Picture Snatcher is nothing more than a hardboiled programmer, but while it's far from being art, it's a great deal of fun. Snatcher is one of those films that's full of flaws but that has enough life and vitality that most viewers won't care. For those that do care, be warned that the film is clumsily told; the screenwriters often bump from one event to another with a blitheness that could be alarming, and director Lloyd Bacon seems unconcerned with smoothing out the narrative bumps or with attempting to get perfection in his shots. Yet that very disinterest in perfection probably accounts for a good deal of Snatcher's appeal: it's more concerned with getting to where it's going and getting there fast than with taking time to look around it as it goes, and that energy is contagious. Snatcher would be a sorry picture indeed, however, were it not blessed with the inimitable James Cagney in the title role. Cagney's brash, tough-yet-likeable enthusiasm is put to good use here. He's all over the picture, sometimes moving so fast it's as if he's in the same frame twice. He's as unconcerned with the artistry of the picture as Bacon is; all he knows is that he needs to strut, to connive, to convince and to win over, and he does it all beautifully.