...Cagney's picture through and through. He embues every scene with the kind of electricity only a handful of screen stars have ever managed.
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"I'm a Yankee Doodle dandy,
A Yankee Doodle, do or die;
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam's,
Born on the Fourth of July.
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart,
She's my Yankee Doodle joy.
Yankee Doodle came to London,
Just to ride the ponies,
I am a Yankee Doodle boy." --from the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy" by George M. Cohan, 1904
Actor, producer, songwriter, and entertainer George M. Cohan (1878-1942) really was born on the Fourth of July, and much to our everlasting good fortune, he never let people forget it. At least, he and his family said that's when he was born, even though his birth certificate said July 3. They were show people to the core, and they could hardly overlook a chance for such patriotic publicity. So it went with Cohan, who was raised on the stage and performed almost till his dying day.
It was only fitting that the movie rendering of the famous showman's life should be performed by another man whose entertainment credentials were wide and varied: Jimmy Cagney. Today, thanks to his portrayal of Cohan in the 1942 musical biography "Yankee Doodle Dandy," Cagney is probably more recognized as Cohan than Cohan himself! Warners' two-disc Special Edition set marks the occasion in grand style.
"Yankee Doodle Dandy" is Cagney's picture through and through. He embues every scene with the kind of electricity only a handful of screen stars have ever managed. Playing Cohan from his brash early twenties until his acceptance in 1940 at age sixty-two of a Congressional Medal of Honor from President Roosevelt was no easy feat in itself, but Cagney carries it off with total assurance. Singing, dancing, strutting like a bantam rooster, Cagney was never more confident of himself or his character than in this film, a portrayal that won him an Oscar for Best Actor. The film also won Academy Awards for Best Music and Best Sound Editing and was nominated in a number of other categories as well. It's an all-around good show, but it's mostly all-around good Cagney. He would briefly reprise the role more than a decade later in "The Seven Little Foys" (1955), and audiences still loved him for it. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and Cagney's part in it, was a moving memorial to America's most-popular song-and-dance patriot, the real Cohan dying just months after the movie's release.
For the uninitiated, Cohan wrote and/or starred in a string of Broadway musicals and plays, among them "The Governor's Son" (1901), "Little Johnny Jones" (1904), "Forty-five Minutes from Broadway" (1906), "The Talk of New York" (1907), "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" (1910), "Broadway Jones" (1912), "Seven Keys to Baldpate" (1913), "The Tavern" (1921), "The Song and Dance Man" (1923), "American Born" (1925), "Ah, Wilderness!" (1933), and "I'd Rather Be Right" (1939). Among his most celebrated songs are "You're a Grand Old Flag," "Mary's a Grand Old Name," "Give My Regards to Broadway," and the tune that became a virtual anthem for Americans during the First World War, "Over There." His career was further memorialized in the 1968 stage musical "George M!"
But don't get me wrong. There's more to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" than a great performance by Cagney and a few great songs. There's a great story, too, and a great supporting cast. Cohan's wife, Mary, is played with innocent charm by Joan Leslie; his father, Jerry, is played in bravura style by Walter Huston; his mother Nellie by Rosemary DeCamp; and his sister, Josie, by Cagney's real-life sister, Jeanne Cagney. Then, there's Richard Whorf as Cohan's partner, Sam Harris; Irene Manning as the prima donna singing star Fay Templeton; George Tobias as the money man, Dietz; S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall as Schwab, another money man; Eddie Foy, Jr., as his own father, fellow song-and-dance man Eddie Foy; and Captain Jack Young as President Roosevelt. It's a formidable group of veteran character actors who surround Cagney in exemplary fashion, yet, as I say, it's really Cagney's picture despite the fine support. He's so amazingly dynamic, he overshadows everyone around him.
Then there's Michael Curtiz. Yes, THE Michael Curtiz, possibly the most overlooked great director in screen history. His resume of thirties, forties, and fifties films looks like a playlist of Hollywood's Golden Age, with things like "The Mystery of the Wax Museum," "Captain Blood," "The Charge of the Light Brigade," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Angels With Dirty Faces," "The Sea Hawk," "Casablanca," "Life With Father," "Night and Day," "Mildred Pierce," "Jim Thorpe--All-American," and "White Christmas" among many others to his credit. He was every bit as versatile as Cagney when it came to picture making. With Curtiz at the helm, you could expect at the very least a competent product and more often than not a superior work. With "Yankee Doodle Dandy" he created yet another classic.
Oh, and if you're not a musical fan, don't worry about the actors suddenly breaking out into song and dance at the drop of a hat. All of the singing and dancing is done on stage or during a number's composition, in perfectly natural and realistic surroundings. So younger audiences won't feel uncomfortable, for example, when Cagney sings "Mary" because it's done at the time of its writing at the piano and directed toward his wife.
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[release]11169[/release]