VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Jackson Booth-Millard I recognised the iconic movie poster (the first to be designed by the late great Bill Gold), of the leading actor in the Stars and Stripes top hat, I knew he was the winner of the Academy Award, and it was featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I was never going to miss it, from Oscar nominated director Michael Curtiz (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, White Christmas). This biopic tells the story of renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George Michael Cohan, he was called "the greatest single figure the American theatre ever produced" and known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". Basically at the beginning of the Second World War, George M. Cohan (Oscar winning James Cagney) comes out of retirement to play President Roosevelt in the Rodgers and Hart musical I'd Rather Be Right. Then he is summoned to the White House to meet the President (Jack Young). Cohan begins to talk to the President about his life and career, the film flashes back to his childhood, all the way to his early days on stage, he was apparently born on the 4th of July (in real life it was the 3rd of July), while his father was performing on the vaudeville stage. Young Cohan (Douglas Croft) and his sister Josie (Patsy Lee Parsons) join the parents to become a family act after learning to dance, becoming successful performers The Four Cohans. But George gets too cocky as he grows up and is blacklisted by theatrical producers for being troublesome, he leaves the act and tries unsuccessfully to sell his songs to producers. Cohan forms a partnership with fellow struggling writer Sam Harris (Richard Whorf), and finally gets the interest of a producer and begins a road to success, Cohan also marries young singer/dancer Mary (Joan Leslie). As Cohan's stardom ascends, he persuades his now struggling parents to join his act, and to show his gratitude for his introduction into showbusiness, and everything they have ever done for him, he vests some of his valuable theatrical properties in their name. Throughout his successful career, Cohan created some of the most acclaimed Broadway shows, including Little Johnny Jones, Forty-five Minutes from Broadway, George Washington, Jr., Little Nellie Kelly and The Song and Dance Man, and wrote some of the most memorable and patriotic songs, including "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There" (the melody is famously used in the adverts for the price comparison site Gocompare.com). Cohan retires, but returns to the stage many times, culminating in the role of the U.S. President, which leads back to the present day. Cohan is flabbergasted to receive the Congressional Gold Medal simply for his song writing, the President tells him his songs are "a symbol of the American spirit", and "Over There" was "just as powerful a weapon as any cannon and any battleship". As Cohan leaves the White House, he performs a tap dance down the stairs, and outside he joins a military parade, with soldiers singing "Over There", Cohan does not sing at first, but someone not recognising him asks if he knows the words, Cohan responds by simply smiling and singing along. Also starring Oscar nominated Walter Huston as Jerry Cohan, George Tobias as Dietz, Irene Manning as Fay Templeton, Rosemary DeCamp as Nellie Cohan and Jeanne Cagney (James's sister) as Josie Cohan. Cagney gives the performance of his life and absolutely deserved his golden statue as the highly talented real-life musical star, the song and dance sequences are all highly enjoyable, it is very patriotic and sentimental, but it really salutes an American hero and serves its purpose, a splendid classic musical biography. It won the Oscars for Best Sound, Recording and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture, and it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Writing, Original Story and Best Film Editing. James Cagney was number 8 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Men, "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you." was number 97 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes, "The Yankee Doodle Boy" was number 71 on 100 Years, 100 Songs, the film was number 100 on 100 Years, 100 Movies, it was number 98 on 100 Years, 100 Greatest Movies, it was number 88 on 100 Years, 100 Cheers, it was number 18 on 100 Years of Musicals, and it was number 81 on The 100 Greatest Musicals. Very good!

JohnHowardReid Copyright 2 January 1943 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Hollywood Theater: 29 May 1942. U.S. release: May 1942. U.K. release: 19 September 1942. Australian release: 30 September 1943. Sydney release: 24 September 1943 (Tatler Theater). Australian length: 11,563 feet (128½ minutes). U.S. length: 126 minutes.SYNOPSIS: George M. Cohan — from birth to Broadway to "President".NOTES: Initial domestic gross: $4,800,000. In addition to his Academy Award, James Cagney also won the New York Film Critics award for Best Actor (he walked away with the award, receiving 13 votes to 2 on the very first ballot!). Curtiz was nominated for Best Director but dropped out after the second ballet. (The award was eventually won by John Farrow for "Wake Island"). When I interviewed Jimmy Cagney, there were two films he was especially fond of. One, of course, was "Footlight Parade" (1933) which took Cagney out of the noir aura of thieves and gangsters and into the song-and-dance world of musical comedy. His other favorite film of course was "Yankee Doodle Dandy" which Cagney felt did such important work as a wartime morale-booster that any liberties the script took with the real facts of George M. Cohan's birth (he was actually born on July 3, not July 4) and life story were totally unimportant. COMMENT: ?Yankee Doodle Dandy" was obviously filmed on a blank check as a war-time propaganda gesture. Cohan himself died a few months after the film's release. He was ill at the time and took no part in the production which, as might be expected of Hollywood, takes considerable liberties, both major and minor with his career. Although he regarded July 4th as his birthday, Cohan was actually born on July 3rd which makes total nonsense of the entire first ten or fifteen minutes of the film. A nauseating performance by Walter Huston – actively abetting this lie – doesn't help either. Another equally outlandish falsehood occurs in the later stages of the film when Cohan denies having made any movies whereas he made several, including two sound films — The Phantom President (1932) and Gambling (1934).Oddly, and to my great surprise, Cohan himself hated the movie, which is surprising in view of the fact that it so vigorously abets the lie that he was born on July 4. The problem no doubt is that the movie lies on such an enormous raft of other details as well. It is really a fairy tale rather than a genuine "life".Nonetheless, this is rousing, bouncy entertainment, with Cagney flashily hoofing and singing such Cohan standards as "Give My Regards to Broadway", "I Was Born In Virginia" and "Over There".One of the highlights of the film are the two long scenes from the stage presentation of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Cagney deserved his Best Actor Award. He dominates the entire film. He tells the story in flashback and appears in just about every scene, except of course the early ones with the child actors. Aside from his opening scenes, Huston is effective, also sings his own songs and does his own hoofing, but the other principal players are either colorless or put in the shade by Cagney, particularly Jeanne Cagney and to a lesser extent De Camp, Leslie and Whorf. Irene Manning tends to over-act and does not come across too attractively though she sings in her own voice. As in "Lillian Russell", Eddie Foy does his father again to perfection, but alas has only one unimportant scene with Cagney. What could be omitted is a lot of the routine domestic trivia with which the director seems as bored as we are. Curtiz comes to life during the parades and songs and Siegel has provided a couple of lively montages, including an extremely elaborate one of the neon lights of Old Broadway. Production values are superlative.AVAILABLE on a superb Warner DVD.

calvinnme The amazing piece of timing here is when Warner Bros. began work on this biography of entertainer George M. Cohan, WWII had not yet broken out. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred the day before shooting began. When the film opened people on the home front badly needed some morale boosting, and this film gave it to them. It's just a joyous musical costume piece from start to finish with nice comic touches balanced with some sentimental moments (supposedly Walter Huston's deathbed scene had even taskmaster director Michael Curtiz crying). There's nothing in the way of real conflict or even much heavy in the way of romance between Cohan and his fictitious film wife "Mary", who was modeled after Cohan's actual second wife in some ways. Cohan was actually married twice. Oddly enough, it was Cohan who said he wanted as little romance in the film as possible.The more I learn about Cohan the more I realize that Cagney was perfect to play him - both Irish Americans, both about the same size and build, and George Cohan's style of dancing and singing were about the same as Cagney's. It's hard to believe that Fred Astaire was Cohan's first choice to play himself. Astaire was a great talent, but I don't think he could have conveyed the combination of mischief, optimism and energy that was Cohan the way that Cagney ultimately did. Several people criticize Cagney's dancing here, but that eccentric style was Cohan's, who always considered himself more of an overall entertainer than a dancer in the first place.If you're "date conscious" as I am, there are some matters of plot that might bother you. Cohan was born on July 2 or 3, not July 4. Cohan's mother outlived his father by eleven years and Cohan's father was not "very old" when he died as is said in the film - at least by today's standards. When Cohan's father died in 1917, he was only 69. Cohan's sister did die young - she was only 39, dying in 1916, plus she was not his little sister. Instead Josie was a year older than George. The film has Josie marrying when she would have been close to forty, when she actually married at the beginning of the 20th century and thus was the one to break up the four Cohans, not George. Also, Cohan received his Congressional Medal in 1936, not as WWII began as shown in the film. However the plot device of having George M. recount his life story to FDR, receiving his Congressional medal in the Oval Office, and then dance joyously down the White House stairs and into the streets joining a group of marching soldiers in a chorus of "Over There" was probably a great way to bridge Cohan's patriotic past with what was then an uncertain time that certainly needed a dose of his optimism.The one thing that I did find a little odd - and one thing isn't much in a two plus hour long movie - is that it is hard to spot the actual point in the film where Mary becomes George's wife. There is quite a bit of domesticity shown before the two were married. Mary is cooking for George, staying in his apartment alone waiting for him to come home from the show, and acting very much like they are already married. The only way you know they are not is that George very subtly pops the question to the point that I'm surprised even Mary knew what he was asking! I know this doesn't seem like much in today's world, but considering that they were trying to paint Cohan in the most positive light possible and that the living arrangements might be misunderstood, I am surprised that the censors of that time never raised the issue.At any rate, I highly recommend this one. You'll have a great time, at least in part because you can see that Cagney is having a great time. He always said this film was his favorite, and it shows in his performance.

gavin6942 A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan (played by James Cagney).While I am not big on musicals (with some exceptions) and not particularly fond of patriotic pictures... and I had never heard of George Cohan before seeing this film... I was quite impressed.Not necessarily impressed by the singing, dancing, acting and more, but impressed by who was doing it: James Cagney. Having seen Cagney as no fewer than three gangsters, I was thinking those were the roles he was meant to play. And while I still think that, I am impressed that he could sing and tap dance and more...Was Cagney typecast? It appears that way. But, at least for the audience, we were given some of the finest gangster films ever made because of it. And thanks to this film, Cagney received his much-deserved Oscar.