Raoul Walsh

The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties

Ripped from the headlines of the turbulent era between the Great War and the Great Depression, this dynamic, nostalgia-tinged crime drama balances tommy-gun action with epic historical sweep. Legends James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart star as army buddies whose fortunes rise and fall as their fates intersect, first in a foxhole on the front lines of World War I, then in Manhattan’s Prohibition-era underworld. Directed by Hollywood master Raoul Walsh, and based on a story by prolific journalist turned screenwriter and producer Mark Hellinger, The Roaring Twenties brought to a close the celebrated Warner Bros. gangster cycle of the 1930s, and it remains one of the greatest and most influential crime films of all time.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1939
  • 106 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.37:1
  • English
  • Spine #1208

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary with film historian Lincoln Hurst
  • New interview with critic Gary Giddins
  • Excerpt from a 1973 interview with director Raoul Walsh
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Mark Asch

    New cover by Jennifer Dionisio

Purchase Options

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary with film historian Lincoln Hurst
  • New interview with critic Gary Giddins
  • Excerpt from a 1973 interview with director Raoul Walsh
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Mark Asch

    New cover by Jennifer Dionisio
The Roaring Twenties
Cast
James Cagney
Eddie Bartlett
Priscilla Lane
Jean Sherman
Humphrey Bogart
George Hally
Gladys George
Panama Smith
Jeffrey Lynn
Lloyd Hart
Frank McHugh
Danny Green
Paul Kelly
Nick Brown
Credits
Director
Raoul Walsh
Executive producer
Hal B. Wallis
Screenplay by
Jerry Wald
Screenplay by
Richard Macaulay
Screenplay by
Robert Rossen
From the original story “The World Moves On” by
Mark Hellinger
Director of photography
Ernie Haller
Editor
Jack Killifer
Art director
Max Parker
Special effects by
Edwin Du Par
Special effects by
Byron Haskin
Wardrobe by
Milo Anderson
Orchestral arrangements
Ray Heindorf
Musical director
Leo F. Forbstein

Current

The Roaring Twenties: Into the Past
The Roaring Twenties: Into the Past

Hollywood legend Raoul Walsh’s first movie for Warner Bros. is an epoch-spanning tall tale that takes inspiration from the New York City of his childhood and closes out a run of influential gangster films he inaugurated in the silent era.

By Mark Asch