The West Point Story

A shame really. With the talent, how could one go wrong with Doris Day, James Cagney, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson and Virginia Mayo, 'The West Point Story' could and should have been really good, even if not an instant classic.

Well something did go wrong, because 'The West Point Story' (despite being called 'Fine and Dandy' here, being British it is being referred to by its English, and original, title, just wanted to clarify to save any confusion) was a heavily problematic, lacklustre effort that doesn't even utilise its talent very well (even though they still come off well). Not an awful film, but not a particularly good one but more of a difficult to rate film for me.

The best thing about it is Cagney, who may not be exactly subtle (which came across to me as making the most out of, and doing at least something with, his material), but brings a tremendous amount of energy which is a marvel to watch. So much so that it makes one frustrated that that energy doesn't come over in most other elements. Day and MacRae also don't come off too shabbily. Day is fresh and endearing and one cannot get enough of her voice that shines even in not so great material. Meanwhile, MacRae shows off his warm baritone voice to perfection and is a charmer on screen, when he and Day are on screen they are irresistible.

Mayo and Nelson deserved better (as did Day and MacRae) but do a lot with what they have. Mayo is luminous, snappy and saucy, while Nelson's dancing is as dazzling as ever. The songs are pleasant enough and sung beautifully.

Against all that, of the songs there isn't one that stands out and it is crying out for a show-stopper. Likewise with having a show-stopper of a dancing sequence for Nelson, he dances really well and the choreography is witty and graceful but at the same time there is nothing extraordinary or memorable. As said though, Day and MacRae do sound wonderful and the songs suit their voices, one just wishes that the overall standard was more inspired.

Nothing against black and white (there is a very big group of great films and even masterpieces in black and white), but 'The West Point Story' also cried out for Technicolor. The sets do look shoestring-budget cheap with obvious rear projection and the cinematography is dull. Roy Del Ruth is the sort of director who could do this with his eyes closed and despite some energetic moments in some of the choreography elsewhere this was a real going through the motions effort from him.

Script goes overboard in the silliness and feels very limp too. Worst of all is the story, which is pedestrian in pace, takes silliness and contrivance to very high degrees and is filled with inconsistencies, dumbness and improbabilities, with very forced subplots and parts that don't really go anywhere. Day is also rather underused with a character that is given short shrift too much.

Overall, very difficult to rate but generally very disappointing. 5/10 Bethany Cox

He spits out lame dialog like it was Shakespeare, he talk-sings with a verve that could give Rex Harrison or Robert Preston lessons, he stomps up and down, he uppercuts, he dances up a storm. There's plenty of A-list talent in this uninspired Warners musical, but a 51-year-old Cagney is pretty much the whole show, and he appears to believe in the hole-filled plot so much that you buy it, too, despite the many lapses of logic. I find his teaming with Virginia Mayo a little distasteful--he's plainly too old for her--but she lends a lot of enthusiasm, too, as does Doris Day, given some middling Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn ballads to warble (and some very unattractive gowns to model), and Gene Nelson, tapping exuberantly, and Gordon MacRae, with his fine natural baritone. Cagney felt he did his best dancing in this film, and it's worth sitting through the dated, hit-you-on-the-head patriotism and weird plot mechanics to get to his virtuosic numbers--he even taps a bit with Day, who started out as a dancer and keeps up brilliantly with him. It's not a good movie, exactly, but I'd trade a lot of neater, better-crafted musicals for this one's dumb liveliness, and for Cagney's genius. I mentioned Robert Preston above; Cagney was, in fact, considered for Professor Harold Hill before Preston was hired. I think he'd have been terrific.

Silly story line about a show staged by an outsider at the Point,but any movie that has singing by Gordon Macrae and Doris Day plus dancing by Virginia Mayo And Gene Nelson is a must see.If only to show today's movie fans the quality of talent that was around during the 1950s' Forget the story,and enjoy the musical numbers.

Next to "Yankee Doodle Dandy", this has Cagney's best dancing. It also has some fine dancing and singing from Virginia Mayo, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae & Gene Nelson. They all do very well, along with an early funny performance by Alan Hale Jr.

Shot in Technicolor, with better songs and more plausible story, this could have been another "The Bandwagon".

Cagney's role is similar to his role in the earlier musical 'Footloght Parade'. As in "Footlight", at one point, one of the dancers is unable to go on and Cagney's character fills in for him. Virginia Mayo plays the same sort of wise-cracking sexy blonde that Joan Blondell played in "Footlight".

The main main plot is Cagney being pressured into joining West Point to help them put on a musical. Adding to that implausibility is a cadet (Gordon MacRae) with a magnificent voice preferring to make a career in the Army, even after falling in love with a famous singing star (Doris Day basically playing herself).

The romance between Cagney and Mayo isn't so far fetched when you look at the movies Fred Astaire made with Leslie Caron, Audrey Hepburn and others. Virginia Mayo displays a fine dancing talent and lovely singing voice, and Doris Day shows she could dance as well as sing. I wish they'd left out the long patriotic number with Gordon MacRae and let him sing a ballad or duet with Doris. Gene Nelson is totally wasted here; they really didn't let him have a big dance number like his Kansas City number in "Oklahoma!" The movie would have been improved had there been an estrangement between Mayo and Cagney with perhaps a dalliance between Mayo and Nelson sparking jealousy in Cagney.

Even though Cagney is noticeably heavier here than in "Yankee Doodle Dandy", he still dances very well and delivers a comic performance complete with facial mugging and explosive tantrums. Those tantrums with lots of hopping up and down like a Warner Bros. cartoon character couldn't have been good for Cagney's 50 year old knees! Alan Hale Jr. was quite funny especially when his huge bulk is next to the short statured Cagney. Warner's should have made some sort of police comedy buddy movie with Hale and Cagney.

I enjoyed seeing Cagney and Mayo once again playing totally different parts. They play off each other very well as do Cagney and Day. It's obvious that MacRae and Day look so cute together that they just had to make more movies together with better songs. Cagney was sufficiently impressed with Doris Day that he pushed for her to get the Ruth Etting part in "Love Me Or Leave Me".

Cagney plays Elwin "Bix" Bixby, a formerly successful showman with a very bad temper, reduced to staging the numbers at a hole-in-the-wall Manhattan nightclub, assisted by his long-suffering fiancée, Eve (Virginia Mayo). Bix is more or less blackmailed into accepting a job directing the 100th Night show at West Point by a Broadway producer. The catch? The producer wants Bix to persuade his nephew, Tom (Gordon MacRae), the star and co-writer of the show with his friend Hal (Gene Nelson), to give up the Army for a singing career. So Bix (who hates West Point, based on past Army experiences) ends up at the Academy along with Eve, directing the show but temperamentally at odds with the lifestyle.

Somehow the solution to this is to make him a cadet (don't even ask, it makes no sense). And in the course of events, he persuades a movie star acquaintance, Jan Wilson (Doris Day), who is on a press junket in New York City, to travel up the Hudson to attend a formal dance at the Point as Tom's "drag." I forget why, but who cares? The plot just gets more incomprehensible as the show goes on, but the fact is, this movie is still a lot of fun. I disagree with some of the people here because I think the original songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn are terrific. None were hits, but there are just a lot of really good songs here. And the arrangements are in the best Ray Heindorf style. Cagney is fantastic, more dynamic and committed than 10 other actors. The singing, by Day and MacRae, is top-notch, and Doris in particular elevates every scene she's in, she's like a human antidepressant. Gene Nelson, an excellent dancer, has a few good numbers, and Virginia Mayo is sincere and funny as Cagney's girl and a very good dancer as well.

If you choose to focus on the positives and if you can manage to ignore some of the plot holes, you should have a good time with this one.