Picture Snatcher (1933)

PICTURE SNATCHER  (1933)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Lloyd Bacon
    James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis,
    Alice White, Ralf Harolde, Robert Emmett O'Connor
A lively, pre-Code Cagney vehicle about an ex-con who tries to go straight by becoming a tabloid newspaper reporter. His big break comes when he cons his way into Sing Sing and sneaks a photograph of a woman in the electric chair at the moment of her execution. Cagney's all giggling, mischievous energy in this, and his character's at least a distant ancestor of the hustling, predatory cameraman Jake Gyllenhaal played in "Nightcrawler". The story's based loosely on the guy who actually took that infamous photograph. Check out all the signs that decorate the newsroom.