City for Conquest

City for Conquest
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anatole Litvak Jean Negulesco (uncredited)
Produced by	William Cagney Anatole Litvak Hal B. Wallis (uncredited)
Written by	Aben Kandel (novel) John Wexley (screenplay)
Starring	James Cagney Ann Sheridan Arthur Kennedy Frank Craven Anthony Quinn Elia Kazan
Music by	Max Steiner
Cinematography	James Wong Howe Sol Polito
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	September 21, 1940 (1940-09-21)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

City for Conquest is a 1940 American Film Noir drama film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, and Arthur Kennedy. The picture is based on the novel of the same name by Aben Kandel. The supporting cast features Anthony Quinn, Elia Kazan, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh, Frank Craven and Lee Patrick.

Plot

Cagney plays a truck driver named Danny Kenny, who starts as a New York boxing contender. Ann Sheridan plays his girlfriend, Peggy. Being successful as a boxer, Danny decides to financially help his brother Eddie (Arthur Kennedy) to become a professional musician. Peggy on the other hand, loses her heart to Murray Burns (Anthony Quinn), a professional dancer, and she turns down Danny's proposal in order to go for a dancing career. Embittered by Peggy's refusal, Danny continues to work as a boxer and eventually gets blinded by his opponent during a fight, who has placed some rosin dust onto his gloves. Now blind, Danny works as a newspaper stand operator, while Peggy's career as a dancer did not materialize. The movie ends with Eddie becoming a successful composer who dedicates his first major symphony at Carnegie Hall to his brother, who is listening to the concert on the radio from his newsstand.

Cast

• James Cagney as Danny Kenny
• Ann Sheridan as Peggy 'Peg' Nash
• Arthur Kennedy as Eddie Kenny
• Frank Craven as Old Timer
• Anthony Quinn as Murray Burns
• Elia Kazan as Googi Zucco
• Donald Crisp as Scotty MacPherson
• Frank McHugh as Mutt
• George Tobias as Pinky
• Jerome Cowan as Dutch
• Lee Patrick as Gladys
• Blanche Yurka as Mrs. Nash
• George Lloyd as Goldie
• Joyce Compton as Lilly
• Thurston Hall as Max Leonard
• Ben Welden as Cobb
• John Arledge as Salesman
• Ed Keane as Gaul
• Selmer Jackson as Doctor 1
• Joseph Crehan as Doctor 2
• Ward Bond as First Policeman (uncredited)

Production

George Raft was meant to appear opposite Cagney but was unable due to scheduling reasons.

The tramp who "hosts" the film is played by Frank Craven as a sort of parody of his role as The Stage Manager in Our Town, which he had filmed just prior to this picture.

DVD

City for Conquest was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on July 18, 2006 as a Region 1 fullscreen DVD and also on October 12, 2010 as a part of the 'TCM Greatest Gangster Films Collection: James Cagney' with City for Conquest on the first disc of a four-disc set.

External links

• City for Conquest at IMDb
• City for Conquest at the TCM Movie Database
• City for Conquest on YouTube, "fair use" compilation (definition) from film scenes