This is an excellent title from I.E International, our print is still on it's 3 x 400ft reels as i have never got around to joining in up. As i mentioned in another thread, this is one of those titles that IE International just seemed unable to get the sound synced 100%. There are small sections where you see the lip sync out by just a few frames, it is so annoying and it was the same as a print we had years before, (as well as other titles we have from this company), however, on the up side, this is a good edit of one of Gagneys first big movies, the sound quality can only be described as fair to good. It is clear but lacks a bit of bass, and in one or two parts sounds a little over recorded but overall, it's fine. This one retains all its leaders and tails intact and the b/w image on b/w stock is clean and clear with very good contrast, perhaps a tiny bit on the darker side but actually pretty good throughout. There are virtually no marks on this print at all which does make our copy well worth its £25 price tag when we bought it many moons ago. I do like a good Cagney gangster movie and this is one of the few on super 8. (White noise on 16mm would be one i'd really like to own).
Here is the plot which is edited to this cut down.
As youngsters in 1900s Chicago, Irish-Americans Tom Powers (James Cagney) and his lifelong friend Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) engage in petty theft, selling their loot to "Putty Nose" (Murray Kinnell). Putty Nose persuades them to join his gang on a fur warehouse robbery, assuring them he will take care of them if anything goes wrong. When Tom is startled by a stuffed bear, he shoots it, alerting the police, who kill gang member Larry Dalton. Chased by a cop, Tom and Matt have to gun him down. However, when they go to Putty Nose for help, they find he has left town.
Tom keeps his activities secret from his doting mother.
In 1920, with Prohibition about to go into effect, Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor) recruits Tom and Matt as beer "salesmen" (enforcers) in his bootlegging business. He allies himself with noted gangster Samuel "Nails" Nathan (Leslie Fenton). As the bootlegging business becomes ever more lucrative, Tom and Matt flaunt their wealth.
Mike finds out that his brother's money comes not from politics, as Tom claims, but from bootlegging, and declares that Tom's success is based on nothing more than "beer and blood" (the title of the book upon which the film is based). Tom retorts in disgust: "Your hands ain't so clean. You killed and liked it. You didn't get them medals for holding hands with them Germans."
Tom and Matt acquire girlfriends, Kitty (an uncredited Mae Clarke) and Mamie (Joan Blondell) respectively. Tom eventually tires of Kitty; He then drops her for Gwen Allen (Jean Harlow), a woman with a self-confessed weakness for bad men. At a restaurant on the night of Matt's wedding reception to Mamie, Tom and Matt recognise Putty Nose and follow him home. Begging for his life, Putty plays a song on the piano that he had entertained Tom and Matt with when they were kids. Tom shoots him in the back.
"Nails" Nathan dies in a horse riding accident, prompting Tom to find the horse and shoot it. A rival gang headed by "Schemer" Burns takes advantage of the disarray resulting from Nathan's death, precipitating a gang war.
Later, Matt is gunned down in public, with Tom narrowly escaping the same fate. Furious, Tom takes it upon himself to single-handedly settle scores with Burns and some of his men. Tom is seriously wounded in the shootout, and ends up in the hospital. When his mother, brother, and Matt's sister Molly come to see him, he reconciles with Mike and agrees to reform. However, Paddy warns Mike that Tom has been kidnapped by the Burns mob from the hospital. Later, his dead body is returned to the Powers home.

The one scene that isn't included in this edit is the famous scene where Cagney pushes half a grapefruit angrily into his girlfriend Kitty's face.

I think you mean "WHITE HEAT" Tom. This was on Paul Fosters List a while back on 16mm, but was gone when I enquired . It then appeared on flea bay, so whoever purchased it must have tried there luck at a quick buck, however it did not fetch much more than the original purchase, and again I missed out. I like Cagney and these movies certainly sealed his status as a crowd puller, although he didn't please the real mobsters, who tried to bump him off on one or two occasions, even on the movie sets. George raft was known to have connections and had to have a word with them. I don't think he was intimidated by them, he was a tough guy in real life too, as the back street kids found out in angels with dirty face's , as one of them stepped out of line, Cagney had a word with him, and "straightened things out". I have this too Tom, Cagney is just so good in these films, I have angels also full feature, really great entertainment, considering when these were made.......

Yes Paul, White heat, i didn't spot that scilly error.
Dave Guest did have White Heat a few years ago and sent me an invitation to buy of well over 250 which was a bit OTT for me. James Cagney certainly was great which ever type of role her played.