When i saw the trailer to this film i decided that this was not for me as a feature. However, when i saw the title number being performed by the brilliant James Cagney i hoped to find the 400 footer and a few years ago i found it on a dealer list for £12.00. I had no idea if this was a cut down or simply an excerpt.
Well, for me its a fine souvenir of a classic musical, there is a short intro scene with Cagney's character, (George M Cohan), as he gets a contract to do the Yankee doodle dandy number for the stage, this is followed by the full number, a classic musical number. This is then followed by a brief scene before the next number, Give my Regards to Broadway.
While this is a great number from the movie the editors decided to make a single cut in the middle of the dance sequence, Christ knows why as its only a few seconds but enough to annoy. This isn't a cut in this copy as there are no splices within it. Just a shite editor decision on this version. No front title and end title make it nothing more than an extract/souvenir version of the movie.
Quality/ The sound is excellent throughout, the image is a little softer than i would like but more than acceptable, the contrast in some places appears a little bright but not so bad as say it is dupe like.
My copy does have a thin black line from time to time but it is on the far right so i simply open the lens a bit and this takes it off the edge of the picture.
I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has a copy of this to let me know what theirs is like but more importantly to let me know if there are any titles at all and a "The End" title as i find it hard to believe that Derann would release this in this way. Was there another 400 footer from any other company?
All in all, it is a 7/10 for me and always a good opener.


By the way, James Cagney was a huge influence for John Travolta who wanted to meet with him. His wish was made true for one of his Birthdays John Travolta did get to meet with his hero.

Hi Tom,
Just ran my copy and it had Panorama films and song melody as a front title and just a The End at the finish, everything else is the same as your copy, Mark.