Trailer

Picture Snatcher (1933)

Not Rated   |    |  Drama, Crime

Picture Snatcher (1933) Poster

Ex-convict Danny Kean decides to become honest as a photographer for a paper. He falls in love with Patricia, the daughter of the policeman who arrested him. Mr Nolan, her father, doesn't ... See full summary »

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  • James Cagney and Cora Sue Collins in Picture Snatcher (1933)
  • Patricia Ellis in Picture Snatcher (1933)
  • James Cagney and Alice White in Picture Snatcher (1933)
  • James Cagney and Patricia Ellis in Picture Snatcher (1933)
  • James Cagney in Picture Snatcher (1933)
  • James Cagney and Ralf Harolde in Picture Snatcher (1933)

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Reviews & Commentary

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User Reviews
27 September 2005 | bkoganbing
6
| It May Not Be Illegal, but is it legitimate?
Paroled convict James Cagney is determined not to return to a life of crime and decides to go to straight. He wants to get into journalism, but the only place that will hire him is the Graphic Record, the National Enquirer of its day. And not as a reporter, but as a picture snatcher. Now we would call Cagney a papparazzi.

Still and all it's a job and Cagney is pretty resourceful at getting sensational pictures. He photographs an electric chair execution and his ruthlessness gets his girlfriend's father in some heat. But later on he redeems himself with his knowledge of the criminal underworld.

Considering at where papparazzi are in the social pecking order these days, the viewer of Picture Snatcher is left to wonder just how legitimate Cagney has gone. Joe Pesci almost sixty years after Picture Snatcher was done did a period piece called The Public Eye which explored the same concerns. I think the viewer would like both films and Picture Snatcher if they are Cagney fans.

Critic Reviews

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene of Danny photographing an execution is based an actual incident in which Chicago-based crime photographer Tom Howard (who was the grandfather of 'George Wendt') surreptitiously snapped the famous photo of convicted murderess Ruth Snyder's January 12, 1928 execution in the electric chair at Sing Sing for the New York Daily News.

Quotes

Journalism Student: In my opinion, modern journalism has descended to a deplorable level.

Goofs

For the purposes of the plot, the policeman supervising the execution at Sing Sing is the father of Danny's girlfriend, who is on the New York City force. But Sing Sing is forty miles outside New York City, so he has no jurisdiction there.

Soundtracks

That's All That Matters To Me
(1932) (uncredited)
Music by Herb Magidson and Sam H. Stept
Played throughout the film as well as at the beginning and the end.

Storyline

Plot Summary

Genres

Drama | Crime

Details

Release Date:

6 May 1933

Language

English

Country of Origin

USA

Filming Locations

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

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