D: Michael Curtiz. James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Irene Manning, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Whorf, Jeanne Cagney, S. Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett, Frances Langford, Eddie Foy, Jr., George Tobias. Cagney wraps up film in neat little package all his own with dynamic recreation of George M. Cohan's life and times; he deservedly won Oscar for rare song- and-dance performance, as did music directors Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld. Two computer-colored versions exist--one of which is edited down for TV!

D: Henry Koster. Clifton Webb, Robert Wagner, Ruth Hussey, Debra Paget, Finlay Currie. Diverting, fictionalized biography of bandmaster John Philip Sousa, well played by Webb, with standard march tunes worked into plot nicely.

D: Anthony Mann. James Stewart, June Allyson, Charles Drake, George Tobias, Harry Morgan, Frances Langford, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa. Stewart is convincingly cast as the popular bandleader in this extremely sentimental (and largely fictitious) account of his life. Music's the real star here, with most of Miller's hit records recreated.

D: Irving Rapper. Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Oscar Levant, Charles Coburn, Julie Bishop, Albert Basserman, Morris Carnovsky, Herbert Rudley, Rosemary DeCamp, Paul Whiteman, Hazel Scott. Hollywood biography of George Gershwin is largely pulp fiction, but comes off better than most other composer biopics, capturing Gershwin's enthusiasm for his work, and some of his inner conflicts. Highlight is virtually complete performance of title work.