Stars and Stripes Forever (1952)

Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), directed by Henry Koster.

Light biopic of John Philip Sousa with lots of his music and some song and dance numbers wedged in. Happy, sappy, with a romantic subplot for young Robert Wagner and Debra Paget. She's cute but often angry; I'm not sure why. Clifton Webb is fine as Sousa, although that mainly means looking stern with an occasional raised eyebrow and witty quip.

We think of his work as American patriotic music, but it has long spread to the entire world. The Monty Python theme is a Sousa number, and in the science fiction of John Varley the centaurs of Titan are crazy for it.

The Blu-ray has a rather good image. Lush Technicolor.

ClassifFlix has it, Netflix doesn't.