Blu ray Review: Shake Hands With The Devil (1959)

James Cagney was near the end of his long illustrious film career when he made this compelling action drama which has just been released on blu ray by Kino Lorber.

Shake Hands With The Devil features Cagney as University professor Sean Lenihan who is also head of the Irish Republican Army. Two of his medical students, Irish-American Kerry O’Shea (Don Murray) and Irish-born Paddy Nolan (Ray McNally) innocently witness an IRA ambush, where Paddy is shot. They seek the help of Lenihan, who tries but cannot save Paddy. Because Kerry dropped his textbook, with his name on it, at the scene, they realize he will now be a hunted man so Lenihan takes him to headquarters for his own protection. O’Shea ends up involved despite efforts to stay neutral, while Lenihan is completely engulfed into the spirit of war as its own means to an end. When O’Shea falls in love with a British hostage, a conflict between him and Lenihan arises. Even after there is a treaty and the war has ended, Lenihan wants to execute the prisoner. O’Shea intervenes.

Having aged past his gangster roles and his dance-oriented musicals, and getting an Oscar nomination for his dramatic work in Love Me or Leave Me (1955), James Cagney was now concentrating on roles that ignored his old image and were both challenging and interesting. Shake Hands With The Devil allows this fine actor to shine in a role that requires both toughness and madness. Don Murray is quite good, as are Dana Wynter, Glynnis Johns, Michael Redgrave, and Sybil Thorndike who round out the familiar cast.

Even at age 60, James Cagney was still intense and powerful in the lead role, exhibiting the same charisma that got him notice as the real star of Public Enemy nearly 30 years earlier. Director Michael Anderson spotlights his star nicely, bathing most scenes in darkness and sometimes allowing Cagney to be the only light of the scene. For much of the film, Cagney’s character seems strong and heroic. This perspective is altered when it is revealed that he cannot function without war – that life suddenly has no logic or purpose. It really is one of the most remarkable acting jobs of Cagney’s later career.

Kino Lorber’s blu ray is a beautiful 2K remaster and offers an interview with Don Murray as a special feature. A fine piece of cinema, Shake Hands With The Devil is available at this link: CAGNEY/DEVIL