The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 American gangster film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Gladys George.

The picture was based on "The World Moves On", a short story by Mark Hellinger, a columnist who had been hired by Jack L. Warner to write screenplays.

Eddie Bartlett, George Hally, and Lloyd Hart meet each other in a foxhole during the final days of World War I.

Eddie wants Jean as his wife, giving her an engagement ring that he asks her to hold until he's saved up enough money to quit the criminal rackets.

Eddie and his henchmen hijack a shipment of liquor belonging to fellow bootlegger Nick Brown who had refused to cooperate with him.

Subsequently, after investing in the stock market, Eddie's bootlegging empire crumbles in the 1929 crash, and he is forced to sell his cab company to George at a price far below its value.

When he arrives, George mocks him for his shabby looks and then decides to have him killed as he believes that Eddie will inform on him in order to help Jean.

[5] The soundtrack arranged by Ray Heindorf showcases the quintessential Warner Brothers catalog of early 20th century popular tunes; of which Priscilla Lane gets to sing at least three onscreen in character as a nightclub chanteuse.

[citation needed] In 2024 Cherwell wrote that it was "the only gangster film of its era that bears comparison with the later masterworks of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese".