CATCH A CLASSIC The Public Enemy (1931)

TCM, 5 p.m.

Airing as part of Turner Classic Movies’ continuing, monthlong salute to the centennial of the iconic Warner Bros. studio, this precode WB classic is itself celebrating its 92nd anniversary this month (it was released April 23, 1931). Along with Little Caesar from the same year, The Public Enemy helped set the template for what audiences going forward would expect from a gangster film as well as etch various gangster-movie archetypes into the public’s imagination. And, just as Little Caesar established Edward G. Robinson as a star and forever linked him

with his title character, this production did the same for James Cagney thanks to his explosive breakthrough performance here. Film lovers can credit director William A. Wellman for that. Cagney originally had a secondary role as shooting began, but Wellman noticed the actor’s charisma and domination of the scenes he was in and instead gave him the starring role of streetwise tough guy Tom Powers, who tries to rise in the ranks of organized crime. Set near the beginning of Prohibition — and produced while it was still in effect — the film is a virtual time capsule of that era, bristling with 1920s style, dialogue and desperation thanks to the Oscar-nominated screenplay by John Bright and Kubec Glasmon and Wellman’s masterful direction. Jean Harlow, Edward Woods and Joan Blondell co-star in a film that is always taut, gritty and hard-hitting — even at breakfast when grapefruit is infamously served. Leading into this title, starting this morning, you can also enjoy several other of Warner Bros.’ gangster classics from the 1930s and 1940s, including Little Caesar, Key Largo (1948) and more.

WARNER BROS.