A charismatic peddler from the bayous finds his true calling in politics. Is he a demagogue in the making?A charismatic peddler from the bayous finds his true calling in politics. Is he a demagogue in the making?A charismatic peddler from the bayous finds his true calling in politics. Is he a demagogue in the making?
Lon Chaney Jr.
- Spurge McManamee
- (as Lon Chaney)
Lee Aaker
- Johnny Briscoe
- (uncredited)
Victor Adamson
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Carl Andre
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Nadine Ashdown
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEleventh and final time that James Cagney co-starred with his close friend Frank McHugh, the first time being The Crowd Roars (1932).
- Goofs(at around 15 mins) Hank and Verity are walking towards Mr. Castleberry's mansion, a boom mic shadow can be seen moving in front of them, going from the top to the middle of the screen.
- Quotes
Verity Wade: It's these folks. They're all so wonderful.
Hank Martin: Well, all folks is wonderful. You just have to know the right place to kick 'em in.
Verity Wade: What?
Hank Martin: Sure. It's like learnin' to play a musical instrument by ear. All you gotta know is what place to push to get what note. Then pretty soon, everybody's dancin'...to your tune.
- Alternate versionsThe most commonly shown television version was very extensively cut (over 20 minutes) for time, mainly in the second half, to the point where the plot is very hard to follow.
Featured review
Storm Warning
More like a bull in a china shop! Cagney completely unfettered here, carrying everything before him in a typical barn-storming performance of sheer bravura.
Forget all the succeeding shortcomings of the plot, they're there from the start and almost far too numerous to mention, but let's just throw some in - like Cagney's whirlwind romance with too-young-for-him school-marm Barbara Hale and even more ridiculous fling with far-too-much-younger-for-him Anne Francis as a wild-child with a crush on our hero, who in a "hath no fury" scorned moment improbably tries to feed Cagney's new bride to the crocodiles, mix in a plumb-loco trial scene where Cagney props up a dying witness to testify for his innocence even as he expires on the stand and grandstand it all with Cagney's "Kingfish" character Hank Martin getting shot at point-blank range by the widow of the same dying witness when Cagney's treachery in thrall of power is exposed, just at the point when he's fathered his first child and lost the election to boot!.
Only Raoul Walsh could whip all this into, I hesitate to call it shape and in under 90 minutes at that. Shot in gleaming technicolour, with hordes of well-marshaled crowd scenes and with Cagney threatening to self-combust from the off, this has to be one of the most preposterous films I've ever watched. You could argue with some justification that the great man chews more scenery than Hungry Horace, but best just to surrender yourself to the whirlwind, suspend all disbelief and see where it deposits you. It may not be Oz, but there's certainly a wizard at work here.
Forget all the succeeding shortcomings of the plot, they're there from the start and almost far too numerous to mention, but let's just throw some in - like Cagney's whirlwind romance with too-young-for-him school-marm Barbara Hale and even more ridiculous fling with far-too-much-younger-for-him Anne Francis as a wild-child with a crush on our hero, who in a "hath no fury" scorned moment improbably tries to feed Cagney's new bride to the crocodiles, mix in a plumb-loco trial scene where Cagney props up a dying witness to testify for his innocence even as he expires on the stand and grandstand it all with Cagney's "Kingfish" character Hank Martin getting shot at point-blank range by the widow of the same dying witness when Cagney's treachery in thrall of power is exposed, just at the point when he's fathered his first child and lost the election to boot!.
Only Raoul Walsh could whip all this into, I hesitate to call it shape and in under 90 minutes at that. Shot in gleaming technicolour, with hordes of well-marshaled crowd scenes and with Cagney threatening to self-combust from the off, this has to be one of the most preposterous films I've ever watched. You could argue with some justification that the great man chews more scenery than Hungry Horace, but best just to surrender yourself to the whirlwind, suspend all disbelief and see where it deposits you. It may not be Oz, but there's certainly a wizard at work here.
helpful•145
- Lejink
- Mar 30, 2009
- How long is A Lion Is in the Streets?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was A Lion Is in the Streets (1953) officially released in India in English?
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