The West Point Story

The West Point Story. 1950 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Doris Day, Gordon MacRaye, Gene Nelson, Alan Hale Jr., Roland Winters
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Amazon listings: Single DVD. Also part of the James Cagney Signature Collection.

Yes, legendary tough guy James Cagney is portraying a slightly effeminate Broadway musical director in this one.

Elwin "Bix" Bixby isn't having a great time in his career, so he reluctantly accepts a job from the producer Harry Eberhart (Winters) to stage a show at West Point that's been written by the producer's nephew Tom Fletcher (MacRae). Harry thinks his nephew's show could be a Broadway success if only he would leave the military academy.

At West Point, Bix's rehearsals aren't what he would like them to be at first, thanks to the academy's rules and regulations, and the cadets can only rehearse on their own time. To get around this, Bix himself must become a cadet, and have to deal with the attendant hazing.

Jan Wilson (Day) arrives at West Point to help out with the production, and Tom is so taken by Jan that he goes AWOL to accompany her to Hollywood. Not only does Bix have to salvage the production, he also now has to save Tom's military career by following him to California, and trying to talk him into returning to the base.

The trailer for The West Point Story tried very hard to recapture the spirit of Cagney's earlier hit Yankee Doodle Dandy. Recommended, largely on the strength of Cagney's performance. The DVD for the movie (as well as the other four discs from the Cagney Signature set) also includes the optional "Warner Night at the Movies" feature, which is a recreation of what it was like to go to the cinema in the glory days of Hollywood. They usually include newsreels, trailers, cartoons, and short films all preceeding the main feature. It sounds like an interesting concept, and I plan to review at least one DVD with this feature in the near future.