, but eventually his greed catches up with him when he challenges another gang, precipitating a catastrophic gang war. Arguably, the most famous scene is Tom “getting it” in the end, graphically setting the tone for the “crime doesn’t pay” theme that dominated crime films for the rest of the decade and beyond.
Cast (in credits order)
- James CagneyJames CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
as Tom Powers - Jean HarlowJean HarlowJean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
as Gwen Allen - Edward WoodsEdward WoodsEdward Woods was an American actor best known for his extensive role in The Public Enemy opposite James Cagney.-Early life:...
as Matt Doyle - Joan BlondellJoan BlondellRose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
as Mamie - Donald CookDonald Cook (actor)Donald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work...
as Mike Powers - Leslie FentonLeslie FentonLeslie Fenton was an English-born American actor and film director. He appeared in 62 films between 1923 and 1945....
as Nails Nathan - Beryl MercerBeryl MercerBeryl Mercer was a Spanish-born American-based actress of the 1920s and 1930s.Born to British parents in Seville, Beryl Mercer was best-known for her motherly roles in film and regularly appeared as a grandmother or cook or maid in some high profile films...
as Ma Powers - Robert Emmett O'Connor as Paddy Ryan
- Murray KinnellMurray KinnellMurray Kinnell was an English actor. He appeared in 71 films between 1930 and 1937. He was best known as the two-timing petty-larceny hood Putty Nose in The Public Enemy...
as Putty Nose - Mae ClarkeMae ClarkeMae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as Kitty
Uncredited cast members include Frank Coghlan, Jr., Frankie Darro
Frankie Darro
Frankie Darro was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Darro...
, Snitz Edwards
Snitz Edwards
Snitz Edwards was a notable character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s.- Background and career on the stage :...
, Douglas Gerrard
Douglas Gerrard
Douglas Gerrard was an Irish actor and film director of the silent and early sound era. He appeared in 116 films between 1913 and 1949. He also directed 23 films between 1916 and 1920....
, Robert Homans
Robert Homans
Robert Edward Homans was an American film actor. He appeared in some 400 films between 1917 and 1946.He was born in Malden, Massachusetts and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
, Eddie Kane
Eddie Kane
Eddie Kane was an American actor who appeared in over 250 productions from 1928 to 1959.Some of his more famous films include The Public Enemy , The Mummy , Mr. Deeds Goes to Town , Mr...
, Helen Parrish
Helen Parrish
Helen Parrish was an American movie actress, the daughter of stage and bit film actress Laura Parrish.-Career:...
, Mia Marvin
Mia Marvin
Mia Marvin was an American Actress best known for her role in The Public Enemy as the woman who houses and seduces James Cagney...
, Lee Phelps
Lee Phelps
Lee Phelps was an American film actor. He appeared in over 600 films between 1917 and 1953, mainly in uncredited roles...
, Russ Powell
Russ Powell
Russ Powell was an American film actor. He appeared in 186 films between 1915 and 1943.He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Kindled Courage...
, Sam McDaniel
Sam McDaniel
Sam McDaniel was an African American actor who appeared in over 210 television shows and films between 1929 and 1950. He was the older brother of actresses Hattie McDaniel and Etta McDaniel. born in Wichita, Kansas, to former slaves. He was one of 13 children...
, Purnell Pratt
Purnell Pratt
Purnell Pratt was an American film actor. He appeared in 114 films between 1914 and 1941.He was born in Bethel, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* On with the Show...
and Lucille Ward
Lucille Ward
Lucille Ward was an American film actress. She appeared in 144 films between 1915 and 1944.She was born and died in Dayton, Ohio.-Selected filmography:* My Fighting Gentleman...
.
Production
Many of the characters in the film were based on actual people. Edward WoodsEdward Woods
Edward Woods was an American actor best known for his extensive role in The Public Enemy opposite James Cagney.-Early life:...
was originally cast in the lead role until director Wellman decided Cagney would be more effective in the part and switched the two actors. Another reason for the switch is that the sound technology used in The Public Enemy was superior to that used in earlier films, making it no longer imperative to have an actor in the lead role with impeccable enunciation. Although it was still a risk giving Cagney the starring role, his distinctive interpretation of the character, especially his machine-gun speaking style, was now technically feasible. Cagney was also short and seemed uncouth, compared to the typical finesse of a more conventionally cinegenic actor like Woods, helping to establish Warner Brothers' reputation for films that explicitly targeted working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
audiences during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. At the time of the role switch, Woods was promised by the studio that it would be made up to him with later assignments but this was never followed through and Woods subsequently fell into obscurity. Also, the childhood scenes with Cagney's and Woods' characters were never reshot with the children switched, confusing viewers for generations.
Principal filming took place in January and February 1931.
In the scene where Mike Powers punches his brother Tom, director Wellman privately took Donald Cook aside and, explaining his desire for authenticity in "Tom's" reaction, asked the actor to really hit Cagney. Cook played his part a bit too well, and he struck Cagney in the mouth with such force, he actually broke one of his teeth. Yet in spite of his genuine shock and pain, Cagney stayed in character and played out the rest of the scene. In another incident, live ammunition was used in a scene where Tom Powers ducks around the corner of a building to take cover from machine gun fire; the use of live ammunition was common practice at the time. The bullets struck the wall of the building at the position where Cagney's head had been just a moment prior.
Grapefruit scene
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
documentary The Men Who Made The Movies: William Wellman, Wellman said he added the grapefruit "hitting" to the scene, because when he and his wife at the time would get into fights, she would never talk or give any expression. Since she always had a grapefruit for breakfast, he always wanted to put the grapefruit into her face just to get a reaction out of her, so she would show some emotion; he felt that this scene gave him the opportunity to rid himself of that temptation. Some, such as film critic Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz is an American radio and television personality, known for his work as a TV journalist, news anchor, and film critic...
, have asserted that Mae Clarke's surprised and seemingly somewhat angry reaction to the grapefruit was genuine, as she hadn't been told to expect the unscripted action. In her autobiography, Clarke stated that Cagney had told her prior to that take what he planned to do. She said she was surprised to see the grapefruit take of the scene appear in the final film, as it had been her understanding that they were shooting it only as a joke to amuse the crew. According to Cagney, Clarke's ex-husband had the grapefruit scene timed, and would buy a ticket just before that scene went onscreen, go enjoy the scene, leave, then come back during the next show just in time to see only that scene again.
Prologue and epilogue
The film featured a prologue "apprising the audience that the hoodlums and terrorists of the underworld must be exposed and the glamour ripped from them" and an epilogue "pointing the moral that civilization is on her knees and inquiring loudly as to what is to be done." At the film's premiere in New York City, the film's prologue was preceded by a "brief stage tableauTableau vivant
Tableau vivant is French for "living picture." The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move...
, with sinuous green lighting, which shows a puppet gangster shooting another puppet gangster in the back."
Music
The soundtrack included the following songs:- "I'm Forever Blowing BubblesI'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is a popular song which debuted in 1918 and was first published in 1919.-Creation:The music was written by John Kellette. The lyrics are credited to "Jaan Kenbrovin", actually a collective pseudonym for the writers James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent...
" - "Hesitation BluesHesitation Blues"Hesitation Blues" is a popular song adapted from a traditional tune. One version was published by Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton, and Art Gillham. Another was published by W.C. Handy as "Hesitating Blues." Because the tune is a traditional tune many artists have given themselves credit as...
" - "Toot Toot Tootsie (Goodbye)"
- "Maple Leaf RagMaple Leaf RagThe "Maple Leaf Rag" is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. As a result Joplin was called the "King...
" - "Brighten the Corner Where You Are"
- "Smiles"
- "I Surrender DearI Surrender Dear"I Surrender Dear" is a song composed by Harry Barris with lyrics by Gordon Clifford. It was first performed by Bing Crosby in the film I Surrender Dear and became his first solo hit. It has been covered by a large number of artists, making it a jazz and pop standard...
"
The music was performed by the Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
Orchestra, led by conductor David Mendoza.
Reception
At Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, The Public Enemy all 26 of the critics reviewing the film gave it a "fresh" rating. Andre Sennwald, who reviewed the film for The New York Times upon its April 1931 release, called it "just another gangster film at the Strand, weaker than most in its story, stronger than most in its acting, and, like most, maintaining a certain level of interest through the last burst of machine-gun fire"; Woods and Cagney give "remarkably lifelike portraits of young hoodlums" and "Beryl Mercer as Tom's mother, Robert Emmett O'Connor as a gang chief, and Donald Cook as Tom's brother, do splendidly." Time magazine called The Public Enemy "well-told" and noted "Unlike City Streets
City Streets (film)
City Streets is a 1931 Pre-Code crime film based upon a story written by Dashiell Hammett, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, and starring Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas and Guy Kibbee.-Plot:...
, this is not a Hugoesque fable of gangsters fighting among themselves, but a documentary drama of the bandit standing against society. It carries to its ultimate absurdity the fashion for romanticizing gangsters, for even in defeat the public enemy is endowed with grandeur." Variety
called it "low-brow material given such workmanship as to make it high-brow" which attempts to "square everything [with] a foreword and postscript moralizing on the gangster as a menace to the public welfare."
A theatre in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
ran The Public Enemy 24 hours a day during its initial release.
At the 4th Academy Awards
4th Academy Awards
The 4th Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened in 1930/1931, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the ceremony, nine-year-old Jackie Cooper, nominated for Best Actor in "Skippy," fell asleep on the shoulder of Best Actress nominee Marie Dressler...
, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story
Academy Award for Best Story
The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1957, when it was eliminated in favor of the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, which had been introduced in 1940.-1920s:...
, losing to The Dawn Patrol.
Subsequent recognition
In 1989, an animatronicsAnimatronics
Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem animate rather than robotic. Animatronic creations include animals , plants and even mythical creatures...
version of a scene from The Public Enemy was incorporated into The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride
The Great Movie Ride is an attraction at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. It is a dark ride which takes guests through scenes from famous films throughout motion picture history....
at the Disney-MGM Studios
Disney-MGM Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
theme part in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
.
In 1998, The Public Enemy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2003 the character of Tom Powers was among the AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains, placing 42nd in the villain list. In 2008, the film appeared on one of the AFI's 10 Top 10
AFI's 10 Top 10
AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
lists—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres. The Public Enemy was listed as the eighth best in the gangster film genre.
Re-releases
The film was re-released in 1941 after the Production CodeProduction Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
was put into effect. Three scenes of the film were cut because of the Code. One is of a markedly effeminate
Effeminacy
Effeminacy describes traits in a human male, that are more often associated with traditional feminine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or gender roles rather than masculine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or roles....
tailor measuring Tom for a suit, another with Matt and Mamie "rolling around" in bed, and the third showing Tom being seduced when hiding out in a woman's apartment.
The film was also re-released in 1954, with a written prologue added before the opening credits, advising that gangsters such as Tom Powers and Caesar "Rico" Bandello, the title character in Little Caesar
Little Caesar (film)
Little Caesar is a 1931 Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film. It tells the story of a hoodlum who ascends the ranks of organized crime until he reaches its upper echelons. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, the film stars Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. The story was adapted by Francis Edward...
(played by Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
), are a menace that the public must confront.