James Cagney

Hollywood Hist-o-rama: James Cagney (1961)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lasting anywhere between three and four minutes, the Hollywood HIST-O-RAMA series shouldn't be looked at as some sort of documentary that's going to tell you everything about the subject. After all, with such a short running time it would be impossible to go into great details about anything but I'm sure people back when this was made would have at least enjoyed them.

This episode takes a look at tough guy James Cagney. We learn that he started off dancing in the streets before making it big on Broadway and then of course here came Hollywood with THE PUBLIC ENEMY. We quickly go through some of his bigger pictures before closing things out with the fact that he's an Oscar-winner. Again, at just three-minutes there's really not too much you can say about such a legend but for the most part the film does a decent job giving on the quickest highlights possible. It's funny that the narrator talks down on how bad A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM was with the exception of Cagney, Joe E. Brown and Mickey Rooney. Some smaller films like BOY MEETS GIRL is also mentioned, which is strange since that one there has pretty much been forgotten.