Round 1: It's A Wonderful Life vs White Heat

Very few films have successfully found a second life and firmly ingrained itself within the cultural lexicon as Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life. What has now become a staple of the Christmas season and known for its uplifting message, the story itself is incredibly dark. Eddie Muller once said that the film has very noirish undertones, an unhappy domestic life, suicide contemplation, etc. Yet, that final third act is so emotionally effecting, and James Stewart delivers a masterclass in acting.

Of all the gangster films that Warner Brothers produced through the 1930s-1940s,Raoul Walsh's explosive White Heat seems to have had as much staying power as any. By 1949, Cagney had long disassociated himself with the very genre that helped to make him a star. Cagney would go on to portray other gangsters after 1949, but this seems a fitting swan song of sorts to his gangster portrayals. Walsh and Cagney decided to spice things up and give Cody Jarrett a bizarre mother complex and a man tortured by severe migraines. Cagney probably had more impressive death scenes than any other actor in studio history, and White Heat added to that legacy.

I understand and agree it's difficult to compare two films from completely different genres. However, this type of bracket challenge wouldn't be possible otherwise, unless you only created brackets for certain genres, and even that is subjective. 

For me, when I vote between two movies in the bracket challenge, I ask myself, which film do I prefer for replay value. There are some films I adore but I don't generally find myself revisiting them often. That's just my way of deciding between two films I love.