City for Conquest
1940 · Movie · NR · 104 min · ★ 6.9 · 75% critics
In Depression-era New York, a working-class couple chase different dreams as money troubles pull them apart. He turns to boxing to build a better future, while she pursues life on the stage, leading to hardship, sacrifice, and a deeply emotional struggle to hold on to hope.
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Details
- Years
- 1940
- Release date
- 1940-09-21
- Language
- English
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 104 min
- Max quality
- HD
- Critic score
- 75/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.9/10 (36 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a classic, emotional boxing-and-romance drama with old-Hollywood heart, especially if you like All This, and Heaven Too; Not for you if you dislike sentimental stories, slower pacing, or stage-and-music detours.
Pros: heartfelt performances; emotional story; gritty New York atmosphere | Cons: soapy dialogue; slow stretches; predictable melodrama
Themes
- new york city
- blindness and impaired vision
- dancing
- composer
- truck driver
- audience
- carnegie hall
- boxing
Cast & crew
James Cagney
as Danny Kenny
Ann Sheridan
as Peggy Nash
Frank Craven
as 'Old Timer'
Donald Crisp
as Scotty MacPherson
Frank McHugh
as 'Mutt'
Arthur Kennedy
as Eddie Kenny
George Tobias
as 'Pinky'
Jerome Cowan
as 'Dutch'
Elia Kazan
as 'Googi'
Anthony Quinn
as Murray Burns
Directed by Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco