Themes: Out For Revenge, Faltering Friendships, Miscarriage of Justice
Main Cast: James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Rita Hayworth, Jack Carson, Alan Hale
Release Year: 1941
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Strawberry Blonde is the second, and by far the most well-regarded, of the three film versions of James Hogan's play One Sunday Afternoon. James Cagney stars as Biff Grimes, a turn-of-the-century dentist married to onetime suffragette Amy Lind (Olivia de Havilland). A former convict, Biff has great difficulty keeping his temper--and when alderman Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson), the man responsible for Cagney's unjust prison term, shows up one Sunday afternoon to have a tooth pulled, the pugnacious dentist begins developing homicidal urges. In a lengthy flashback, we learn that Biff and Hugo, once the best of friends, were business partners in a construction firm. When one of their buildings collapsed due to shoddy materials, Biff was sent to jail for five years, while Hugo escaped scot-free. Even worse, Hugo stole Biff's girlfriend Virginia Brush (Rita Hayworth), the "strawberry blonde" of the title. The flashback over, Biff sharkishly welcomes Hugo into his office, fully intending to bump off his old enemy. But during a reunion with his "dream girl" Virginia, Biff realizes for the first time that Amy was the right girl for him all along, and that Hugo did him a favor by taking the strident, shrewish Virginia off his hands. Letting Hugo off with little more than a sore jaw, Biff takes Amy in his arms--but not before settling a few old accounts with his fists, just for old time's sake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Raoul Walsh's excellent adaptation of James Hagan's stage fable One Sunday Afternoon features Olivia De Haviland in a rare comic part. Told in flashback, the film stars James Cagney as a turn-of-the-century dentist who contemplates doing away with his next patient (Jack Carson), a former friend who years earlier stole the girl (Rita Hayworth) he wanted, and later framed him for a crime which landed him in prison for five years. It's something of a novelty to see Cagney and former cowboy Walsh, both of whom made their name in tough-guy pictures, work so well in a different genre. Cagney goes against type as a sucker, constantly being outwitted by his fatuous con-man "friend." While it doesn't approach the satiric bite of Preston Sturges, the film recalls his work in its suggestion of the essential corruption of city life, and a sure sense of the kind of characters who usually end up on the top of the heap. But in a film where poetic justice prevails, Walsh has chosen to soften the story even more by cloaking it in nostalgia and period elements. Cagney, Carson, and De Haviland are all excellent, and, in her biggest role to date, Hayworth has rarely looked more beautiful. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
In 1890s New York City, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) falls in love with society girl and strawberry blonde Virginia Brush (Rita Hayworth). However, Biff's more enterprising "pal" Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson) wins Virginia's affections. Biff ends up marrying Virginia's less glamorous best friend, Amy Lind (Olivia de Havilland), whom Biff eventually realizes was the right one for him all the time.
