Sneaking a Camera into the Death House

 

If you start watching 1933's Picture Snatcher with no knowledge of what it's about, you'd be forgiven for thinking its a gangster movie as you watch the opening scene. It is, after all, a Warner Brothers movie. And it starts with James Cagney (playing a guy named Danny Kean) getting released from prison and quickly reuniting with his old gang.

But, though the movie does have gangster elements to it, it goes in its own direction. Danny breaks off with the gang, determined to go straight and chasing his dream of becoming a newspaper reporter.

He ends up with a job at a sleazy tabloid called the Graphic News. working as a picture snatcher. In other words, he gets pictures of people who don't want their picture taken. His boss Al, played by Ralph Bellamy, is the city editor--who used to work for more legit newspapers before he started drinking.

Danny also gets a girlfriend--which causes problems of its own when her dad turns out to be the cop who sent Danny to prison.

Danny is the sort of wise-cracking, fast-talking character that Cagney excelled at playing and we enjoy hanging out with him even as we realize that what he does for a living can be a little bit sleazy. And we have to admire his moxie.

A key event in the movie is when he sneaks a camera into the first execution of a woman by electric chair. Danny sneaks in a camera strapped to his leg to get a picture of it (a scene based on the real life Ruth Snyder case). 

This certainly demonstrates his moxie, but it also gets him into trouble. The cops are looking for him and he gets into trouble with his girlfriend's dad (who gets demoted as part of the fallout). 

But then he learns that the man who took over his old gang has killed a couple of police officers. He and Al realize that if Danny can use his old connections to find the killer and get some pictures, this might be their ticket to jobs on a legitimate paper. 

Picture Snatcher doesn't quite reach the level of True Classic that so many of the Warner Brothers gangster movies achieved, but it's still gives us an incredibly entertaining 90 minutes. The comedy and the drama are mixed together expertly and leavened with snappy dialogue. And, of course, Cagney is always top notch.