The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

hyped garbage

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"The Strawberry Blonde" is another film that showed what kind of an actor James Cagney is when given a different film to make. The film is based upon a successful play and was remade several years later with Gary Cooper. This "Warner Bros" film has a period setting, it is based during the 1890s. The sets, the costumes, the lighting, they all contribute to a great film. There is a well balanced combination of humour and of drama. Raoul Walsh's direction is very good as he was the right choice for this kind of film at "Warner Bros." The director knew how to produce the right performances from the main cast and they are outstanding. Originally, Ann Sheridan was supposed to be cast as the blonde in question but she had been suspended by Jack Warner. "M.G.M" loaned Rita Hayworth for this film instead. The plot unfolds via a flashback. This is initiated when Cagney learns that his old nemesis - played by Jack Carson - is on his way to Cagney's dental surgery with toothache. Then Cagney thinks back to all that has happened and the film begins properly. Olivia De Havilland plays Cagney's wife and the latter character has to decide whether he married the right woman or not. Alan Hale has some great scenes with James Cagney as his father, including a rather touching final scene. Olivia De Havilland surpassed herself in this film and was a great leading lady for James Cagney. Her performance is amongst the best of her career. Jack Carson scores as the devious and thoroughly dishonest chiseler. Rita Hayworth is good but I haven't seen any other of her films so I can't honestly say how good a performer she is. This is a masterpiece of drama and light comedy.

The Strawberry Blonde is a perfect nostalgic tale of life, friends, lovers and bad breaks. The story follows Biff Grimes ( James Cagney ) as he deals with his loafer father ( Alan Hale ) and falling in love with the fickle strawberry-blonde Virginia Brush ( Rita Hayworth ) who dumps him for the duplicitous Hugo Barnstead ( Jack Carson ) who double crosses Biff and finally, Biff finding true love with the kind-hearted, gentle Amy Lind ( Olivia De Havilland ). This film is full of charm and every performer gives their very best with a story that moves at a perfect pace, making it one of Warner Brothers finest classic pictures. One of the most tender scenes ever played by Cagney, is when he sweetly asks Amy to be his steady. Cagney and De Havilland are extremely engaging to watch, allowing for some very comical and touching scenes between the couple. Rita Hayworth is most fetching as the strawberry blonde, who attracts male attention wherever she goes. James Cagney's mother was a real strawberry blonde during the era this film portrays and Cagney brought her to the studio to watch some of the filming. She watched the filming attentively, and after a particular scene was finished, Cagney went over to her to get her reaction. To his amusement she said "I just want you to know, son' she said, "they didn't have pretzels in those times." James Cagney always liked to add a personal touch to his character, and in this film he used a repeated phrase he picked up from his grandfather. " That's the kind of hairpin I am " Biff would reply, whenever an explanation of his behaviour became necessary. After the films release, it became a catchphrase. This is one of those rare films that has everything going for it, making it a true treasure and always a pleasure to watch.

"Strawberry Blonde" has tremendous energy. It's a love letter to fin-de - siecle America, here a feisty, urban "melting pot" of the burgeoning middle-classes. This is a Horatio Alger America, a place rife with go- getters and plenty of opportunity, where immigrants from different nations (Irish and Greek) strive arm in arm. James Cagney, Olivia DeHavilland and Rita Hayworth give delicious, youthful performances in "Strawberry Blonde". Perhaps a bit too old for their respective roles, the actors nevertheless conjure the bold charm of a younger America. An avaricious coquette, an ambitious scrapper and a sensitive would-be suffragette, these are characters with big, bright expectations. And they are perfectly suited to the lively, bustling world director Raoul Walsh presents here. Walsh gives us a kind of turn-of-the-century paradise, a world of graceful hats and high necked-dresses, foamy beer and bright brass bands, horse drawn carriages, friendly policemen and dinner at Tony Pastor's. It's a world that's clean and optimistic, but not yet fully tame. Cagney's Biff Grimes has a temper. At the merest wisp of provocation, he puts up his dukes. But his fisticuffs don't count as brutality here, instead they are rough play, a manifestation of energy and virility and will. "Strawberry Blonde" may venerate traditional values, but it also celebrates desire and appetite and possibility. It's an appealing vision. And probably a perfect inspirational vehicle for its original WWII audiences. "Strawberry Blonde" works as both a paean to a spirited, self-sacrificing working class AND a promise of satisfactions to come.

The first time I saw this film, I was so undone by the underhandedness and unfairness, that I swore it off for future viewings. Then it rolled around on TCM's schedule again, and I had forgotten most of the plot. On this viewing, I paid closer attention to every little detail, and I totally changed my mind about this surprising little film. It had little elements of hilarity that I had forgotten or totally missed the first time. Cagney is quite like that in his comedic roles, I've noticed, and De Hvilland is, too.After getting to know James Cagney and Jack Carson a bit better through numerous other films, I began to have a newfound attachment to this film. One main reason is that it just makes better sense when you pay close attention. Once that all happens, you see De Havilland is quite charming and her understated attractiveness totally envelops the cheap tramp ways of the usual bombshell, Rita Hayworth. The only thing that bothers me is the eight years it takes Biff (Cagney) to exact his revenge. Eight years is a long time, but it's a movie and it does fly by! And revenge is exacted. Just as romantic comedies go, there is a very happy ending. The best part is it is totally not formulaic and, therefore, a real surprise. De Havilland and Cagney have one of De Havilland's cutest scenes caught on film as the movie ends. It's a great ending and a surprising little gem made larger and greater by fantastic writing and a superior cast.