The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)

7/10
Trying to finish off my classic gangster films box set that I bought ages ago. This one from Raoul Walsh features a familiar gangster movie trope - boyhood friends whose lives go in opposite paths. Actually there's three friends here (Cagney, Bogart, and another I don't remember). Cagney of course goes full gangster, the other guy becomes a respectable lawyer, and Bogart is a grey area. It's not bad, but not mind-blowing. It points the finger squarely at the alienation felt by many Americans returning home from the war to an uninterested and harsh society as the cause for this crimewave of the era though, of course, condemns it in the end. I haven't seen that kind of aggressively political stance in many other movies like this, so it was neat.

Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)

8.5/10
This is probably the most epic entrance in film history. Wayne certainly has a sort of untouchable magnetism about him in this movie, and he's always a joy to watch. In fact, everyone is - the casting is a major strength, not to mention Ford's incredible direction. Everything still looks sumptuous and thrilling, even in black and white. The climactic shootout between the stagecoach and the Apaches was intense, with a couple of really impressive stunts thrown in too. There wasn't much not to like about this one.