The West Point Story (1950)

When previewing a performance for the musical show being put on, Cagney says "Wouldn't hiss, wouldn't cheer." That about sums it up perfectly, except that I am hissing - some. This movie musical about Cagney helping West Point cadets put on a musical revue, simply just lays there. Despite his energetic presence and the talents of Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, and Virginia Mayo, it comes across as lifeless. The musical numbers are upbeat and Cagney uses his whole body to show disgust for incompetent amateurs (if you've seen it, you know what I mean,) but the songs are not original or grand enough to really stand out. It may seem pleasant enough at the time, but after nearly two hours, you feel worn out. See another Doris Day or James Cagney film first.

...but who cares? Watch it to see how the versatile, hard-working stars at Warner Bros. could turn a pedestrian plot into a breezy, lighthearted, song-and-dance treat.MGM may have been the king of the genre and Fox certainly had its share of toe-tapping performers, but there's something about those old black-and-white Warner Bros. musicals that continue to entertain me. From the 1930s up to the 1950s, they always had a gritty, plain- talking quality that made them very different from what the other studios offered. What a pleasure to watch James Cagney, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, and the saucy Virginia Mayo (who never got enough credit during her career) light up the screen with their remarkable talents.Yes, the story doesn't make sense and most of the tunes are uninspired but I'll still give it an 8 for fun.

This has to be one of the most dismal entries on all the principal's CVs. It's also good for a trivia question: What major songwriter used the same title twice in the same decade with different collaborators? Answer: Jule Styne, who included in this score, written with established partner Sammy Cahn, a number entitled Long Before I Knew You and then, following his break-up with Cahn a couple of years later, wrote another melody with the same title as part of his score for Bells Are Ringing, with Comden and Green. Other than that - and the fact that Cagney and Day would co-star a couple of years later in Love Me Or Leave Me, or the fact that Day, McCrae and Nelson would also work together again, Tea For Two, etc - the least said a bout this turkey the better. For West Point read DISAPpoint.

In a blatant attempt to recapture the spirit of James Cagney's 1942 hit "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (the trailer even promises this to be "the dandiest Yankee Doodle of them all!") comes a highly-concocted story from Irving Wallace about a down-and-out-showman staging a musical revue at a military academy. Corny in the extreme, but hoofing Cagney's still got the goods; his dance routines liven up the pace of this puff-piece, though they don't exactly make it a memorable vehicle for any of the stars. Virginia Mayo and Doris Day are the gals on hand, and Day's fans will surely be disappointed by her weak musical material and the fact she gets the short shrift in favor of Mayo (who has the better role and yet still projects all the personality of a fashionable mannequin). ** from ****