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Words And Music

1948, Movie, NR, 119 mins

Words And Music: Review

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Film "biographies" of composers are usually tuneful fabrications, and WORDS AND MUSIC is no exception. When Lorenz Hart (Mickey Rooney) meets Richard Rodgers (Tom Drake) in the 1920s, the two team up to write songs together and are soon a success. Rodgers meets and marries Dorothy Feiner (Janet Leigh); meanwhile, the more colorful Hart (who in real life was a homosexual) pines after Peggy Lorgan McNeil (Betty Garrett). Despite his success in collaboration with Rodgers, loneliness and alcohol take their toll on Hart, who passes away at the height of his creativity. The story, as expected, is simplistic and not very well played. Rooney throws about a good deal of energy but delivers an unfocused performance; Drake is merely boring. There is no insight into the pair's creative or personal relationship, and the fictionalized story is all unimaginative soap opera, taking predictable twist after predictable twist. Lending the film strength, however, is the wonderful music. Plenty of Rodgers and Hart tunes, performed by some of MGM's brightest talents, fill in the story. Judy Garland duets with Rooney on "I Wish I Were in Love Again," and her rendition of "Johnny One Note" is a showstopper; Lena Horne performs "The Lady Is a Tramp." Another highlight is Gene Kelly's re-creation of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," originally choreographed on Broadway by George Balanchine for Ray Bolger in the 1937 show "On Your Toes." Other Rodgers and Hart songs include "Where or When" (sung by Horne), "Thou Swell" (sung by June Allyson and The Blackburn Twins), "This Can't Be Love" (sung by Cyd Charisse, Dee Turnell), "Blue Room," "With a Song in My Heart" (sung by Perry Como), "Spring Is Here Again," "Manhattan" (sung by Rooney), "Way Out West on West End Avenue," "There's a Small Hotel" (sung by Betty Garrett), "Where's That Rainbow" (sung by Ann Sothern), "Blue Moon" (sung by Mel Torme), "Mountain Greenery" (sung by Como, Allyn McLerie), "Lover," "A Tree in the Park," "On Your Toes," "You Took Advantage of Me," "Someone Should Tell Them," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "I Married an Angel," "Spring Is Here," "My Romance," "We'll Be the Same," "Here in My Arms," "Yours Sincerely," "The Girl Friend," "Ship without a Sail," "March of the Knights," "Nothing but You," "Hollywood Party," and "Dancing on the Ceiling." leave a comment
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