MUCH LIKE THE proverbial knight who hops on his horse and attempts to ride out into all directions at once, this film tries too hard to please its audience in too many ways. Rather than opting for one main genre (i.e., musical comedy), its mission in celluloid life appears to have intended as multi-genre comedy, musical, drama, service picture and show biz behind the scenes saga/tribute.THE CAST WAS superb. It reunited stars James Cagney and Virginia Mayo from their success of the previous year in WHITE HEAT; although the pairing was hardly to be considered neither as intense nor nearly as memorable. it also served as a re-teaming of Doris Day and Gordon Mac Rae; who apparently were intended to be a team.ALSO PROMINENT IN he cast is "Skipper" (himself), Alan Hale, Jr.; who does some great on screen support in dramatic and comic relief. It is in fact as noticeable of a screen appearance that he had during a long career in both the movies and television.WITH THE EXCEPTION of what appears to be an excessive application of the art of the Rear Screen Projection. Cagney & Mayo are seen in what seems to be an eternity of walking/talking with the West Point campus shown behind them.SOME ENJOYABLE PERFORMANCES turned in by Gene Nelson, Roland Winters and an unbilled Frank Ferguson are worth mentioning. Added to a typically "anonymous" Warner Brothers stock company providing the needed support.AS FOR OUR recommendations, we say see it, once anyway. It will definitely amuse, if somewhat confound.

Starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, and Alan Hale, Jr., "The West Point Story" is a very enjoyable musical comedy, even if the plot is somewhat convoluted. It's about a Broadway song & dance man named Elwin "Bix" Bixby (Cagney), who lately has been down on his heels, if you'll forgive the pun. Bix and his tart-tongued but faithful assistant Eve Dillon (Mayo) make a trip out to the famous military academy at West Point in order to help cadets Tom Fletcher (MacRae) and Hal Courtland (Nelson) put on their spring musical known as the 100th Nite Show. Tom is a great singer and Hal is a marvelous dancer, but the show definitely needs some doctoring up. For one thing, there are to be no women in the show; all the female parts are to be played by the male cadets(!!). The crafty Bix solves that problem by finagling spots in the show for not only Eve but also a successful Hollywood star named Jan Wilson (Day).My favorite scenes from "The West Point Story" include the following (DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen this film). Bix is quite amusing with all his kinetic energy as he jumps up & down to voice his displeasure at a dance routine, or when he decks a theatrical producer (Roland Winters) in order to close a deal. At the cadets' Saturday night hop, Jan thrills the dancing crowd with her lively, bouncy, head-bobbing rendition of "The Military Polka". Hal does an unbelievably fascinating dance (featuring a fine orchestral accompaniment) before getting pelted with straw hats. The West Point glee club sings "The Corps" as Tom solemnly recites a patriotic monologue about the history of West Point and of the heroic Americans who dreamed to make this outstanding military academy a reality. Bix and Eve are a singing/dancing sensation with "It Could Only Happen in Brooklyn", and they are equally wonderful with the quirky "By the Kissing Rock", of which Tom Fletcher & Bull Gilbert (Hale) only give an adequate performance moments earlier. And finally, upon Jan Wilson's first appearance in this movie, she sings the delightfully swinging novelty number "Ten Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty-Two Sheep".Featuring music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn, "The West Point Story" was apparently an attempt to recreate the success of James Cagney's Oscar-winning performance in the musical "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), but at this I don't think the film succeeded. Nevertheless, despite the incomprehensible plot and the inappropriate romance between Jan Wilson & Tom Fletcher, I still find "The West Point Story" to be highly entertaining. I especially admire the delightful performances of James Cagney, who gives his role of Elwin Bixby every bit of the gusto it needed, and Alan Hale, Jr. as "Bull" Gilbert. (Who would have thought that a skipper would begin his seafaring career portraying a princess in the musical theatre?!)

On viewing the cast list I thought this would have to be good - but what a disappointment. Cagney acts as a caricature of himself, in fact he seems like a cross between Mickey Rooney and the Bowery Boys, and although the rest of the leads are good (Gordon MacRae and Doris Day singing and especially Gene Nelson dancing) there is no real sparkle to lift this from the mundane. The basic idea of using West Point is good, with the conflict between the unreal atmosphere of a training school and the real world, but this was not exploited, and one got the feeling that the powers-that-be in West Point had script approval to ensure that only a rosy view of life there was portrayed.To make a successful musical comedy you need a good script with laughs and memorable songs, none of which this had. Overall one to avoid.

James Cagney stars in a not very good musical that is set at West Point. James Cagney is good as usual but the script isn't very good. Doris Day is Ok but she was better in Young man with a horn. Virginia Mayo is gorgeous and the best thing in the movie.