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The Doorway to Hell

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Director
  
Archie Mayo

Screenplay
  
George Rosener

Duration
  

Language
  
English

6.6/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Crime, Drama

Story by
  
Rowland Brown

Country
  
United States

The Doorway to Hell movie poster

Release date
  
October 18, 1930 (1930-10-18)

Based on
  
Handful of Clouds  by Rowland Brown

Writer
  
Rowland Brown (based on the story "A Handful of Clouds" by), George Rosener (screen play), George Rosener (dialogue)

Cast
  
Lew Ayres
(Louie Ricarno),
Charles Judels
(Sam Marconi - Florist (scenes deleted)),
Dorothy Mathews
(Doris Ricarno),
Leon Janney
(Jackie Lamarr),
James Cagney
(Steve Mileaway),
Kenneth Thomson
(Captain of Academy)

Similar movies
  
Lucky Number Slevin
,
The Whole Nine Yards
,
Eastern Promises
,
A Bronx Tale
,
Election
,
Chopper

The doorway to hell 1930 james cagney


The Doorway to Hell is a 1930 American Pre-Code crime film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Lew Ayres and James Cagney, in his second film role. The film was based on the story A Handful of Clouds, written by Rowland Brown. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films. It was marketed with the tagline, "The picture Gangland defied Hollywood to make!"

Contents

The Doorway to Hell movie scenes

the doorway to hell 1930 the trailer


Plot

The Doorway to Hell movie scenes

Lew Ayres plays as a young Chicago gang leader who is so successful that he becomes the underworld boss of the entire city. He meets Dorothy Mathews and immediately falls in love with her. Unfortunately, Mathews is a gold-digger who is secretly in love with Ayres's best friend, played by James Cagney. Ayres ends up marrying Mathews, who continues to be unfaithful to him during her marriage. Ayres eventually gets tired of being a gangster and attempts to go straight. Against the advice of all his underworld friends, Ayres buys a house in the country in Florida and brings along his wife. Cagney is left in charge of the gangsters and through his ineptitude things quickly become chaotic. Although his former friends plead for Ayres to return he ignores them and spends his time in the country writing his autobiography. In order to force Ayres to come back, some of the gangsters kidnap his younger brother, played by Leon Janney. Unfortunately, Janney is accidentally killed by a truck. Swearing revenge on the men who killed his brother, Ayres returns to the city.

Cast

The Doorway to Hell wwwgstaticcomtvthumbmovieposters10193p10193

Cast as Listed in the Opening Credits

Reception

A recent review by Allmovie that was reprinted in The New York Times noted that the picture was "an innovative film and featured a lot of elements that would become standards in the gangster genre including tommy guns carried in violin cases, terrible shoot-outs, and lots of rum-running rivalry."

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay

References

The Doorway to Hell Wikipedia
The Doorway to Hell IMDb The Doorway to Hell themoviedb.org