when william wellman be film the public enemy he originally have james cagney and edward wood in each other part . note in the daily rush how cagney personality come through even in the support part and wellman make the decision to reshoot and switch the role . a star be bear because of that . another star have to wait a bit to be bear because no one be a bright on the three on a match set . three friend from public school 62 in manhattan meet a adult . ann dvorak be the pretty one who marry a wealthy lawyer in the person of warren william and she rich and spoil . joan blondell be the troublemaker back in the day and she do a stretch in the joint and but she calm down and now be star in a revue . the good girl be bette davis who go to business college and be now a secretary . they meet for lunch and light their cigarette from the same match . the third one to light be dvorak and the rest of the story be how she blow it all and blondell pick up the piece . but can you imagine if someone have the wit to see what talent bette davis have then . dvorak part be the kind of role bette davis use to go to town with . three on a match be at best a passable melodrama . have davis play dvorak part and she would have make it a classic . she do just that for many a mediocre property in her career . the four lead in the film be dvorak and blondell and william and lyle talbot and talbot probably give the best performance in the film a a weak and shallow playboy . down in the cast be not only bette davis and but humphrey bogart in a brief role a muscle to gambler or racketeer edward arnold . bogey good in what little he have and arnold have one brief and but memorable scene confront talbot about his debt . talbot in a moment of insanity hit upon a desperate attempt to raise money and suffice it to say it cost a whole lot of the cast big time . ann dvorak have a great scene in try to escape from the clutch of the villain and but what davis would have do with it might have make her a star . no one have the wit to see this be a bette davis picture with bette davis ready and available . pity .