Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

MartinHafer Joan Blondell and Jimmy Cagney appeared in an undistinguished Broadway play "Penny Arcade" and it closed after only a couple dozen performances. However, according to IMDb, Al Jolson saw the play and liked it--particularly because of performances by the unknown Blondell and Cagney. So, he bought the rights and then sold them to Warner Brothers--and insisted the pair reprise their roles. However, it's very hard to see what Jolson saw in this play--and Cagney's performance didn't seem all that distinguished. And, if Cagney and Blondell hadn't gone on to become stars, I'm sure this film would have long been forgotten.This is the rather earthy story about a woman and her grown kids. She insists that her sons should not get involved with the bootlegging racket. Naturally, Cagney doesn't listen and soon gets in over his head. This leads to an argument with his boss and ends up with Cagney killing the man. So, it's up to Mama to try to save his sorry butt--and she's more than willing to pin it on an innocent man instead.Seeing Cagney in this film is interesting. He's certainly NOT the confident hood like he'd soon play in "The Public Enemy" or other gangster films. Here, he's really spineless and annoying--and you wonder how this role led to better things. It just wasn't that distinguished and the overall film looked like a very ordinary B-movie. The only standouts were Blondell (who was quite good in her relatively small role) and Lucille La Verne as the rather soul-less Mother.Is the film worth seeing? Well, if you are a huge fan of classic films and you are the type (like me) who wants to see all the films of a particular star, then this one is worth your time. Otherwise, it's just not all that good and it's just a time-passer...at best. And, I think its current score is a bit overrated.

calvinnme This busy little film that was originally entitled "Penny Arcade" was retitled "Sinners Holiday" for no other reason than the fact that there were several films put out in 1930 with "Holiday" in the title that were successful. This film may have its fair share of sinners, but nobody is really on holiday in this fast-talking fast-paced little piece of Vitaphone history.James Cagney starts out his career with Warner Brothers pretty much where he ended it - crying on his mother's lap just as he did in "White Heat" - the lap of a mother that will do anything to keep her baby out of trouble. Cagney plays Harry Delano, a tough guy who thinks he's tougher and smarter than he really is. His family runs the Penny Arcade in the amusement park. Evelyn Knapp plays his sister, Jennie. Jennie is in love with amusement park smart guy Angel Harrigan (Grant Withers), an ex-con and handyman at the arcade who has the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time when Ma Delano needs a fall guy to save her son Harry. It also doesn't help any that Ma Delano doesn't approve of Jennie's plans to marry Angel.James Cagney gets more screen time in his first film than he does in any film until he gets his big break in Public Enemy. There is also a pretty good role for Joan Blondell in her first screen appearance as Myrtle, some-time girlfriend of Harry - also someone Ma Delano doesn't approve of. Who exactly did Ma Delano think her kids were going to wind up with while working in the amusement park? Wall Street types? How did Cagney and Blondell end up together in this film, you might ask? Al Jolson bought the film rights to the Broadway production of "Penny Arcade" and would only sell it to Warner Brothers if Cagney and Blondell reprised their roles. Why he did this nobody knows, since Al Jolson was hardly known as a benefactor. However, in doing this he saved Warner Brothers a second time. The first time was in putting the studio on top in talking pictures, this second time he gift wrapped two actors that were perfect for the urban look and feel that the studio had been going for but had been having a rough time succeeding in getting right with the actors they were employing.In summary, this film is full of the interesting minor characters, urban slang, and fast talking that make the early talking Warner Brothers films so much fun.

Michael_Elliott Sinner's Holiday (1930) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Somewhat interesting drama about a small time crook (James Cagney) who kills a man in self defense but let's his sister's boyfriend (Grant Withers) take the blame. The most interesting aspect of this film is the fact that it was Cagney and Joan Blondell's screen debut. The film takes place inside Coney Island, which is another interesting thing to see. Other than that this early talkie is like many others of its day. There's way too much talking and none of it is very interesting. The direction is also pretty weak and there's just not too much life in the story. The relationship between Cagney and his mother played by Lucille LaVerne is also very strange in an incest type of way.

Neil Doyle I could tell from the trailer for SINNERS' HOLIDAY that this is a film I could very well do without viewing--but I tuned in to see Cagney in his debut performance.This is a museum piece, creaky in plot and development with abysmal stage dialogue and unnatural performances from GRANT WITHERS and EVELYN KNAPP, both of whom get top billing but neither one able to act their way out of a paper bag.JAMES CAGNEY has the thankless role of the son caught up in a murder charge, a n'er-do-well punk with a trampy girlfriend (JOAN BLONDELL in unflattering make-up and hairstyle), and a harridan for a mother (LUCILLE La VERNE), the woman who gave The Witch a voice in Disney's "Snow White" several years later. None of these characters have any depth or engage the viewer for more than a few seconds. La Verne is particularly unpleasant in the central mother role.Summing up: Nothing good to say about this one, except that Cagney alone deserves praise for his crying scene. He really throws himself into the part.This is obviously a quickie churned out by the Warner factory in the early '30s as a part of their crime drama series.