I totally agree with your reaction to Father Duffy’s obsession with saving Plunkett’s soul. Cagney did a good job playing an arrogant, self-centered soldier, but Pat O’Brien’s relentless piety drove me up the wall. Most important, the movie seemed to be saying that the deaths of good men were worthwhile if they made Cagney become a better man. It is hard not to be annoyed by the movie.

Andrew Allen
History on Film