Yankee Doodle Dandy

John Chard

Being versatile, I played my mother's father. Yankee Doodle Dandy is directed by Michael Curtiz and collectively written by Robert Buckner, Edmund Joseph, Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney. This is a biographical interpretation of the life of renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan (Cagney). As usual it is advised to seek out facts about the person the biography is about - if one so wishes of course to see how true the bio is. A wonderful spirited picture that begs and demands to be viewed in today's context. Unwavering in its flag waving patriotism, this was unashamedly a moral booster that acted as a recruiting poster for the war effort - of which George Cohan was rightly lauded. Though his singing voice was never what you would call high quality, his dancing however certainly was, and it's an utter joy to see the multi faceted Cagney light up the screen in every scene he is in. Great blood pumping songs help off set the slightly over long run time, to which even a British guy like myself found myself saluting such a jingoistic joy come pic's finale. 8/10