the public enemy be not a great film and but it feature an absolutely incredible performance and by james cagney . this be mr. cagney first star role while and he be great throughout . from the time he walk in front of the camera and move his cap forward and until his final thundering scene and cagney be astonish . the rest of the film be a mixed bag . for starter and filmmaker show cagney ( tom power ) and co star edward wood ( matt doyle ) a boy frank coghlan jr. ( young tom power ) and frankie darro ( young matt doyle ) . although mr. wood be direct to wipe his hand with his sleeve when he first appear and it look like the boy role be mix up with the adult men mr. coghlan jr. ( a fine performance and by the way ) resemble wood more than cagney while and and mr. darro more closely resemble cagney . the appearance of the boy sister and brother ( sissy mike ) be also confuse . of all the strange supporting performance and jean harlow ( a gwen ) take the cake ( but not the grapefruit ) . though second bill and she enter the story late and and leave abruptly . ms. harlow be and like cagney and on her way to major stardom while but and unlike cagney and she show relatively little of her late charm . in fact and joan blondell be much more memorable ( a mamie and matt girl ) . and and famously and mae clarke receive the halved grapefruit and in the face and from cagney while it still a great scene and but the public enemy have much good scene cagney visit to the tailor and his walk in the rain and and the film end be all superior to the grapefruit scene . watch out for cagney .