The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Jack Carson, Rita Hayworth, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Edward McNamara, George Reeves, Una O’Connor.

Cagney’s turn-of-the-century dentist reflects on life choices that led him to a yet-unexplained moment of payback on the rival (Carson) who always pushed him around. The key incidents played out in a long flashback show how Cagney got hung up on a gold-digging strawberry blonde (Hayworth), but after Carson weasels her out from under him, he settles for her kindhearted friend (de Havilland). Sure, it’s cornball Americana hokum, but thanks in large part to Cagney’s spirited efforts and some satisfying touches from director Walsh (e.g., a funny fade cut from a roaring lion to a big-mouthed singer), it’s also quite entertaining. Like most romantic comedies, it will require considerable suspension of disbelief from the audience—as in, why would anyone be so obsessed with a Rita Hayworth-type when an Olivia de Havilland-type is right there—but the payoff is worth the effort. Among the era-appropriate music on the soundtrack is the Charles B. Ward/John F. Palmer number, “The Band Played On”…also known as “Casey Would Waltz with a Strawberry Blonde” (neither Cagney nor Carson are named Casey, however). From a James Hagan play, One Sunday Afternoon, which was turned into alternate movie versions by that name in 1933 and 1948.

74/100