As The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wisely categorized, The Strawberry Blonde is actually a musical. True, it could also be aptly described as a romantic comedy or even as a comedy-drama. But with its feast of period songs, I see it primarily as a musical in which both the period nostalgia and even the songs themselves are gently spoofed. Walsh's bright, crisp direction deftly employs a dazzling variety of camera angles and fluid camera movements. These, combined with sharp film editing, effectively disguise the screenplay's otherwise rather obvious stage origins. Walsh also had the supreme advantage of an extremely generous budget which ran to large, lavishly appointed sets that could never be duplicated even in the roomiest Broadway theater. As the volatile, rather bitter dentist, James Cagney seems perfectly cast, while George Tobias (in the Roscoe Karns role) makes an ideal stooge in the opening scenes where so much depends on instant information dialogue. Between them, Cagney and Tobias lay this essential groundwork not only with care, precision and subtlety, but with an unobtrusive professionalism that adds up to sheer entertainment. On the other hand, although Rita Hayworth plays the title role, she makes a rather late entrance. Even Jack Carson, perfectly cast as the obnoxious Hugo "whom we all know and love", precedes her. Fortunately, the ground has now been well prepared. When she finally appears, Rita certainly lives up to her reputation. She's simply great. Our only beef is that we would like to have seen her role extended even further. As the critic for the weekly trade paper, Variety astutely commented: "Rita Hayworth blossoms like a rose. Clothed in stunning period costumes and gorgeously photographed, she gives her role a vivid quality and her personality a showcasing which will enormously increase her importance." My only beef is that the first two-thirds of The Strawberry Blonde where the script's accent lies firmly in the realms of musical comedy, offers superior entertainment to the last third where the action takes a more dramatic turn. Director Raoul Walsh seems unable to decide in what mood to play the final scenes, whereas his confident approach of nostalgic caricature and farce seemed such a perfect choice for Acts One and Two.

Delightful comedy starring James Cagney as Biff Grimes, a turn of the century dentist who reflects on the past while plotting revenge on a former friend who wronged him. Cagney is terrific in one of his best comedy roles. He's so charming and likable, with a twinkle in his eye in every scene. Rarely has he been better than he is here. Olivia de Havilland flexes her comedy muscles as a suffragette who falls in love with Biff. Cagney and de Havilland make for a marvelous pair. It's a shame they didn't do more movies together. For her part, Rita Hayworth is good as the titular character, although most of the heavy lifting comes from other players. She's basically supposed to look beautiful and be an "ideal," and she does that quite well. Great support from Alan Ladd as Biff's father, George Tobias as his friend, and Jack Carson as the villain of the piece. Carson was a likable actor but he had a very limited range, so usually I either love him or hate him depending on if the part fits him or not. This one thankfully does. Wonderful use of music from the period. Really adds to the light and cheerful atmosphere of the film. It does take a darker turn in the second half, but only briefly, and it manages to come out on the other side without losing any momentum. Remake of a 1933 film called One Sunday Afternoon starring Gary Cooper. Remade again in 1948 under the original film's title. This version is far and away the best of the three.

While James Cagney earned his reputation with gangster-related roles, I've never been a particular fan of him in that genre. It's when he stepped out of the gangster-genre that I found him quite appealing, particularly in roles where (as critic Bosley Crowther praised him in this film) he was pleasantly or appealingly "pugnacious".Although for a while it seems as if this is simply a light romance, it gets deeper and more involved when we realize that the Cagney character will go to prison for graft that he approved as a business partner to the sleazy, blow-hard Jack Carson. Carson is really the guilty one, but he gets off scot-free; Cagney was simply ignorant "rubber-stamping" his approval of what ended up being building code violations, including one that led to the death of his own father. Cagney takes the fall. But, comes out of prison a dentist! After getting out of prison, in a dental emergency, Cagney gets called to pull a tooth for Carson, and realizes he has the chance to kill Carson via nitrous oxide. He doesn't, and over the second half of the film we understand that rather than being a light romantic comedy, this is actually a beautiful love story.Cagney shines here, and is rather balanced in that he is subtle, when need be, but his usual slightly over-the-top when it is called for. He is balanced very nicely by Olivia de Havilland as the girl he first dislikes, but ultimately falls in love with and marries. Jack Carson plays his role as a wheeler-dealer to the hilt. Rita Hayworth, not usually a favorite of mine, is very good here as the sweet and ultimately not-so-sweet strawberry blonde.Notable character roles are played by Alan Hale, Sr., as Cagney's father (there's a wonderful scene with him under the influence of the laughing gas), and George Tobias as a Greek friend and neighbor. And, you'll learn a bit about turn-of-the-century dentistry and the use of leeches! Highly recommended, and perhaps one for your DVD shelf.

During the golden age of Hollywood, a lot of pictures, especially the romances and musicals, took us back to another golden era – the final years of the 19th century. Not only was this the time in which many of the old guard were in their youth, it happens to be a good era for nostalgia in general. An innocent age before either world war and before the motor car had made the horse obsolete, a world perhaps best summed up by the sweet yet earthy character of its music.The Strawberry Blonde is itself a picture about nostalgia, albeit tinged with regret, as a man goes into a reverie about the friend and the would-be lover who wronged him years earlier. It is no surprise that the screenplay is by the Epstein brothers, Julius and Philip, whose best-known work Casablanca, a story with a very similar mix of regret and fondness for the past. However, with the flashback making up the bulk of its runtime, The Strawberry Blonde is by far the more indulgent of the two. Casablanca lives in the present while The Strawberry Blonde dreams of the past.The director here is Raoul Walsh, who according to the blurb on the back of numerous DVDs was an "action master". A more extensive look at his pictures though reveals him to be a bit of a romantic, with a real feeling for the warmth and intensity of human relationships. Whereas Warner's top director Michael Curtiz always emphasised sets and props, all but burying the actors, Walsh does the complete opposite. Take the scene in the bar where Alan Hale is drinking at the start of the flashback – each shot is made almost entirely of people, with folks lining the edge of the frame. It gives it a real cosy effect. Walsh also places us right inside the emotions of a scene by having actors facing the camera. When James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland are reunited towards the end, the opposing shots of them are not at forty-five degree angles to the lens as convention would dictate. Instead they are virtually looking straight out at the audience.And this is a cast worth focusing on. None of the four principle players – Cagney, de Havilland, Rita Hayworth and Jack Carson – are at their very best, but what's important is that they all seem to be enjoying their roles. Despite being in his 40s at the time, Cagney gives an exuberant portrayal of the younger Biff Grimes, and there is something almost childish in the way he sneers and fidgets his way through his first meeting with de Havilland. De Havilland herself has great fun playing an assertive free-thinker, and while very much against her type she is brilliant at bringing out that saucy flirtatiousness in her character. It's also nice to see Alan Hale playing a more sympathetic variation on his usual reprobate act, far more satisfying than the slightly villainous roles which for reasons I can't fathom he often ended up in. There's also a brief but memorable appearance by the great Una O'Connor.The Strawberry Blonde is by its very nature a movie with a lot of poignancy in it, balanced nicely with its tone of gentle comedy. The only real trouble is that some of the more tender moments are blunted by the punchy pace typical of Warner Brothers pictures, with a few scenes and shots not played out quite as long as they could have been. Still, the picture recovers much of its impact because its emotions are grounded in its atmosphere and its music. While not really a Musical, it is certainly a musical picture with a small "m". Diagetic music (real music in the film's world, as opposed to a background score) plays a major part not just in the story but in the construction of a scene – the strains of a band seeming to regulate or underscore every moment. Even what little non-diagetic music there is seems to dovetail from one of the familiar songs. And in the end, it is that magnificent waltz from which the title is derived that has the final word.