Johnny Come Lately (1943)

“Vinnie” (Grace George) has been running the “Banner & Shield” newspaper for a very long time, but it’s no longer what it was and she has had to mortgage everything to the hilt to keep the thing, and it’s quirky collection of staff, from the scrap heap. She is a woman of integrity, though, and so when she attends the local court she encounters “Tom” (James Cagney) who is being accused of vagrancy. He claims to have been a newspaper man, so to save him jail she offers him a job. He accepts as an expedient to spare him incarceration, but she insists that he come and live with her and her formidable maid “Aida” (Hattie McDaniel) and actually write something. Meantime, the town is being run by the unscrupulous “Dougherty” (Edward McNamara) whose son “Pete” (Bill Henry) is keen on “Jane” (Marjorie Lord) who just happens to be the niece of the publisher. With “Tom” swiftly encouraged to get the bit between his teeth and take on this bully, what chance they can save the paper from ruin and not wreck the aspirations of the loved up couple?It’s a simple enough “David & Goliath” formula that is well worked by both Cagney and the on-form George who underplays her role, but still proves to have quite a fighting spirit in the face of what seem to be overwhelming odds. There’s also quite an engaging effort from Marjorie Main as local lady of ill-repute “Gashouse Mary”, McDaniel is always good value and the virtues of the plot give Cagney a chance to show of his fisticuffs, even in his tweed suit. Jeopardy? Well no, not really, but it’s good fun, this film.