Director: Michael Curtiz
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Top Billed Actors: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston
Won 3 Oscars:
Best Actor - James Cagney
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture - Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld
Best Sound Recording - Nathan Levinson
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Warner Bros.
Best Director - Michael Curtiz
Best Supporting Actor - Walter Huston
Best Original Motion Picture Story - Robert Buckner
Best Film Editing - George Amy
Plot: A boy born on the Fourth of July grows up to be a conceited actor but matures into a flag-waving American institution as he sends his music and plays over there and everywhere.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Top Billed Actors: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston
Won 3 Oscars:
Best Actor - James Cagney
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture - Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld
Best Sound Recording - Nathan Levinson
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Warner Bros.
Best Director - Michael Curtiz
Best Supporting Actor - Walter Huston
Best Original Motion Picture Story - Robert Buckner
Best Film Editing - George Amy
Plot: A boy born on the Fourth of July grows up to be a conceited actor but matures into a flag-waving American institution as he sends his music and plays over there and everywhere.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) appears in the Project with exceptional timing. Watching this patriotic musical biopic over the Fourth of July weekend enhances the experience. This film is so patriotic, it was used as a vehicle to show how much James Cagney loved America after a run-in with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Cagney won his one and only Academy Award for his efforts. Joan Leslie, the actress who plays his wife in this movie, also played the wife of the previous year's Best Actor winner in Sergeant York (1941). All at the age of seventeen! It is well documented how inaccurate the biopic is as it combines people and events into a condensed narrative. One of the larger departures from fact, however, is that George M. Cohan was such a staunch conservative that he delayed his meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt after winning the Congressional Gold Medal. I bet he felt some pain when his character rides a donkey as a young boy and Cagney proclaims, "I was a good Democrat even in those days." Although life and world events may have been re-arranged, the film saw extraordinary success both critically and at the box office. It was Warner Bros.' biggest hit for the studio to date. It's legacy continued well past wartime as it has been selected into the National Film Registry as well as being placed on both versions of the AFI 100 list. George M. Cohan's whole family thanks you!
The man who plays George M. Cohan also thanks you. Cagney is phenomenal here as he plays young and old and comedic and dramatic, all the while singing and dancing. The only thing missing is a true romance scene but since Leslie only turned seventeen during production, I'm fine with the lack of smooching. It's an odd choice to pair a teenager with 40-year-old Cagney, but Cagney still had good chemistry with his dad jokes and reactions to her being okay with the "Mary" song being given up. That brings up another fine feature of the film - it's not overly romantic or dramatic. I could see a version in this in which Cohan is arguing with his family, wife, and business partner. I could also see a version that plays up the romance even more rather than a single shot of a ring to show they got married. In the case of this film, montages gloss over what other biopics might focus on and the onus is on Cagney as Cohan the performer, straight-leg dancing on the stage. Full musical numbers rule the day and, although I don't care for the sing-speak style of Cagney/Cohan's vocals, I still enjoyed the score and set design. Looking at other Awards this was nominated for, one technical category stands out - the film editing. Those montage sequences are stellar and I will be curious to see if the winner, The Pride of the Yankees (1942) will top this in terms of editing. I would have also liked to see an Art Direction nod as these theaters are all recreated rather faithfully.
My issues with the film are mostly superficial ant nitpicky. A brief glimpse of Blackface isn't enough to ruin the picture but it still grosses me out. The flag-waving patriotism is also laid on thick at times, especially in the George Washington Jr. number. Sure, America just entered World War II so it needed to bleed red, white and blue in the cinema, but the rosy hued history always feels naive.
Overall, this musical biopic about American institution George M. Cohan is a wonderful vehicle for James Cagney to sing, dance, and act his way into the patriotic hearts of Americans. The fully staged musical numbers are sights and sounds to behold and the narrative structure that takes liberties with Cohan's life works in the picture's favor.
My Score: 8/10
The man who plays George M. Cohan also thanks you. Cagney is phenomenal here as he plays young and old and comedic and dramatic, all the while singing and dancing. The only thing missing is a true romance scene but since Leslie only turned seventeen during production, I'm fine with the lack of smooching. It's an odd choice to pair a teenager with 40-year-old Cagney, but Cagney still had good chemistry with his dad jokes and reactions to her being okay with the "Mary" song being given up. That brings up another fine feature of the film - it's not overly romantic or dramatic. I could see a version in this in which Cohan is arguing with his family, wife, and business partner. I could also see a version that plays up the romance even more rather than a single shot of a ring to show they got married. In the case of this film, montages gloss over what other biopics might focus on and the onus is on Cagney as Cohan the performer, straight-leg dancing on the stage. Full musical numbers rule the day and, although I don't care for the sing-speak style of Cagney/Cohan's vocals, I still enjoyed the score and set design. Looking at other Awards this was nominated for, one technical category stands out - the film editing. Those montage sequences are stellar and I will be curious to see if the winner, The Pride of the Yankees (1942) will top this in terms of editing. I would have also liked to see an Art Direction nod as these theaters are all recreated rather faithfully.
My issues with the film are mostly superficial ant nitpicky. A brief glimpse of Blackface isn't enough to ruin the picture but it still grosses me out. The flag-waving patriotism is also laid on thick at times, especially in the George Washington Jr. number. Sure, America just entered World War II so it needed to bleed red, white and blue in the cinema, but the rosy hued history always feels naive.
Overall, this musical biopic about American institution George M. Cohan is a wonderful vehicle for James Cagney to sing, dance, and act his way into the patriotic hearts of Americans. The fully staged musical numbers are sights and sounds to behold and the narrative structure that takes liberties with Cohan's life works in the picture's favor.
My Score: 8/10