The Roaring Twenties (1939)

 Raoul Walsh's "The Roaring Twenties"

Throughout the 1930s, Raoul Walsh continued to direct pictures for Hollywood, albeit not large-scale productions. Also during the 1930s, especially the early part of the decade, was a rise in popularity of the gangster film genre. The genre was jam-packed with violence and always included a 'bad guy' as its lead protagonist. The films were often viewed as very sensational, which was a recipe that audiences flocked to during the Great Depression of the early 1930s. However, after the Hayes Code took effect in 1934 and general economic welfare began to rise again, the gangster genre began to die down altogether. In 1939, Raoul Walsh directed "The Roaring Twenties," a film that pays homage to the classic gangster genres of the early 30s. Not only this, it seems to thematically suggest the end of the gangster genre, as it also parallels this to the end of Prohibition and the 1920s altogether. 

The film stars James Cagney as a World War I vet turned gangster, who makes and distributes alcohol during Prohibition. He falls in love with a woman who does return his love. He teams up with a partner who ends up betraying him. At the end of the film, Prohibition is over and he has nothing to do with his life. The film's ending is normal for the gangster genre, in that the 'bad guy' protagonist gets his comeuppance. However, the Cagney character's dealing with his own irrelevance is the catalyst for the thematic point about the 'end of an era,' the 'end of a genre,' and the 'end of...everything.' That last point is made valid by the anxieties over the state of the world in 1939, with world leaders threatening mass war, which would soon erupt not too long later.