I think the writers were following Cagney around

I had just been reading about Cagney, when he first came to Hollywood, refusing to "speak slowly and enunciate" for the primitive microphones. He spoke in his usual rapid fire manner. So when I see a movie about a singer who comes to Hollywood and they try to "make him over", I'm sure Cagney enjoyed getting a little of his own back at the stupidity of the studios. He certainly was a star. Short as he was when he's on the screen, he's who you're looking at.

I read that Cagney could be considered the start of modern acting and I think he did contribute to that a great deal but I also think Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable gave some "real" performances early on also.



This positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms!Terry-Thomas about US 1963.Hasnt changed much!