Product Details

• Actors: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Frank Craven, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh
• Directors: Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco
• Writers: Aben Kandel, John Wexley
• Producers: Anatole Litvak, Hal B. Wallis, William Cagney
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302283744
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,611 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

City for Conquest (1940) is a long and ambitious film, with prestige-picture scale and production values (including Sol Polito and James Wong Howe as cameramen) and a cast including James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Frank McHugh, Donald Crisp, Anthony Quinn, Jerome Cowan, and--in his first of only two film performances--future directorial giant Elia Kazan. Working-stiff Cagney loves his gifted musician brother (Kennedy) and childhood sweetheart (Sheridan), a dancer with her own aspirations for the limelight; he becomes a boxer in order to pay for the brother's musical education. Triumph and tragedy ensue. The film's avowed aim, and Kennedy's, is to create an urban symphony of New York and the many little people striving against all odds to rise; there's even a one-man Greek chorus--Frank Craven, the Stage Manager of the recent Our Town--to hammer the theme periodically. But over the previous decade Warners' honest, hard-charging, small-scale movies had collectively achieved that "symphony," without the pompous flourishes Anatole Litvak's direction brings to the project. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blinded by the Light, April 13, 2003

By 

Martin Asiner (jersey city, nj United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: City for Conquest [VHS] (VHS Tape)

CITY FOR CONQUEST could have been just one of those late 30s fight movies with an underdog battling for the title. But thanks to director Anatole Litwak and a sterling cast led by James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, and Arthur Kennedy, the result tells a timeless tale based on the adage that Broadway devours the very performers seeking to bask in its bright lights. This movie is not only a forum for Cagney, but it instead functions as a three way tale with Sheridan and Kennedy facing a similar destiny: how far can one go in pursuit of the Golden Dream? Their collective fates are intertwined as they seek the spotlight. Cagney is Young Samsom, a talented welterweight who fights only occasionally since he realizes that the fight business is likely to lead only to post-career punchiness. Kennedy is his brother Eddie, a pianist who dreams of someday conducting an orchestra at the Carnegie, but is instead reduced to banging out cheap jitterbug tunes to make a buck. Sheridan is Peg, a dancer whose eyes are filled with the glare of a Broadway that leaves no room for the love of a boxer who fights only to please her. Of the trio, it is only Kennedy who remains true to his talent. Cagney sells out to win back Sheridan, who in turn sells out by dumping Cagney for a smooth talking dance partner, (Anthony Quinn), in whose oily charm very nearly steals the show. The glare of the lights of Broadway does far more than light up the stage for wannabes. It functions as a metaphor that tests the ability of these star wannabes to recognize the twin-edged danger that stardom promises. For some, like Kennedy, those lights motivate them to try harder while not surrendering their basic selves to a glare that can destroy as easily as it can attract. For others, like Cagney and Sheridan, those bright lights produce a blindness that results in a near-tragic ending that resonates even many decades later.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry in Motion, August 30, 2006

By 

Buster49 (Utica, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: City for Conquest (DVD)

For me, "City For Conquest" is so honest in its emotion that I totally accept what others might call over-the-top melodramatics. It mirrors, on the outside, what most of us feel on the inside, especially in the dynamics of relationships. Think about those times when you were in love with someone and all the positives and negatives that were part of it; remember the emotional level you felt. Then see if you can feel that in the outward expression of this movie. The Max Steiner score is almost non-stop and punctuates each scene with an added flair of romanticism. The acting, especially by Ann Sheridan, is heartfelt.
My problem with the dvd version is that it's restored. Most of Frank Craven's "Greek Chorus" comments, though well placed in the context of the film, slows the rhythm and is totally superfluous. It adds nothing. The version, according to literature I have read, which we see on TCM or vhs tape, is the 1948 re-release edition which removed almost all of Frank Craven's scenes. I much prefer that version to the restored original although Craven's added scenes don't really hurt the heart of the movie.
If you are not afraid to feel and you embrace the unabashed romanticism of that era, "City For Conquest" is a must-see.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same Story, Better Cast, May 3, 2005

By 

Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: City for Conquest [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"City for Conquest" is a sort of conglomeration of old movie cliches; older brother risks his life and limb in the ring to help put brother through school, childhood sweetheart leaves boy next door for fame and fortune only to discover true love is what she left behind, aging boxing manager with a heart of gold, and on and on. What stands out about this movie is we see it all coming but we enjoy it because it happens to be well made. Starting with James Cagney and acknowledging the contributions all the way down the line, we have a great cast of characters. Some, like Anthony Quinn and Arthur Kennedy, we catch early in their career. Heck, there's even Donald Crisp playing someone under the age of 70. Ann Sheridan continues to be the B movie's Rita Hayworth in her role as the girl next door. There are a lot of good scenes including some fancy foot work in the ring and on the dance floor. It works pretty good and it has the expected ending but even that works better than average.

All in all a decent movie. I gave it a "3" because there are a lot of "4" star movies in my book that are decidedly better than "City for Conquest". However, I came away from it with a tear on my cheek and a smile on my face and for that I thought it was worth reviewing.