Film for 28 March 2008: ACTING

ACTING: James Cagney as Actor and Star
The Public Enemy

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The Public Enemy (William Wellman, 1931) was released the same year as Frankenstein, two films that defined their genres for decades to come. Though solidly directed by William Wellman, The Public Enemy (sometimes known as Public Enemy) is known more for the star-making performance of James Cagney than for its direction.
   Cagney, as gangster Tom Powers, not only built a character but a star image that would last for decades. One of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history was the scene when Cagney rubs a grapefruit in Mae Clark's face (see slide show, left).
    Not only did it typecast Cagney but it also allowed him to play effectively against type, such as in his Oscar-winning role as song composer, George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942).
    Yet more than other elements of cinema, acting standards can be vague and subjective. Still there should be informed opinons of an acting performance, such as gestures, expressive use of objects, costume, accent, role consistency and interiority (the actor should be a character, not just play a character or read lines), movement, vocal production, characteristic gestures, etc.
    Our goal in this part of our study of the elements of cinema is to make the judgment and understanding of acting as objective as possible, though even informed opinion will differ. Yet even today evaluations of acting performances rarely point out why a performance is good other than to say, "he's convincing" or "she lives the part."
    The educated student should be more precise and objective than this. Attached are files that try to point out why Cagney's performance in The Public Enemy was both expressive as acting and star-making as image.

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