Words and Music (1948)

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Guy Bolton (story)
Ben Feiner Jr. (adaptation)

Release Date:

31 December 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

The BIGGEST musical!

Plot:

Fictionalized story of the songwriting partnership of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

Plot Keywords:

Composer | Rooney And Garland | Fictional Biography | Dance | Beautiful Woman

Cast

June Allyson	...	Alisande La Carteloise (in "A Connecticut Yankee")
Perry Como	...	Eddie Lorrison Anders / Himself
Judy Garland	...	Herself
Lena Horne	...	Herself
Gene Kelly	...	Himself
Mickey Rooney	...	Lorenz Hart
Ann Sothern	...	Joyce Harmon
Tom Drake	...	Richard Rodgers
Cyd Charisse	...	Margo Grant
Betty Garrett	...	Peggy Lorgan McNeil
Janet Leigh	...	Dorothy Feiner Rodgers
Marshall Thompson	...	Herbert Fields
Mel Tormé	...	Himself
Vera-Ellen	...	Herself
Jeanette Nolan	...	Mrs. Hart

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Four Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs from the 1937 Broadway production of "Babes in Arms" which were showcased in this film hadn't been used in the 1939 Rooney-Garland-Busby Berkeley backyard musical. The numbers are: "I Wish I Were in Love Again," a duet by old pals Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland (I)' in the party sequence; "Johnny One Note," Miss Garland's spirited follow-up at the party; Lena Horne's exuberant "The Lady Is a Tramp," which became a signature song for her; and finally, "Way Out West (on West End Avenue)," a comic ditty sung partially by 'Betty Garrett (I)', whose full prerecording can be found on the soundtrack CD from Sony.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Camille (1936) is treated and presented as if it were a silent film, even though it was made nearly a decade into the sound era.

Quotes:

Lorenz Hart: Miserable? Me? I'm always happy!
Dorothy Feiner Rodgers: No one's always happy.
Lorenz Hart: Alright, so I'm slightly miserable

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in It's a Great Feeling (1949)

Soundtrack:

Thou Swell

Watch it for the musical numbers.

I just saw it on TCM, and a fresh viewing of it gives rise to so many ironies regarding the real Lorenz Hart. Many critics have attacked the film because it so clearly ignores the facts. But what mainstream film do *you* know from 1948 that features an openly gay protagonist? When the studio is sweetness-and-light MGM you simply have to buy the premise and move on. (Note through all of Mickey Rooney's pursuit of Betty Garrett, she keeps alluding to 'something' about him that keeps her from marrying him. Foreshadowing?) Rooney, to his credit, seems to go for pathos in his performance but just overacts the role, and winds up making Hart into some kind of wind-up toy about to explode. Later in the film when he's wallowing in loneliness (punctuated in the party sequence with the song "Blue Moon"), the drama is much better. But more than anything else, there are the exhibits of the glorious songs: "Manhattan," "Thou Swell," "Small Hotel," "With A Song In My Heart," a double-bill of Judy Garland alone and with Rooney (the song "I Wish I Were In Love Again" is a standout); "Where Or When" and "The Lady Is A Tramp" given the chanteuse treatment by Lena Horne; "Blue Room" sung by Perry Como and danced (or, more accurately, spun like a top) by hostess Cyd Charisse; and the sexy "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" finale with Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen. Entertainment at its classiest, nothing more or less.