Strawberry Blonde (1941)

As a dentist (James Cagney) prepares to meet his old nemesis (Jack Carson), he thinks back ten years earlier when they both fell in love with the same spoiled and shallow strawberry blonde (Rita Hayworth) and how fate sent them in different directions. Based on the play ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON by James Hagan and directed by Raoul Walsh. Walsh would seem an odd choice for this nostalgic turn of the century comedy with dark overtones but perhaps he's the reason it doesn't descend into schmaltz and keeps its edge. It's quite pleasant though it takes Cagney awhile to see what we've known all along, that Olivia De Havilland's loyal nurse is worth twenty Ritas. The cast are all likable enough though it's interesting to see what Hayworth's career might have turned out had she been at Warners instead of Columbia. Walsh would remake this as a musical in 1948 under the original title of ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. With Alan Hale, Una O'Connor, George Tobias and George Reeves.