The 1940s Films of James Cagney Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Cagney made two films in 1940. The first was the war movie "The Fighting 69th", and the other was "Torrid Zone", a romance-adventure set on a Central America plantation. Cagney appears with what unusual characteristic?

Answer: A mustache

Cagney's mustache is surprising and comical. It really doesn't suit him. The plot is vaguely familiar to "Red Dust", in which a sexy woman stirs up the men in an exotic locale.

"Torrid Zone" also stars Pat O'Brien, George Tobias, and Ann Sheridan, three Warner Bros. stock players (Cagney and O'Brien made nine movies together, Cagney and Tobias were in eight together, and Cagney and Sheridan in four).

His other 1940 movie, "The Fighting 69th", is based on a real-life infantry regiment in World War I. Cagney plays the unlikely hero as a troublemaker who sacrifices his life for a comrade.

2. Cagney's three movies in 1941 were a gritty drama and two comedies. One comedy is "The Strawberry Blonde", a remake of the 1930 "One Sunday Afternoon" starring Gary Cooper. Cagney is a hapless dentist infatuated with one woman while ignoring the one who's really right for him. Who played these women?

Answer: Rita Hayworth and Olivia deHavilland

It's almost unbelievable to hear that Olivia deHavilland played the "plain" woman Cagney's character snubs in favor of vain golddigger Rita Hayworth. It all came out for the best.

"The Strawberry Blonde" showcases Cagney's ability with comedy. He plays a dental student who makes several crucial mistakes. There is a lot of sentimental old-timey music, and the credits are presented as in silent movies.

3. Cagney's second 1941 movie is the excellent "City for Conquest". His character Danny Kenny is a truck driver with another aspiration. What does he want to be?

Answer: A boxer

This eventful movie includes the debut of five-time Academy Award nominee Arthur Kennedy as Cagney's brother, a dance contest with Ann Sheridan and Anthony Quinn, and gritty boxing scenes. Cagney played a dancer and a newspaperman in other movies, but he never played a chef.

4. Cagney's third 1941 was "The Bride Came C.O.D.", in which Cagney plays a charter pilot assigned to fly Bette Davis from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Her father agrees to pay Cagney on what basis?

Answer: She will be charged by the pound.

This film paired Cagney with Bette Davis in what Warner Bros. promoted as their first film together, although they had made "Jimmy the Gent" seven years earlier.

It is reminiscent of the classic "It Happened One Night", in which a man tries to stop his daughter from marrying an unsuitable man. It also has the tried-and-true plot element about "if two characters are really married, or is it not really legal because of some technicality?"

Bette Davis said about this picture: "We both reached bottom with this one."

5. Cagney made two movies in 1942, both addressing the burgeoning war in Europe. The first, of course, was "Yankee Doodle Dandy", in which he played entertainer George M. Cohan and for which he won his only Academy Award for Best Actor. In the movie, how does he meet Mary, the woman who would become his wife?

Answer: She comes backstage to ask for advice.

The scene where "Mary" and George meet is one of the funniest in the movie. George is playing the character of an old man on stage, so she figures he must be wise and experienced. As she is talking, he is gradually removing his makeup and false beard. She is terrified, thinking it is some kind of animal. He drops it on the floor, stomps on it and says, "Got it."

Cohan was married twice and neither wife was named Mary. In the movie, Cohan is inspired by his one and only wife to write a song called "Mary".

6. Cagney's second 1942 movie, "Captains of the Clouds", was about which other country which already had entered the war?

Answer: Canada

"Captains of the Clouds" was made to support the efforts of the Royal Canadian Air Force and was called "virtually a documentary" by "Time Magazine". Reeling from an unhappy romance, Cagney's character joins the R.C.A.F. The air fights are remarkable. Even you watch it for nothing else, I urge you to see the eye-popping photography of unspoiled Canada.

One interesting note is that the cast includes Billy Bishop, playing himself as he speaks at a ceremony. Bishop was the Canadian flying ace of World War I.

7. "Blood on the Sun" is an intense spy thriller from 1945. Cagney stars as a newspaper editor involved in intrigue. What country did it take place in?

Answer: Japan

In 1929, Cagney's character learns about a plan by Japan to conquer the world. After his paper prints something about the plan, he is discredited and threatened. This is the second film in which Cagney gets to exhibit his judo and jujitsu skills, which he first demonstrated in 1935's "G-Man".

This was the second film made by Cagney Productions, a company formed by James and his brother William.

8. 1948's "The Time of Your Life" is based on a 1939 Pulitzer-Prize winning play by what famous playwright?

Answer: William Saroyan

The static action takes place in a San Francisco waterfront bar, where Joe, Cagney's character, encourages patrons to tell stories while he observes. The patrons include a burlesque dancer and a Black job-seeker who's a piano virtuoso.

The film got good reviews but was a box office failure. Broadway cast members included Gene Kelly and Celeste Holm.

9. "White Heat" from 1949 marked Cagney's return to gangster pictures; here, he plays a vicious killer with a mother fixation. It got outstanding reviews but resulted in only one Academy Award nomination, for Best Story. The dramatic (and explosive, literally) conclusion takes place where?

Answer: A chemical factory

Cagney's character, Cody Jarrett, suffers from debilitating headaches and what one magazine review described as "epileptic fits". His wife, played by Virginia Mayo, kills his mother (Margaret Whycherly, who had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing Gary Cooper's mother in "Sergeant York").

The climax takes place on top of a gasoline tank, which Jarrett sets off by shooting it. His final line, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" has become a catchphrase.

10. The postwar "13 Rue Madeleine" is about an Office of Strategic Services agent and the early careers of four Allied espionage agents. What is their mission?

Answer: Locate a German rocket-bombing launching site

Cagney's character is given four new agents for his mission; the problem is, one of them is a German infiltrator. It was called a "semi-documentary" tale because of its depicting of the training of new agents. The film studios were not allowed to use the name OSS but it was clear that was what was being represented. Several critics gave it terrible reviews, but "Time Magazine" talked about its "realistic wallop".

Source: Author BarbaraMcI

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor jmorrow before going online.
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After writing "The 1930s Films of James Cagney", I am following it up with "The 1940s Films of James Cagney". This decade includes a mix of comedy, drama, and musical movies. See what you know.

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