Each Dawn I Die

Infobox Film | name = Each Dawn I Die


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director = William Keighley
producer = David Lewis
Hal B. Wallis
Jack L. Warner
writer = Warren Duff
Jerome Odlum (novel)
Norman Reilly Raine
Charles Perry (uncredited)
starring = James Cagney
George Raft
Jane Bryan
George Bancroft
music = Max Steiner
cinematography = Arthur Edeson
editing = Thomas Richards
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = 22 July 1939
runtime = 92 min
language = English
imdb_id = 0031260Infobox actor
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"Each Dawn I Die" is a 1939 gangster film featuring James Cagney and George Raft in their only movie together as leads, although Raft had made an unbilled appearance in a 1932 Cagney vehicle called "Taxi!" in which he won a dance contest against Cagney. The plotline involves a crusading reporter (Cagney) who is unjustly thrown in jail and befriends a famous gangster (Raft). George Bancroft portrays the warden. The movie was a box-office smash and remains a favorite among aficionados of Warner Bros. gangster movies.

Plot summary

Frank Ross (Cagney) is a crusading reporter for a big city newspaper who is on the trail of a crooked politician running for governor. Early in the movie he is framed on a charge of automotive manslaughter, and is thrown in prison for up to twenty years.

He meets a gangster, Stacey (Raft), who falls into his debt when he saves him from being killed. Ross' reporter friends outside are trying to help him win vindication, by finding the real culprits, but they are meeting limited success. Stacey agrees to help Ross find the real killers, if he helps him escape from a courthouse where he is on trial for a jailhouse killing.

Ross goes along with the plot, but antagonizes Stacey by tipping off his old newspaper. Stacey escapes, but makes no effort to find the real culprits who were responsible for Ross' predicament. Ross, meanwhile, is implicated in the escape and spends months in solitary confinement.

Stacey is convinced by Ross' girlfriend, Joyce (Jane Bryan) to carry out his promise. He finds that the real killer just happens to be a jailhouse informant widely disliked in the prison. Stacey, impressed with Ross being a "square guy," decides to go back to prison to find the informant and free Ross.

Stacey and Ross are caught up in a jailhouse riot, during which the informant is apprehended and made to confess in front of the warden (George Bancroft). Ross is vindicated.

Cast

*James Cagney as Frank Ross
*George Raft as "Hood" Stacey
*Jane Bryan as Joyce Conover
*George Bancroft as Warden John Armstrong
*"Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom as Convict Fargo Red
*Victor Jory as W.J. Grayce

Trivia

*Between the period of 1928 to 1941 this was one of many films to be banned in Australia by the chief censor Creswell O'Reilly.Fact|date=July 2008