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Since today is James Cagney's 116th birthday, this week on "Film Friday" I want to tel l you about what was, according to the man himself, his favorite of all the films he made. Original release poster by Bill Gold Directed by Michael Curtiz, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) opens in the early days of World War II, when George M. Cohan (James Cagney) is called to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, after impersonating him in the Rodgers and Hart musical I'd Rather Be You . In response to Roosevelt's questions, Cohan begins narrating the story of his life, beginning with his birth on July 4, 1878 and then recalling his vaudeville days with his father Jerry (Walter Huston), mother Mary (Rosemary DeCamp) and sister Josie (Jeanne Cagney). Th e Four C ohans perform successfully across the country, but G eorge gets too cocky as he grows up and is blacklisted by theatr ical prod ucers for being troublesome. In the early 1900s, while the fam...

Theatrical release poster Directed by Edmund Goulding, Nightmare Alley (1947) tells the story of Stanton "Stan" Carlisle (Tyrone Power), an ambitious and amoral carnival barker who engages in every imaginable deceit necessary to get ahead. Fascinated by everything there, particularly a grotesque geek, Stan works with Zeena (Joan Blondell), a phony psychic who performs a mind-reading act with her alcoholic husband Pete (Ian Keith). Sparking a romance with Zeena, Stan tries to convince her to develop a new mind-reading routine with him, using a secret code that once made Pete and her a top vaudeville act. Zeena declines, only to reconsider after Pete is killed when he drinks a quart of wood alcohol accidentally given to him by Stan. Mean whi le , the carnies discover that Stan has been secretly involved with Molly (Coleen Gray), a naïve young girl who specializes in a sideshow attraction in which she appears to be infused with thousands of bolts of electricity. Aft...

Since Janet Leigh's birthday was on Monday, t his week on "Film Friday" I am bringing you her most iconic film, for which she received her only Academy Award nomination. Theatrical release poster Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho (1960) tells the story of a Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a real estate secretary from Phoenix, Ari zona who is tired of having to sneak away during lunch breaks to meet her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), the owner of a hardware store in California. One afternoon, her boss, George Lowery (Vaughn Taylor), asks her to take $40,000 in cash to the bank for deposit . I nstead of going to the bank, h owever, Marion decides to steal the money and leave for California to start a new life with Sam. Trading her car for one with California plates to elude the police, Marion takes a wrong turn during a rainstorm and ends up at a desolate motel, where the young proprietor, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), invites her to dinner after she ch...