You dirty rat! Glasgow hails James Cagney

By BRIAN FERGUSON
Published on 20/11/2012 01:52

HE was the Hollywood tough guy whose performances blazed across the screen in crime classics such as The Public Enemy, The Roaring Twenties and White Heat.

Now Glasgow’s expanding film festival is set to pay tribute to Oscar-winner James Cagney with a major retrospective of his best-known films.

The 11-day festival – first held less than a decade ago – has grown rapidly over the last few years with a diverse programme, helping to boost ticket sales by 40 per cent over that period.

Other major strands revealed today by the Glasgow Film Festival include the cross-over world of computer games and cinema, to be curated by Robert Florence, star of hit BBC Scotland comedy show Burnistoun. He will host a live game show, featuring a panel of leading comedians.

Glasgow’s booming visual arts scene will be showcased with a large-scale live art ball and world premieres of experimental new films, while film fashion will be celebrated with a catwalk show and a masterclass on costume design with a yet-to-be-
announced leading industry figure. The festival will also showcase Brazilian films, in a nod to the country hosting the next World Cup and Olympics.

The Cagney retrospective will span the iconic star’s entire 
career, screening classics such as Angels With Dirty Faces and Love Me or Leave Me.

Allan Hunter, the festival’s co-director, said: “James Cagney is one of the Hollywood greats whose work has stood the test of time. His dynamic presence came to define the great cycle of gangster films that Warner Brothers made in the 1930s and 1940s and I think audiences will love the chance to savour some of those all-time classics on the big screen.

“Also, Brazil has been moving into the global spotlight, but there is so much more of the nation’s cinema that remains little seen in the UK. This feels like the 
perfect moment to introduce audiences to new talents on the international scene.”

The festival’s gaming strand will explore whether games will begin to challenge the movie-going experience as they 
become ever more cinematic.

In one event, a panel of experts will review a new video game based on the movie Aliens, shortly before a screening of James Cameron’s cult classic.

The Glasgow Film Festival, which will be in its ninth year in 2013, broke through the 35,000 audience barrier across its 350 events last year to overtake the level of admissions at the Edinburgh International Film Festival for the first time.

However, this year’s EIFF recovered from a slump in 2011 to notch up a 40,000-strong attendance this summer, throwing down the gauntlet to its younger rival which, like the EIFF, is now backed by both Event-Scotland and Creative Scotland.

Mr Hunter added: “Audiences have taken the Glasgow Film Festival to their hearts and we’re all thrilled to raise the curtain on some of the delights in store next year.”

The Glasgow Film Festival takes place from 14 to 24 February next year. Full details will be announced in January.