US 126m Dir: Michael Curtiz Key Cast: James Cagney
Original Screenplay (Based on real events)
James Cagney's career in show-business began with a vaudeville show called Every Sailor, a play which involved men dressed as women. Even today Cagney is largely remembered for his gangster roles but his career began with dancing, something which he was actually excellent at. This background made him the perfect person to play real-life entertainer George M. Cohan, along with the fact he used a half-singing/half-reciting style which Cohan himself used.
Cagney is sensational in this film. It's clear from the reaction of the time how perfectly he imitated Cohan on during the song and dance numbers, really bringing them to life in the vaudeville style. Outside of these sections though we get a stunning acting performance as Cagney totally convinces as the Cohan, mostly being impish and excitable but displaying several moments of huge emotion. Cagney does this really subtly, it doesn't look like he is acting heartbroken, he seems to literally be heartbroken on the screen. He considered Yankee Doodle Dandy his best film and in terms of performance it's hard to argue.
The film is really a piece of American propaganda. War was coming and the attack on Pearl Harbor happened during the shoot. The story seems largely irrelevant and follows George from being part of The Four Cohans vaudeville act along with his parents and sister before eventually creating and appearing in his own shows. The actual plot seems unimportant to the filmmakers and instead we get lots of extended extracts from the shows. Many are about the US flag (does any other country get so excited about their flag?) and generally about how brilliant America is.
I struggled with the message of the film. I'm not American so there's no reason that I'd feel the patriotism that the film intends to elicit but even if I was I'm not sure I'd feel it anyway. For the most part the film is singing about how great America is but it all feels very first base- I consider patriotism working best when it says "we're amazing because..." but the song and dance numbers just say "we're amazing" and fail to give any evidence towards it.
This is another one of those films where context is hugely important. Audiences in the USA and UK loved it at the time. It's hardly surprising- it's full of songs that people would know and love. It feels hugely old-fashioned now and not at all to my taste but it was a hugely important part of culture at the time. Then of course there's the fact that World War II was underway and the public faced a fear that their very identity could be lost if things didn't go well. It's hard to muster the same level of patriotism today but back in 1942 it meant "we're not fascists".
Rarely does a film feel quite so much of it's moment in time and though it lacks much substance beyond a piece of propaganda it's impossible to ignore the fantastic performance of James Cagney.
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