The director of 'The
Public Enemy'(William Wellman) shows the impact of crime on the
family and the wider society in public enemy. In the beer and blood
scene you can not only see a dysfunctional family (because of Tom's
new life-of-crime) but Wellman includes a shot at the end of the
scene where Mrs. Powers is watching Tom leave. This shot may seem too
long to others but to me it perfectly communicates that Mrs. Powers
is holding on to chance she gets to see Tom, not only because of his
newly established life-of-crime but because she was already scared
that she was going to lose one son without worrying about the other.
It also shows how the Tom that she raised is disappearing and she
needs to learn to love this Tom. Another scene is a highly
controversial one in which Tom hits his girlfriend with a grapefruit.
Though domestic abuse in film may not seem so outrageous now, back in
1931 it was something that people couldn't accept which contributed
toward the film being banned and re-released twice (once in 1941 and
once in 1954). This scene shows how desensitised Tom has become to
violence because of his occupation and makes the audience want to
hate him even more than they're supposed to. Crime is also portrayed
to make Tom remorseless through when he is shown at the start of the
film being friendly and looking up to Putty Nose, however, later in
the film Tom is the one that kills Putty Nose. This is a reminder to
the audience (as film had such an impact in the 1930s) to not become
criminals as it may strip them of everything good they have, which is
also why every criminal portrayed in movies had to die by the end, to
deter people from thinking that a criminals life is as good as it's
portrayed in the movies. I love the ending that Wellman created as it
shows Tom's corpse collapsing to the ground and Michael walking
toward the camera. I like this ending as it leaves the audience
wanting to know what happens after the camera cuts: how does Michael
tell his mother? What happened to Tom? What is Michael going to do?
All questions which you could base a whole different film of and
there may have well been a sequel if filmmakers made sequels in the
1930s. In my opinion, Michael has killed before (which is implied as
he goes to war) and his look of pure intent as he walks toward the
camera communicates that he feels that he needs to do it again which
shows the domino effect that crime can have. Once was for his country
but this time it is for him, his family and Tom. Wellman leaves a lot
for the imagination of the viewer with the ending of the film and I
believe that this is genius as a good film satisfies you for the time
you watch it but a great film stays with you and leaves you thinking.
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