The birth and white-hot of tragedy

White heat is shown in this film: the searing steam of trains, the teargas of factory confrontations that confuses everything, and finally the flames of a refinery explosion. All kinds of expressive pictures correspond to psychoanalytic factors of a psychological category -- Cody's Oedipus complex and the great anxiety of schizophrenia. The film is eclectic in genre: prison break, gangster and undercover, with a hyper-efficient narrative, a high-powered pace and, ultimately, a fire like a ball can exploding in a refinery.

As we all know, the death of the classical black gangster is very tragic and romantic appeal. The preaching of poetic justice emphasized by Hayes did not play a substantial role, but became a midwife for the generation of heroic criminal images. The purpose of "The King of One Life" is to influence/dissolve, but enrich the personality of those who take risks, and such a personal value is difficult to be absorbed and utilized by mainstream feelings. The classic scene of Cagney falling dead and steps on a snowy night in "Owl's Blood" was saluted by Gosling in "Silver Wing". The expressionist "Ford-gothic" effect of the scary production machines in the Industrial park of Zhongda in this film is remastered by the super classical Hollywood fan Hopper in Catch Fire, using Jodie Foster. Cagney's several episodes of madness correspond to the reference of image image, and the sudden outburst is directly related to the influence of external factors. Of course, this film is not a Greek film, and the prominent psychological problems are more like the rationality of constructing the "character crime" of criminals. After all, the source of the tragic core of film noir cannot escape From Shakespeare -- especially Hamlet and Macbeth.

It is noted above that the two black film characters travel different routes, and the reasons for their escape are as follows: the Hamlet type, with sympathy and a degree of social criticism, who comes from traumatic stress, and the Macbeth type, who exposes and serves as a warning against the heathen of the criminals, with an ego. The former, such as The Fugitives, The Defiant Ones and They Make Us Fugitives, emphasizes social criticism and thrives with the rise of social problem films from the middle and late period of the war to the McCarthy period. The latter, especially in the early years, was the basic character set that the classical bandit always had: Robinson and Cagney and bogart in his early years, whose popularity depended for a while on their brilliant portrayal of this kind of character.

Hua Xu this film for the treatment of the protagonist Cody, can be said to have both of its content: the influence of the early father's mental problems and childhood memories caused by the neglect of the family, after becoming a criminal revenge for the wrong people green knot... Although cagney's interpretation is still Macbeth in his own way, it is obvious that there is a historical basis for his characterization.

Is Wasch consistently critical, or does Cagney's mastery of the genre subdue its richness? This time I don't know, but in any case, the film in the type text already revealing enough, even if is had been decided the character and outcome of Cody, also is in with the undercover audience feelings with affinity, the shape of a black man is crucial - he can be a really bad not character arc turning point, but in its psychological, emotional even passive, The film does not show but by the audience's own projection of personality tension, is by no means lacking.

If translated as "killing bandits", it is obviously standing on the side of secular morality of the police film translation, seen in this film is pure Cagney character personal image, the original name "white heat" should be more appropriate.

So look at Cagney here and Montana decades later, how similar the duo is, big shot and "on top of the world" dreams, paranoid hubris and violent death... Which one would you prefer, with its fatalistic and tragic power, engulfed by fire and rendered by a bloody pool?

Me, I would have chosen Cagney who is six centimeters shorter than Pacino.