Review of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) by Kendall W — 13 Nov 2007

A fabulously fun and thoroughly enjoyable musical, full of the sort of sharp wit and snappy dialogue that James Cagney was infamous for. Though it is full of a sort of patriotic flag-waving, it does, in a sense, recognize this tendancy itself, with the critics' reviews of "Cohan's" plays being accused of the same...I love the scene where George proposes to Mary, it's tender, yet clever at the same time, and the scene with Jerry, the father's, death was very emotional, so well done that it even made me cry. I'll be humming "Over There" for days now...

"Darling, how would you like a lifetime job of looking-after? Leading lady - run of the play. There may be a few heartaches after the curtain goes up, but I can guarantee you some laughs. How does it sound?" ~ James Cagney as George Cohan.