Here Comes the Navy (1934)
A cocky guy joins the Navy for the wrong reason but finds romance and twice is cited for heroism.
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Things that are wonderful about James Cagney in Here Comes the Navy: a short list.

1. How attentive and engaged he is when he plays the third hand in scene.

2. The way that, when he does an about-face, he looks like he's dancing, not being a solider.

3. The way he acts when he's on screen with his IRL good friends (in this movie, Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh) — there's so much affection in the scenes, and the way he smiles at them is just so ... nice. ❤️

Things that are wonderful about Here Comes the Navy: a shorter list.

1. All of the above.

2. Very big things:

→ The gunroom!

→ The dirigible!

→ THE…

A cute little almost-wartime rom-com that's got just the right blend of ... wait no James Cagney's doing blackface wait go back.

A guy working in a shipyard gets so up in arms over a fight with a seaman that he decides to join the Navy just to get back at him. There's plenty of feuding and hijinks, especially as Cagney gets sweet on a girl that turns out to be his rival's sister, but the hijinks include Cagney covering himself in greasepaint to sneak off the ship while African-American actors look on in what looks to be legitimate annoyance. The story's cute enough, it's got the propaganda line as a turn in the Navy straightens out our protagonist's attitude…

“Holy smoke. Look at the trim lines on that destroyer.”

Leatherpuss (O’Brian) vs. cinderhead (Cagney). There is no way you can stop me from watching a movie starring James Cagney as “Chesty,” a dick-swinging “scaffold muggy” riveter and Frank McHugh as “Droopy Mullins,” his Naval training bud with a mother in Walla Walla who needs a new set of chompers. Also: Gloria Stewart, on her first big ship (keeping her damn clothes on this time).

Forces you to suspend some major sibling disbelief, that the same genes that created Stewart also made blockheaded Pat O’Brian, and features an egregiously stupid Cagney-in-greasepaint, but as I mentioned at the top, I’m the biggest of suckers for any Jimmy/Frankie team up. It absolutely…

… in which Cagney signs up because he wants to punch Pat O’Brien. Also the only reason I would join the Navy.

This is essentially no good, but I grinned a lot. Cagney is so charismatic, and Frank McHugh so likeable and funny, that you can temporarily forget the nonsensical developments, continuity errors, and scene in which the hero manages to sneak off the ship by blacking up. It’s directed by Lloyd Bacon, who if not the single most untalented imagination-vacuum in Old Hollywood must certainly have been up there. He includes just two images that aren’t essentially functional: one of Cagney fainting onto outstretched arms, and a fetish-y effects shot from inside a ship’s gun.

The film was released…

The best part of the movie is when Pat O'Brien, playing a character named Biff, is left hanging from a zeppelin. Who knew the U.S. Navy was into dirigibles?

I'm guessing the only reason this movie got a Best Picture nomination was because it made the most of a great deal of cooperation from the Navy, including shooting aboard the USS Arizona, which seven years later would be sunk at Pearl Harbor. It at least looks authentic. But it's still a pretty lame flick.

It also has James Cagney, who plays a character named Chesty O'Connor, and who is as charismatic as ever; he saved many a bad film throughout his career. Did I mention that Chesty's best friend on…

"Holy smokes. Look at the trim lines on that destroyer."

I love James Cagney, but this is one where his charm and antics couldn't save it. He wasn't able to overcome the arrogance of his character, which is the creation of all of his problems. And when the consequences come home, he blames the world. Throughout the movie, he never grows as a person or has an arc. He also does a bit of blackface in order to sneak off his ship when denied leave. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, since you see a group of black men staring at him about how ridiculous it is. But it doesn't help that right before that, he has a conversation…