The simple truth is that some films hold up over time and some don't. Yankee Doodle Dandy ends off the list of AFI's 100 greatest movies and yet the film feels incredibly outdated. Of course I should mention the fact that it's a musical, my least favorite genre right next to period pieces. So going inn I wasn't expecting myself to have a warm reaction to the material. Trying to be objective though I fought my hardest to stay with the film. not long into it though I quickly began to lose interest after the first dance number. Not to make things any easier the drama and comedy in between the music felt very very cheesy. Not 40's melodrama cheesy but bad 40's melodrama cheesy.
Happily the one good thing I can say about the film though was James Cagney. A legendary actor whose work I am not YET familiar with. Cagney rose to fame playing malicious gangsters in films of the 1930's and 40's. Here he sheds that image to become a song and dance man. The film won Cagney his first and only Oscar. His performance would probably seem like a remarkable turn for me if I had seen any of his previous work. Having now seen Yankee Doodle Dandy though I can say honestly that it did create enough of a curiosity within for me to seek out his other work. Which is something that I look forward to doing in the near future.
If your a fan of old school musicals, don't mind black and white cinematography, and enjoy the innocent feel of old Hollywood pictures, then this may be a film for you. But for the rest of us, I say there's plenty of other better films on that AFI list to search out first.
D+
1943
2 comments:
Interesting that this is your first Cagney film experience. Most people can't say that. Perhaps it will make his evil SOB character performances that much better...
I know I thought about that. I definitely in a unique position.
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