Yankee Doodle Dandy - A Cagney Masterclass

For anyone who wonders why James Cagney stands in the very top echelon of Hollywood movie stars, take a look at 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', made in 1942.

It would be terribly easy from a postmodern, politically correct, and sophisticatead perspective to regard the movie as jingoistic wartime propaganda. Indeed, this flag-waving musical extravaganza biopic, detailing the life of patriotic |Irish American song-and-dance man George M. Cohan (the first performer to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor), gushes with sentimental, simplistic musical numbers invariably characterized by Cohan's trademark stiff-kneed, effervescent, brash dancing style and championing through their lyrics the most stolid American institutions: "Grand Old Flag,", "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Over There," and the title song, to name a few. The film is a flashback - told by a modest Cohan to FDR - that ends with a self-conscious advertisement for intervention - "I wouldn't worry about this country if I were you. We've got this thing licked. Where else in the world could a plain guy like me come in and talk things over with the head man?"

But such a cynical reading would fail grossly to miss something surprising and touching and grand that runs through 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' like a clear river, and that is James Cagney's magnificent sincerity in the title role. This is evident in his way of embarrassedly smiling to punctuate his thoughts, in his soft and civilised speaking voice, in the astonishing virtuosity of his dancing which is persuasive and original in style, unrelentingly athletic while also being childish, playful, and beautifully meaningless: and in something we rarely see onscreen anymore since alienated distance has overtaken Hollywood performance, and that is Cagney's complete and loving belief in everything he does. Michael Curtiz's direction never overplays him, James Wong Howe's lush black-and-white cinematography never fails to show every nuance of his posture and expression in articulate light. And when his hoofer father (Walter Huston) is falling away into death, with Georgie at his bedside, Cagney gives in to a rush of honest feeling that carries him into tears. So mucn, in fact, do we care for this man we forget we are watching a performance. Cagney has become Cohan. Even more, he has become the optimistic spirit of the screen. A beautiful masterpiece of James Cagney's acting brilliance.

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Douglas Fairbanks - The First Swashbuckler

Douglas Fairbanks was the laughing daredevil of the silent screen in swashbuckling roles in adventure movies such as 'The Thief of Bagdad', 'Robin Hood', and 'The Mark of Zorro'. He invented the slyly self-parodic action hero, setting the tone for a line of successors from Errol Flynn to Bruce Willis.

Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado on May 23, 1883. He moved to New York in the early 1900s intent on pursuing an acting career and he made his Broadway debut in 1902.

Initially a comedian, he played the drug-crazed detective Coke Ennyday in 'The Mystery of the Leaping Fish' in 1916. Fairbank's athleticism - he loved doing his own stunts - trademark moustache, and cheerful air suited him to swashbuckling, with serious swordplay leavened by graceful slapstick.'The Mark of Zorro' in 1920, in which he is both macho outlaw and comedy fop, was the first of the increasingly elaborate star vehicles, such as 'The Three Musketeers' in 1921, that he wrote and produced annually for a decade.

In the talkies, Fairbanks's star shone less brightly after teaming with his second wife, Mary Pickford, for a creaky 'The Taming of the Shrew' in 1929, but his farewell role was wryly dignified as a middle-aged great lover in 'The Private of Don Juan' in 1934.

Fairbanks's legacy is not just confined to the screen. Ever financially savvy, he started his own production company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation, in 1917, which helped propel him to become one of Hollywood's top earners. Such independence proved to be a thorn in the side of the studios, who attempted to monopolize film distribution. Undeterred, his business acumen led him to found the United Artists studio in 1919 together with Charles Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford. They created their own disttributorships, took artistic control over their output, and reaped a greater share of the profits. Fairbanks was also one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and co-hosted (with director William C. de Mille) the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.
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