Yankee Doodle Dandy, 9/2/12, Best Actor, Best Music – Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Sound – Recording, 1942
Yankee Doodle Dandy was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including Best Actor for James Cagney. I wasn’t sure how much I would like the movie, but I really like watching James Cagney (see Public Enemy, White Heat, Angels with Dirty Faces), and I always enjoy ‘The Yankee Doodle Boy’ whenever it’s shown as a clip, so what did I have to lose (especially after Henry VIII the night before). Yankee Doodle Dandy tells the story of George M. Cohan, the writer of songs like ‘The Yankee Doodle Boy’, ‘Give My Regards to Broadway’ and ‘Over There’, amongst others. You may have hummed those songs and had no idea who wrote them. The movie shows a glimpse of what the vaudeville life may have been like; for many people today, it’s probably a totally foreign world, but think about the great TV variety shows and you may get some idea. Cagney is so fun to watch, he actually had a background of dancing, and the dance numbers alone make the movie. The movie was released in 1942, which was right in the middle of World War II, and I would imagine had an impact on the morale of the country. Check out this movie, and then White Heat to see a totally different Cagney.
The Grapes of Wrath, 9/2/12, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, 1940
I cannot believe I have not read the book. How did that happen? I’ll blame Hemingway. So, there will be no comparisons between the movie and the novel by John Steinbeck, however, I will be getting it from the library. Having made that disclaimer, I’m kind of glad I didn’t have any preconceived notions from the book and could watch it with a clean slate. I always find it interesting that when there was the option to use color and a director chooses to stay with black and white film (Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz were both released in 1939 in full-blown color). I think the use of black and white and shadows totally fit the movie, the mood, everything. Color would have been a distraction. Jane Darwell won for Best Supporting Actress as Ma Joad, and she was wonderful as the de facto head of the Joad clan (you can also see Jane Darwell as the Bird Lady in Mary Poppins). John Ford won for Best Director (one of four wins, so you will see his name again). Henry Fonda stars as Tom Joad and was nominated for Best Actor but lost out to James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (although 1940 was a great year for movies and for leading actors, with Olivier in Rebecca and Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator). The movie tells the story of the Joad family who move from Oklahoma to California looking for work in the fields. It’s a rough road and provides a little insight into the young labor movement; it’s hard to imagine that .05 an hour seems like a living wage. I kept waiting to hear Woody Guthrie in the background; that would have been super obvious and might happen if someone is crazy enough to remake this classic. It’s hard to believe that things that are portrayed in the movie actually happened, until you look at it compared to what has happened in the country in the last four years. It’s not that big of a stretch to think of families being forced to give up everything they’ve known through misfortune; families being forced to make every last bit of food stretch to last as long as possible. But throughout the movie, there is a hope that comes through Ma Joad. She even gives a nice explanation to Pa Joad as to why women can adapt better than men. I’m sorry I waited so long to see it and to read the book.
