You, John Jones!

Margaret O'Brien is practicing the Gettysburg Address for recital a school. Father Jimmy Cagney leaves her and mother Ann Sothern to perform his duties as an air raid warden. It's a clear night, and he is thankful there are no actual air raid in the United States, just practice. Tired, he falls asleep and dreams of his daughter in a bombed-out English home, as a Greek girl fleeing the soldiers, as a starving child in China, as a corpse in Lidice....

Carey Wilson's narration talks about the lucky nation of the United States, where the home front was actually safe -- unless you were in Honolulu or the Aleutians. I'm not sure how they got Cagney away from Warner Brothers for it, but perhaps director Mervyn Leroy pulled a few strings at his former studio. He was, after all, married to the boss's daughter.

James Cagney, Ann Sothern and Margaret O'Brien all star in this Mervyn LeRoy-directed "wartime short," as they called them. Cagney plays an aviation worker who comes and sees his young daughter rehearsing the Gettysburg address.

The man ("John Jones" played by Cagney) then gets called out on a security watch. As he sits on his park bench post, he starts talking out loud to God, saying "I don't think there will ever be a raid on the United States of America but people on our side are being bombed somewhere - England, Russia or China. It's just terrible, horrible....but I just want you to know I appreciate that it's not happening here."

God talks back to him, asking him if he truly does appreciate it, and then Cagney sees pictures of what it would be like if he were in England, Greece, China, Yugoslavia, France and other war-torn areas. In each case, we see his daughter (O'Brien playing her) physically harmed or starving.

The man returns home, asks his wife "Mary" (Sheridan) if she's okay, then gets another phone call with an "all-clear" message, goes to the door, looks upward and says "Thanks, God." Their daughter then finishes Lincoln's famous speech.

The father kisses his daughter and adds, "Ain't it the beautiful truth?"

This short was part of the 2-disc special-edition DVD of "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

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.

A mechanical engineer working on planes that soon will be taking part in WWII is seen at the assembly plant. As he arrives home after a day's work, his wife points to their daughter who is seen on a raised platform performing the Gettysburg address for a school presentation. The man, who is on security watch that night in his area, leaves to his tour that night.

As he sits on a park bench, his thoughts go to several areas where the conflict has affected different parts of the world. In each of those images, he sees his young daughter being the victim of the war around her. When he gets home at the end of his shift, he is welcomed by his lovely wife and his daughter that have been secured in the bosom of their safe home. He is a lucky man indeed!

Mervyn LeRoy directed this short propaganda film of 1943. WWII found an important ally in Hollywood, as the industry realized what was at stake and cooperated by turning films in which patriotism and doing the right thing for one's country took center stage. In this short, but effective picture, we are given a bird's eye view about the suffering experienced by other people throughout the world, where the conflict touched their lives.

James Cagney, who was borrowed from Warner Bros. to make this film, was at his best conveying what he felt for the innocent victims. Margaret O'Brien, appears as the daughter who is rehearsing the Gettysburg address for school in her usual enchanting manner. Ann Sothern plays the wife.

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.