utgard14 Top-notch World War II short designed to draw the attentions of Americans to the plight of children in other countries devastated by the war. It stars Jimmy Cagney as an air raid warden who is grateful his young daughter (Margaret O'Brien) is safe from the bombings people in other countries at the time were enduring. He imagines what it would be like for her in some of these other countries and we see the adorable little Miss O'Brien act out those scenes. This is an entertaining and thought-provoking short with three great on screen talents (Cagney, O'Brien, and Ann Sothern) giving their best. O'Brien is a real treat. She was really a shining star among child actors. With nice direction from Mervyn LeRoy and expert narration from Carey Wilson. Really good.

calvinnme This was the first of only a few times Cagney worked at MGM, and the only time during the Louis B. Mayer era that he did so. Cagney didn't do anything else there until the mid 1950's after Mayer was long gone and the studio was in decline. Cagney plays an air raid warden with few lines who is called to duty one night, away from his wife (Ann Sothern) and child (Margaret O'Brien). As John Jones (Cagney) writes his time of arrival in his log book and sits on a park bench, the narrator talks about how that, as an American, he is lucky that air raid duty is boring, and mentions all of the countries where there is constant violence and bombing from the enemy. At this point this becomes Margaret O'Brien's short, as she is the waif that is in terror, or hungry, or missing part of a limb, or in one scene even dead.The short serves two purposes - it's a patriotic morale booster during WWII to remind Americans how lucky they are that their nation is untouched by the actual warfare raging worldwide, and it was also a device for MGM to build up Margaret O'Brien at the very beginning of her childhood career. At this point she was only six.This short is an extra on the "Yankee Doodle Dandy" DVD and is interesting largely from a historical perspective, but still worth viewing.

Michael_Elliott You, John Jones! (1943) **** (out of 4) A WW2 Civil Engineer (James Cagney) is called away from his home by an air raid alarm just as his daughter (Margaret O'Brien) is saying the Gettysburg Address for a school project. While the man is watching his post he begins to imagine what it would be like living in another country that is constantly under air raids and what impact this might have on his young daughter. Countless WW2 shorts were produced while the war was going on but I have no problem saying this here is the best of the bunch and in its own way a real masterpiece. The message of the film is quite clear but, given this was a WW2 film, the producer's went pretty far in passing that message off. We see countless scenes with Cagney's young daughter suffering in other countries and this scenes are very realistic and I'm sure hit a very strong nerve with people back in 1943. Cagney is excellent in his role as you can tell he's giving it all his got. The real star here is the young O'Brien who really steals the film with her powerful performance saying the famous speech.

Neil Doyle Heavy-handed short gets the glossy MGM treatment as James Cagney, Ann Sothern and Margaret O'Brien play a typical American family during World War II.His daughter's recitation of The Gettysburg Address makes the father think about how differently things would be if he didn't live in the good old USA.The effectiveness of this short will depend on just how heavy-handed you think this kind of propaganda was--either then or now--but there's no doubt that WWII audiences were being fed wartime shorts like this as a way to stir patriotism in the hearts of viewers.The performances are professional and will certainly please fans of the three stars. Mervyn LeRoy directed, so you know how important shorts like these were for the studio. They even borrowed James Cagney from Warner Brothers.