Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Lawbolisted Powerful

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

gkeith_1 Cagney was a fighter in his youth; a boxer. He was also a master tap dancer. Both skills have similar movements; quick stepping, fast movements, extreme alertness, counting the beats, fast turns and jumps backward and forward.In this film, Jimmy starts to get into a fight. I was waiting for the classic boxing stances, but I didn't see any.Spoiler. Early in the film, Jimmy is fighting his sergeant, but near the end Jimmy ends up giving his life for ol' sarge.Jimmy starts out the film as cocky, smart-alecky and a know-it-all who really doesn't know much of anything.He is a raw recruit, a hayseed from the city, actually. He has no patriotic feeling; perhaps he is there just for the paycheck. The recruits are all gung ho and happy go lucky, and so are the soldiers already in uniform.We don't see the backstory, that after several years of President Woodrow Wilson not wanting to get the U.S. into The Great War, all of a sudden men are joining up. Was there a draft? There was a HUGE publicity campaign trying the convince the American public to go into the war, previously only a European interest. There were cartoon posters depicting the enemy as a huge, ugly monster or even the devil.Was this group a national guard? Where was the real army? Was the U.S. not prepared, or were the smallish group of regulars already overseas? Maybe Jimmy and his hayseeds only wanted to go and see French mademoiselles who Parlez-Vous'd Francaise and offered them snails for lunch. Ugh. Inky-dinky parley voo, indeed.Jimmy is a troublemaker and overly sure of himself. Spoilers ahead. He becomes a coward, but later saves some other people by ending up being a target of the enemy.I am female.I have studied several war courses as part of my history degree at university. It is interesting that this film was made right before the U.S. entered World War Two.I also love Jimmy Cagney, as well as tap dancing. You know that, from reading my other reviews. I love song and dance films very much, except that in this film the only singing is done at a church service.Not exactly my cup of tea, and even the black and white hurts my eyes, as you also well know. Anyway, give me Jimmy tap dancing any old day. Yankee Doodle Dandy was Jimmy's favorite film that he ever made. It is also one of my favorites that I have ever seen; black and white, but I have never seen a colorized version of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

John T. Ryan ONCE ONE REMEMBERS that this story, based on the career of Army Chaplain, Father Duffy, is very Hollywood, it can be properly evaluated and absorbed into the intellect. Although the story is highly fabricated and fictionalized, it nonetheless brings us in contact with a proud old Regiment and its tough, but saintly Catholic Priest Chaplain.THE STORY PRESENTS a stark contrast in characterization by pitting the "lost sheep", draftee/PFC Jerry Plunkett (James Cagney) against Father Duffy (Pat O'Brien), the Officers and the entire U.S. Army. Various characters are depicted in between the two extremes. The best character of this classification is "Crepe Hanger" Burke* (Frank McHugh); who also is a sort agent of comic relief.COURAGE UNDER FIRE is a central theme of the story. The behaviour of ordinary 'Citizen Soldiers', called "Doughboys" in World War I, is dramatized throughout the picture. The very action of taking a bunch of raw recruits from their lives in the 5 Bourroughs of NYC's Irish neighborhoods and transforming them post-haste into soldiers is an interesting subject in itself and one that provides so much of the interaction of the film.ONE VERY INTERESTING aspect of the film is the inclusion of the story of well known poet, Alfred Joyce Kilmer (18861918), who was portrayed by Warner Brothers' star, Jeffrey Lynn. Corporal Joyce Kilmer was killed in action with the NY 69th on July 30, 1918.AS A SORT of historical footnote to this story, those who visit NYC's Times Square should stop and take a look at the memorial to the Priest.ALONG WITH THE two other pictures of this period, Warner Brothers gave us a sort of World War I Trilogy. THE FIGHTING 69th is joined by SERGEANT YORK and THE ROARING 20's in giving us a cinematic picture of WWI and its effect on our way of life in the USA and the whole World.NOTE * The term "Crepe Hanger" is one of those vanishing terms that is largely unknown today. The meaning is one who is always a downer and displays a chronic pessimistic attitude toward everything. The origin of this comes from the old custom of draping the home of the recently deceased with Black Crepe Paper as a symbol of mourning.

writers_reign Mercifully I've spent my whole life in sublime ignorance of this piece of cheese though I am inclined to curse the day - last week - when I spotted it in a Charity shop and bought if for a pittance on the strength of names like George Brent, Alan Hale, William Keighly not to mention that threadbare vaudeville act Cagney and O'Brien.What a crock. There was barely one frame that was watchable. Talk about the mixture as before. William Keighly may have been a journeyman director but he was on some fairly tasty movies not least Each Dawn I Die which was right before this one and he shared a director credit (though I wish someone would explain why) with Michael Curtiz on THE version of Robin Hood (the one with Errol Flynn that they STILL can't equal seventy years later). Clearly he phoned this one in as did virtually everyone connected with it. Pure banjo pics.

Tarasicodissa Hollywood released quite a few films with the Pat O'Brien, Jimmy Cagney pairing with the same general theme, one which I think is unfairly dismissed here as 'cliched'.In each of these films, Cagney's character was an Irish ghetto hood, full of street values (toughness at all costs... taking, lying, and using ... physical aggressiveness ... resistance to authority or discipline ... contempt for 'chump' 'soft' moral values). He saw Pat O'Brien's character as 'soft' because he was a 'sucker' with all his 'morality' talk.The redemption came when Cagney's character contrasted Father Duffy's steady courage under fire with his own terror. His street values taught him to respect courage. But he saw that his street values can teach him defiance but not serenity. Serenity comes from moral character and the street cannot teach you that. He saw that there is, as the song goes, more to being a man than just being macho. And there is a courage that has nothing to do with your fists. That is a very, very important point.