Double Feature: Public Enemy & The Bad Seed

Two latest Netflix rentals I had watched the previous weekend were James Cagney's Public Enemy (1931) and The Bad Seed (1956) starring Patty McCormick.   I enjoyed watching both movies.

I usually get one DVD at a time with Netflix, but a couple of weeks ago my rental copy of Public Enemy was never delivered to me at all.  Instead, whoever got it in their mailbox sent it back to Netflix.  When I got an e-mail from Netflix that they received Public Enemy back, I called them immediately.  They were gracious enough to sent it back out to me, despite the fact that they just shipped out The Bad Seed already.  So I watched them back-to-back when I got them.

Public Enemy is the movie that made James Cagney a star.  Being one of the people who love  to listen to audio commentaries and watch the special features on DVDs, I loved what I learned about James Cagney's first starring role.  Originally, he wasn't the first choice to play Tommy.  He was first picked to play Tommy's best friend, Matt.  Edward Woods was supposed to play Tommy, but the studio changed their minds two weeks before they started shooting because they saw Cagney doing another movie called "The Millionaire" where he was upstaging the lead actor in every scence he did.

Another interesting thing was that the book that Public Enemy is based on is really called "Beer and Blood."  Obviously, Public Enemy was a more appealing title for a movie drama.
 
The Bad Seed was the movie that made Patty McCormick famous at the age of ten.  She starred in the play version which is also based on a book which has the same title.  Other actors from the play also starred in the movie.   Patty did the audio commentary with another person (I can't remember his name at the moment because I don't have the DVD in front of me at my computer desk.  I still haven't mailed it back yet.) and gives a lot of behind-the-scenes info in the making of the movie and the play.  The ending of the play is different from the movie ending.

Patty is still working as an actress while James Cagney passed away back on March 30, 1986, from a heart attack.

Great movies.  I really had to comment about them in this blog because I loved watching these movies when I was a kid, and it's nice to know that I still enjoy them.