Remembered best for his convincing early roles as a tough guy, James Cagney dances here as if on air, and that is the main attraction of this film. Evelyn Daw, who retired from movies early in her career, does most of the singing. Cagney's prowess as a song-and-dance man later came to full fruition in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," in which he portrayed the legendary George M. Cohan. Here he plays a cocky bandleader who gets swept off to Hollywood to become a movie star, but he is determined not to let the movie moguls control his life. What makes this movie worth watching is Cagney's fancy footwork as he trips the light fantastic as if on springs. Cagney's own rise to stardom the film loosely parallels. Note the scene in which he dances on a large keyboard way before Tom Hanks did it in "Big."
Review of Something to Sing About
