The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRaoul Walsh
Written byJerry Wald
Richard Macaulay
Robert Rossen
Based onThe World Moves On (1938)
by Mark Hellinger
Produced byHal B. Wallis
Samuel Bischoff
StarringJames Cagney
Priscilla Lane
Humphrey Bogart
Gladys George
CinematographyErnest Haller
Edited byJack Killifer
Music byRay Heindorf
Heinz Roemheld
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • October 28, 1939 (1939-10-28)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart

The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 American gangster film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Gladys George. The film, spanning the period from 1919 to 1933, was written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen. The film follows three men and their experiences during major events in the 1920s, such as Prohibition era violence and the 1929 stock market crash.

The picture was based on "The World Moves On", a short story by Mark Hellinger, a columnist who had been hired by Jack L. Warner to write screenplays.[1] The movie is hailed as a classic in the gangster movie genre,[2][3] and considered an homage to the classic gangster movie of the early 1930s.[4]

The Roaring Twenties was the third and last film that Cagney and Bogart made together. The other two were Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and The Oklahoma Kid (1939).

  1. ^ Sperber, Ann M.; Eric Lax (1997). Bogart. William Morrow. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-688-07539-2.
  2. ^ Shaw, Andrea (1996). Seen that, now what?: the ultimate guide to finding the video you really want to watch. Simon and Schuster. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-684-80011-0.
  3. ^ Schatz, Thomas (1999). Boom and bust: American cinema in the 1940s. U of California P. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-520-22130-7.
  4. ^ Hughes, Howard; Eric Lax (2006). Crime wave: the filmgoers' guide to the great crime movies. I.B. Tauris. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-84511-219-6.