Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what I’ve seen over the past week either in film or television. On the film side, if I have written a full length review already, I will post a link to that review. Otherwise, I’ll give a brief snippet of my thoughts on the film with a full review to follow at some point later. For television shows, seasons and what not, I’ll post individual comments here about each of them as I see fit.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

Yankee Doodle Dandy

James Cagney’s Oscar win for Yankee Doodle Dandy always seemed to me to be as a strange reward, perhaps honoring his strong career as a character actor. Yet, watching Yankee, I’m surprised at just how good he is. Although his dance routines are rather stiff, he more than makes up for it with passion, verve and talent. Playing the moments for laughs and tears with equal capability. The film itself, were it not for Cagney, would be a far lesser achievement. It’s hopelessly patriotic, but at a time when the U.S. was trying to recruit young soldiers for World War II, it acts as a fairly strong tool for such purposes. It’s a joyous celebration of the life of George M. Cohan, an artist whose work has never appealed to me. And this film doesn’t really change my opinion of the music, but there’s no denying his influence and importance in the history of music, not just that which he composed for the Broadway stage.

The Woman in Black

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) is struggling to live down his reputation as one of the most famous actors in the world. Radcliffe has won praise and Tony nominations for his work on Broadway, but to date his film experiences have been lackluster. And while The Woman in Black is a nice step in the right direction, the comparisons to The Innocents, The Others and dozens of other haunted house stories are immeasurable. Inside a script that has plenty of twists, turns, bumps and goosebumps, Radcliffe acquits himself well, but not perfectly. His youthful face, in spite of the stubble he sports, looks far too immature to be the father of a four-year-old. That feeling is a byproduct of our familiarity with his work on the Potter films. There are some startling and thrilling moments, but after the initial set up to the film, everything becomes mired as if in the marsh surrounding the mysterious, crumbling estate in which the major action takes place. The film is too predictable to stand alongside those aforementioned haunted greats, but for a passable, scary time at the theater, it works well.