Yankee Doodle Dandy [Special Edition] [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Yankee Doodle Dandy is no more the true-life story of George M. Cohan than The Jolson Story was the unvarnished truth about Al Jolson -- but who the heck cares? Dandy has song, dance, pathos, pageantry, uproarious comedy, and, best of all, James Cagney at his Oscar-winning best. After several failed attempts to bring the life of legendary, flag-waving song-and-dance man Cohan to the screen, Warners scenarist Robert Buckner opted for the anecdotal approach, unifying the film's largely unrelated episodes with a flashback framework. Summoned to the White House by President Roosevelt, the aging Cohan is encouraged to relate the events leading up to this momentous occasion. He recalls his birth on the Fourth of July, 1878; his early years as a cocky child performer in his family's vaudeville act; his decision to go out as a "single"; his sealed-with-a-handshake partnership with writer/producer Sam Harris (Richard Whorf); his first Broadway success, 1903's Little Johnny Jones; his blissful marriage to winsome wife Mary (a fictional amalgam of Cohan's two wives, played by Joan Leslie -- who, incredibly, was only 17 at the time); his patriotic civilian activities during World War I, culminating with his writing of that conflict's unofficial anthem "Over There" (performed by Nora Bayes, as played by Frances Langford); the deaths of his sister, Josie (played by Cagney's real-life sister Jeanne), his mother, Nellie (Rosemary DeCamp), and his father, Jerry (Walter Huston); his abortive attempt to retire; and his triumphant return to Broadway in Rodgers & Hart's I'd Rather Be Right.

His story told, Cohan is surprised -- and profoundly moved -- when FDR presents him with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first such honor bestowed upon an entertainer. His eyes welling up with tears, Cohan expresses his gratitude by invoking his old vaudeville curtain speech: "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you." Glossing over such unsavory moments in Cohan's life as his bitter opposition of the formation of Actor's Equity -- not to mention George M.'s intense hatred of FDR! -- Yankee Doodle Dandy offers the George M. Cohan that people in 1942 wanted to see (proof of the pudding was the film's five-million-dollar gross). And besides, the plot and its fabrications were secondary to those marvelous Cohan melodies -- "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Harrigan," "Mary," "You're a Grand Old Flag," "45 Minutes from Broadway," and the title tune -- performed with brio by Cagney (who modifies his own loose-limbed dancing style in order to imitate Cohan's inimitable stiff-legged technique) and the rest of the spirited cast. Beyond its leading players, movie buffs will have a ball spotting the myriad of familiar character actors parading before the screen: S.Z. Sakall, George Tobias, Walter Catlett, George Barbier, Eddie Foy Jr. (playing his own father), Frank Faylen, Minor Watson, Tom Dugan, John Hamilton, and on and on and on. In addition to Cagney, music directors Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld also won Oscars for their efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Black and White
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • cc
  • All-new digital transfer from restored picture and audio elements
  • Rousing documentaries chronicling the movie's making and James Cagney's career
  • Audio commentary
  • "John Travolta Remembers James Cagney"
  • Leonard Maltin hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1942 with trailer, newsreel, dramatic short, cartoon and Cagney in wartime short "You, John Jones"
  • More vintage cartoons
  • Galleries of art/photo/publicity materials and James Cagney trailers
  • Audio-only extras: Radio show and pre-recording session outtakes/rehearsals

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Actor - 1942 (James Cagney)
•     Won Best Score - Musical - 1942 (Ray Heindorf, Heinz Roemheld)
•     Won Best Sound - 1942 (Nathan Levinson)
•     Nominated Best Director - 1942 (Michael Curtiz)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 1942 (George J. Amy)
•     Nominated Best Original Story - 1942 (Robert Buckner)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1942
•     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1942 (Walter Huston)

• American Film Institute

•     Won 100 Greatest American Movies - 1998

• Film Daily

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1942

• Library of Congress

•     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1992

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Acting - 1942 (James Cagney)

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Actor - 1942 (James Cagney)

• New York Times

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1942

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       James Cagney - George M. Cohan
       Joan Leslie - Mary Cohan
       Walter Huston - Jerry Cohan
       Richard Whorf - Sam Harris
       Irene Manning - Fay Templeton
       George Tobias - Dietz
       Rosemary de Camp - Nellie Cohan
       Frances Langford - Nora Bayes
       George Barbier - Erlanger
       S.Z. Sakall - Schwab
       Walter Catlett - Manager
       Douglas Croft - George M. Cohan, Age 13
       Eddie Foy, Jr. - Eddie Foy
       Minor Watson - Ed Albee
       Chester Clute - Harold Goff
       Odette Myrtil - Mme. Bartholdi
       Patsy Lee Parsons - Josie Cohan, age 12
       Ann Doran - Receptionist

• Director:

  Michael Curtiz, Hugh MacMullan

• Producer:

  Hal B. Wallis, Jack L. Warner

• Screenwriter:

  Robert Buckner, Edmund Joseph

• Cinematographer:

  James Wong Howe

• Composer (Music Score):

  George M. Cohan

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Leo F. Forbstein

• Composer (Music Score):

  Heinz Roemheld

• Editor:

  George J. Amy

• Art Director:

  Carl Jules Weyl

• Associate Producer:

  William Cagney

• Costume Designer:

  Milo Anderson

• Makeup:

  Perc Westmore

• Consultant/advisor:

  William Collier, Sr.

• Choreography:

  Seymour Felix, LeRoy J. Prinz, John Boyle

• Sound Recordist:

  Nathan Levinson

REVIEW:

• Yankee Doodle Dandy was one of the best World War II-era patriotic propaganda films, and it has proven itself enduringly popular in the decades following its release. The film succeeds almost entirely on the performance of James Cagney as legendary song-and-dance performer George M. Cohan, although significant credit should also be given to director Michael Curtiz, who expertly stages each scene to display the talents of his star. The film features an over-the-top framing device in which Cohan tells his life's story in flashback to President Franklin Roosevelt. The story is effectively fiction, using only the outline of Cohan's life and some of his songs as reference points. The musical sequences are among the best in any film of the era. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, including Best Actor for Cagney. The real-life Cohan died shortly after the film's release, living long enough to see it and like it despite, or perhaps because of, its lack of accuracy about his life. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi