He Was Her Man

For their final screen pairing (out of seven), Joan Blondell and James Cagney deliver up the goods in an altogether different style in this moving and downbeat doomed romance made during the waning days of the pre-Code era. Cagney plays Flicker Hayes, recently sprung from jail, out for himself and out for revenge. After springing a setup on his former cronies, Flicker takes it on the lam with a pair of triggermen in pursuit. Hiding out in San Francisco, Flicker encounters Rose (Joan Blondell), a destitute ex-prostitute in desperate straits. Using Rose as a cover, Flicker escorts her to the remote coastal town to the south where her fiance, Nick (Victor Jory), a fisherman, lives. Charmed by the town and its inhabitants, Flicker decided to stay a spell, to Rose's dismay. Torn between the decent Nick and the roguish Flicker, Rose's situation is complicated by the arrival of a pair of Flicker's associates, who come to call on her wedding day.

• crime
• drama
• romance