Sinners' Holiday

Name: Sinners' Holiday
Director: John G. Adolfi
Genre: Crime, Romance
Released: 1930
Duration: 1 h
Cast: Grant Withers, Evalyn Knapp, Lucille La Verne, Warren Hymer, James Cagney

1930 Crime Romance 60 minutes Directed by John G. Adolfi

About Sinners' Holiday

Ma Delano runs a penny arcade on a Coney Island pier and lives upstairs with Jennie, Joe, and Harry. Mitch McKane bootlegs out of the arcade. Barker Angel Harrigan, in love with Jennie, blocks McKane's pass at her. Harry joins the bootlegging, skims the take, and shoots McKane on the dark pier when McKane comes back from jail. Ma plants the gun in Angel's case. Jennie saw the shooting and tells the police. Harry confesses.

Cast & crew

More about Sinners' Holiday

John G. Adolfi directed it. It is based on Marie Baumer's 1930 play Penny Arcade. Warner Bros. released it on 11 October 1930. It runs 60 minutes. Grant Withers plays Angel. Evalyn Knapp plays Jennie. James Cagney plays Harry, his first film. Joan Blondell plays Myrtle. Both Cagney and Blondell repeated their Broadway roles. Lucille La Verne plays Ma. Warren Hymer plays McKane.

Themes

A penny arcade and a still
A son who skims the rum
A mother who frames the barker
James Cagney
Coney Island
Joan Blondell
bootlegging
Penny Arcade

Preservation

A complete print is at the Library of Congress.

Notes

Cagney and Blondell came to the film from the Broadway Penny Arcade.
Harry's killing of McKane is on the pier at night.
Ma tries to put the gun on Angel.

Scenes

Harry shoots McKane on the darkened pier.
Jennie tells the police what she saw.

Influenced by

Penny Arcade

Also available

Wikimedia Commons (Sinners' Holiday (1930).webm)
Library of Congress