Year: 1942
Director: Michael Curtiz
Country: US
Language: English
Best known for his gangster pictures in the 30's, a decade in which he would make 3-5 films a year for Warner Bros, James Cagney was Hollywood's biggest crime star, even at the same studio that housed Humphrey Bogart. Still, such a bright man wouldn't receive any awards for his work until the ultra-patriotic Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Perhaps winning due in part because the Nation had just joined World War Two.
This is a musical portrait of composer/singer/dancer George M. Cohan (James Cagney). From his early days as a child-star in his family's vaudeville show up to the time of his comeback at which he received a medal from the president for his special contributions to the US.
Having only danced in Footlight Parade (1933) audiences were shocked to see Cagney once again in a musical. Even though he wasn't exactly Fred Estaire, Cagney could fake his way through this picture with his vigorous high-energy acting. A staple of Golden Hollywood biography, Yankee Doodle Dandy is ridiculously upbeat and rarely loses its momentum.
Directed by Michael Curtiz and shot by cinematographer James Wong Howe, Yankee Doodle Dandy is full of elegant composition and enormously staged musical numbers. The script does hurry through many scenes however and the tone often comes off as so patriotic that it becomes a bit cheesy. This can be forgiven as the US entry into World War Two required a great deal of hope. These were hard times.
Cagney's pure electricity is the defining trait of the film; his performance is what sells the entire picture and, even 76 years later, his pure spectacle is a joy to behold. Golden Hollywood is full of great musicals; Yankee Doodle Dandy certainly being one of them.
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