Edgar Allan Pooh . . . "I'd do my best." This exchange early on between "Jimmy" (James Cagney) and "Mabel" (Alice White) is about as witty as JIMMY THE GENT gets. Since Michael Curtiz directed this rather than IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT's Frank Capra, Jimmy is a gent without a heart. A dishonest current runs through every scene, even when Jimmy and "Joan" (Bette Davis) are together again at last. There may be no honor among thieves, but sometimes there's not much humor, either, as JIMMY THE GENT proves. Perhaps best classified as an early effort at screwball comedy which falls flat, the Warner Bros. funny bone seems broken from the opening montage of this flick, in which five millionaires die without legitimate wills in freak accidents. (This may smack of that old saw, "What do you call 83 Nazis on the bottom of the sea?" "U-Boat 377," but the attempts at humor just get darker from here.) I'm not saying that JIMMY THE GENT is as unpleasant as a root canal, but if you have one of those modern "relaxation" oriented dentists who screen movies during extended procedures, I would NOT recommend this one.

utgard14 Con man Jimmy Corrigan (James Cagney) runs an agency that finds heirs of those who died without a will and he's not above providing phony heirs in order to collect his fee. His girlfriend (Bette Davis) didn't approve of his underhanded techniques so she left him to go work for his supposedly honest and respectable competitor. In order to win her back, Jimmy tries to prove he can go straight and become a respectable gentleman.Cagney and Davis are both enjoyable in this snappy comedy, each getting plenty of good lines. Cagney, with his bow-tie, crew cut, and nasal accent, is different than most other pictures I've seen him in from this period. Another fine example of what an underrated actor he was, even doing these WB programmers. They're backed up by a fine supporting cast including Allen Jenkins, Arthur Hohl, and Alan Dinehart. A fun one for fans of Jimmy and Bette.

duke1029 Jimmy Corrigan is an unpolished, unmannered, unscrupulous con man specializing in finding bogus claimants for the unclaimed fortunes of wealthy people who die without an heir. Charles Wallingham, his chief rival, has stolen away his "Girl Friday," Joan Marsh, with whom Corrigan is still smitten. When he goes to Wallington's office to try to win her back, he is struck by its contrast to his own organizational style. Instead of the herd of crude and ugly "mugs" he has working for him, Wallingham's operation boasts a gaggle of beautiful, well-mannered, cultured secretarial hostesses who serve clients tea and crumpets with friendly smiles. Unlike Corrigan, Wallingham is well-dressed, cultured, and erudite. In order to try to win back Joan, as well as improve his operation, Jimmy decides to transform himself into a "gent." Cagney and Davis are in top form in this early example of the new screen genre that would be soon known as 'Screwball Comedy." Cagney draws upon all the vocabulary in his unique body language: his arching back and idiosyncratic walk, to great comedic advantage, and there are smaller examples of the Davis mannerisms that would later inspire impressionists for decades. Both Cagney and Davis had a great affinity for fast-paced dialog, and this 1934 effort contains a similar premise to "His Girl Friday," the high water mark of the genre, as an unprincipled con-man tries to woo back his business partner/girl friend.It's interesting that the two stars' only other collaboration would be eight years later in "The Bride Came C.O.D.," another fast-paced Screwball Comedy. Too bad they didn't make more together. They could have been Warners' answer to MGM's William Powell and Myrna Loy.

sideways8 I loved this amazing movie. I can't believe the amount of plot and dialogue weaved into 67 minutes by Cagney and Curtiz.Cagney just does not shut up, thankfully. He is brilliant. The idea that he was a shady geneologist who goes semi-straight and that Bette Davis was his foil was interesting. Lots of lauggh out loud scenes in this movie.