The Crowd Roars is going to air on Turner Classic Movies on Thursday, January 3rd at 6:45am EST.

This 1932 drama about professional race car driving was Ann Dvorak’s first film at Warner Bros and her second with director Howard Hawks. While not the most memorable film, anything starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell is worth watching. Cagney and Dvorak work well together, especially in a scene where he has a breakdown in front of her. Unfortunately they would be paired up only once more in 1935 for G-Men.

I once went to a screening of The Crowd Roars at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Imagine my shock and horror when the MGM logo appeared and the 1938 film with the same title was shown by mistake. I sat through it and pouted, only because Robert Taylor was so pretty. I never did use the free tickets I was offered after sending a strongly worded email, and have still never seen the 1932 version on the big screen. Sigh!

One last personal note on The Crowd Roars. I once thought I would play in the movie poster collecting big leagues and bid $500 on a lobby card from this film with Dvorak and Cagney pictured on it. It ended up going for close to $800, which is probably why I should be happy that Ann did not make more movies with him.

Happy New Year!