Words and Music (1948) Online

1948 Mickey Rooney Tom Drake June Allyson Norman Taurog

Original Title :: Words and Music
Genre :: Movie / Biography / Comedy / Musical
Year :: 1948
Directror :: Norman Taurog
Cast :: Mickey Rooney,Tom Drake,June Allyson
Writer :: Guy Bolton,Ben Feiner Jr.
Budget :: $2,799,970
Type :: Movie
Time :: 2h
Rating :: 6.5/10

Words and Music (1948) Online

Encomium to Larry Hart (1895-1943), seen through the fictive eyes of his song-writing partner, Richard Rodgers (1902-1979): from their first meeting, through lean years and their breakthrough, to their successes on Broadway, London, and Hollywood. We see the fruits of Hart and Rodgers' collaboration - elaborately staged numbers from their plays, characters' visits to night clubs, and impromptu performances at parties. We also see Larry's scattered approach to life, his failed love with Peggy McNeil, his unhappiness, and Richard's successful wooing of Dorothy Feiner.

Cast overview, first billed only:
	June Allyson	-	June Allyson
	Perry Como	-	Eddie Lorrison Anders
	Judy Garland	-	Judy Garland
	Lena Horne	-	Lena Horne
	Gene Kelly	-	Gene Kelly
	Mickey Rooney	-	Lorenz 'Larry' Hart
	Ann Sothern	-	Joyce Harmon
	Tom Drake	-	Richard 'Dick' Rodgers
	Cyd Charisse	-	Margo Grant
	Betty Garrett	-	Peggy Lorgan McNeil
	Janet Leigh	-	Dorothy Feiner
	Marshall Thompson	-	Herbert Fields
	Mel Tormé	-	Mel Tormé (as Mel Torme)
	Vera-Ellen	-	Vera-Ellen
	Jeanette Nolan	-	Mrs. Hart

Richard Rodgers reportedly disliked every aspect of this film except for the casting of Janet Leigh as his wife.

The song "I Wish I Were In Love Again" was the last time Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney appeared on screen together.

Judy Garland's two songs "I Wish I Were in Love Again" and "Johnny One Note" are sung at the same party, but they were filmed four months apart from each other. You can tell based on the longer length of her hair in the second number and the thicker, belt-less waistline (from a slight weight gain) in the dress she is wearing.

Judy Garland was scheduled only to sing with Mickey Rooney in this film, and producer Arthur Freed offered her $50,000 (or half of what she owed the studio for medical bills) to do one take. At the first public screening, the fans asked for more of her, so Freed offered her another $50,000 to do a second song. By the time her scenes were filmed, she had paid back the studio but had made nothing.

In supplementary material included on the DVD it is noted that Lena Horne's performances in most of the movies of the day, as in this one, are included in a way that permitted them to be cut from the films without damaging the story. This was so that the films could be shown in the American South.

Betty Garrett's acting debut.

In the movie Lorenz Hart (Mickey Rooney) is upset over being short. In real life he battled homosexuality which was very much looked down on at the time. Since they could not show this in the film they substituted his shortness as the source of his misery.

Cut from the film was Perry Como's rendition of "Lover," leaving only the choral backup and the MGM studio orchestra to play over the opening credits. However, the movie's trailer includes a snippet of Como singing several lines of the waltz. Bonuses on the 2007 DVD release include the trailer and footage of Como's two deleted songs, "Lover" (in a reconstruction of the film's opening sequence, minus the credits) and four takes of "You're Nearer." Audio-only numbers on the DVD include Betty Garrett's complete rendition of "Way Out West," which was truncated in the release print; "My Funny Valentine," also sung by Garrett; "My Heart Stood Still," sung by Como; "I Feel at Home With You" and an extended version of "Manhattan," sung by Mickey Rooney, Marshall Thompson and Tom Drake (dubbed by Bill Lee); "Falling in Love With Love," sung by Gene Kelly; "You Took Advantage of Me" sung by Kelly and Vera-Ellen (in what appears be the only evidence of her own singing voice being used in a Hollywood film), and an extended version of the sequence comprised of "On Your Toes/The Girl Friend/This Can't Be Love," sung by Dee Turner and Cyd Charisse (dubbed by Eileen Wilson) and chorus.

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 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.

The vocals by Perry Como and Mel Tormé were not permitted to be included on the MGM soundtrack album. Como's record label, RCA Victor, issued a single with his commercial recordings of "The Blue Room" and "With a Song in My Heart." Torme, under contract to Capitol Records, waxed a studio rendition of "Blue Moon."

In the marketplace, Judy Garland had two discs of the comically cynical "I Wish I Were in Love Again" - the first recorded at her final Decca session on November 15, 1947, a solo accompanied by the husband-and-wife piano duo, Eadie and Rack; Judy's second on MGM Records, her soundtrack duet with Mickey Rooney, prerecorded on May 28, 1948. Judy's Decca side can be compared to an alternate take on her CD box set from MCA, "The Complete Decca Masters (Plus)." The Rooney-Garland match-up shines on two CD releases: the soundtrack from Sony, along with a Rhino collection, "Romantic Duets From M-G-M Classics."

"It Never Entered My Mind," sung by 'Betty Garrett (I)', was deleted from the movie. Miss Garrett's vocal is not contained on the soundtrack CD from Sony.

Judy Garland was payed more for her cameo appearance than for all of her work on Волшебник страны Оз (1939)

Lena Horne's prerecording of "Where or When," a standard first heard in the 1937 Broadway show, "Babes in Arms," contains the verse, which was not used in the release print. Her complete rendition was first presented on the MGM Records soundtrack album. In the CD era, there are two offerings of Lena's full version: the soundtrack from Sony and a collection from Rhino, "Lena Horne at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: Ain' It the Truth."

Dorothy Rodgers in the film tells Lorenz Hart about 'doing a play with Gene Kelly,' implying that Kelly was already an established stage star by the early 40s. In reality, Kelly was relatively unknown when he was cast in Rodgers and Hart's show 'Pal Joey,' which would also be his only leading role in a Broadway show before going into films.

User reviews

ladushka

To describe the 1948 WORDS AND MUSIC as a "whitewashed" version of the famous song-writing team Rogers and Hart is a gross understatement. Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) was a homosexual in an era when such was flatly unacceptable; the pressures of the closet drove him into a wildly self-destructive alcoholism that ultimately killed him. Richard Rogers (1902-1979)was Hart's polar opposite, a highly disciplined individual who had zero tolerance for Hart's extremes. Their friendship and working relation was stormy, to say the least.

Needless to say, there was no way on earth that 1940s Hollywood could approach these facts. What we get instead is the story of the brilliant but glitchy Hart (Mickey Rooney) who is disappointed in love by singer Peggy McNeil (Betty Garrett), never gets over it, and falls apart as Rogers (Tom Drake) and his wife Dorothy (Janet Leigh) look on in dismay. It's pretty much a lot of pap, but fortunately for all concerned the movie gives us a lot of music along the way.

Most of the music is the form of cameos by a wash of MGM's musical stars. Perry Como has unexpected screen presence; Lena Horne, saddled with the excessive gesticulation and odd costumes typically inflicted upon her during her Hollywood years, still manages to give truly memorable performances of "Where or When" and "The Lady Is A Tramp;" June Allyson does a charming "Thou Swell;" Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen offer a memorable version of the jazz ballet "Slaughter on 10th Avenue." Other notables include Anne Southern, Cyd Charisse, and Mel Torme.

The big noise among the cameos is Judy Garland, who was battling MGM over withheld salary at the time and finally agreed to do two numbers to even out what the studio said she owed them. The result would be the final pairing of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in a motion picture, the two performing a charming duet of "I Wish I Were In Love Again," with Rooney clearly trying to break Garland up--and often succeeding. It's tremendous fun and followed by Garland's hard-belting and equally enjoyable "Johnny One Note."

Cameos aside, the primary cast is quite good with Rooney a stand out as Hart; one wonders at what performance he might have given if the script had been a no-holds-barred account. Granted, WORDS AND MUSIC is the sort film you watch for the musical moments rather than the plot--but when all is said and done it does what it does extremely well. Recommended, but primarily for musical fans.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Sharpbinder

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer certainly loved those musical biography films. The Arthur Freed unit there produced films about Rodgers&Hart, Jerome Kern, and Sigmund Romberg and managed not to tell the real story about any of them. But Arthur Freed shouldn't feel too bad because over at Warner Brothers they did one for Cole Porter starring Cary Grant and hardly got that one right either.

I suppose the reason Mickey Rooney was cast as Lorenz Hart was that he was short and a bundle of energy. They gave him some big black cigars to smoke which Hart was known to do and it seemed a natural and it was as far as it went.

But back in 1948 gay was a complete taboo on the screen and society in general. You just did not talk about it. Larry Hart was gay and that was the cross society made him bear during his life in more homophobic times. Like so many others he probably felt cursed.

The Betty Garrett character here is based on Vivienne Segal who was the leading lady in many Rodgers&Hart shows. Hart in fact did propose marriage to her on many occasions. My guess is that he thought Vivienne might 'cure' him. Vivienne being the wise woman she was, said no every time.

Many years ago when I lived in Brooklyn roughly in the early Eighties, I knew a man who would have been in his late sixties then. He was a chorus boy back in the early forties and was involved with Larry Hart. What information I had about Hart came from a biography of Richard Rodgers by David Ewen written in the middle fifties. My friend's name was Frank and he told me about places like the Luxor Baths and a bar called Ralph's. They were mentioned in passing in Ewen's book, but Frank mentioned to me that the Luxor Baths was a really ritzy place for upper class gay men and Ralph's was a known gay bar that catered to the gay show business crowd. Frank carried Larry Hart all barely five feet of him, stinking drunk out of those places many nights.

What would Larry Hart think of the gay rights movement if he were alive and over 110 now? I think he'd welcome it, but probably be a little jealous that Cole Porter and Noel Coward are now such gay icons and he is not.

The film itself does not even keep any kind of chronology in the same way that these others do. The show names are barely mentioned and the songs are sung completely out of chronological order. Tom Drake is a rather bland Rodgers, probably deliberately so to keep the focus on the Hart character. Janet Leigh is given little to do, but look supportive and kind as Dorothy Feiner Rodgers. Marshall Thompson plays Herbert Fields who wrote the book on a number of Rodgers&Hart shows and it is true that he introduced the team to each other.

The musical numbers however are in Hart's own words, swell, witty and grand. Perry Como sang great, but this was his last film, he was to score his great success in that new medium that was making its debut. Ann Sothern, June Allyson, and Lena Horne all sung those Rodgers&Hart songs each in their inimitable style. This film proved to be the last teaming of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as they sang I Wish I Were in Love Again and then Judy sang Johnny One Note as a solo.

That by the way is an example of the bad chronology here. Rodgers and Hart were in Hollywood in the first half of the Thirties and Judy herself and arrived there until the second half. She was still in vaudeville as the youngest of the Gumm Sisters then and if she were to be dueting with Larry Hart he would have been in his late thirties and Judy would have been about 12.

What is true is the reason why Rodgers and Hart broke up and the manner of his death. For whatever reason Hart was drinking and partying, he started to do that more and more and would not and then could not sit down to work. The witty and romantic lyrics stopped pouring from him. Dick Rodgers got an offer to do a show with Oscar Hammerstein, II and he took it. Larry Hart did see the opening of Oklahoma and did go out and get totally snoggered and caught pneumonia and died. His body had been substance abused and he lost his will to create. What you see in Words and Music about that is completely accurate.

Now that Cole Porter got a truer portrait of himself done by Kevin Kline though hardly in a straight biographical narrative form, maybe someone will do Larry Hart's tragic story about a man who wrote some of the most beautiful poetry of the last century.

Bremar

During the 1940's, MGM produced a number of All-Star musicals. The most notable being The Ziegfeld Follies, Till the Clouds Roll By, and Words and Music. The Ziegfeld film is most remembered for its comedy routines: Fanny Brice, Red Skelton, Victor Moore, and Judy Garland's satirical "The Great Lady Gives an Interview". The other two films are idealized biographies of Jerome Kern ("Clouds") and Rodgers and Hart ("Words"), of which the latter is far and away the more entertaining. The Kern film followed closely on the death of the revered composer and is too respectful for its own good. "Words and Music", on the other hand, benefits greatly from the presence of Mickey Rooney (as Larry Hart) and the always delightful Betty Garrett. But, most of all, it's the wide variety of songs that Rodgers and Hart produced that make it such a joy to watch. From June Allyson's lively "Thou Swell" (a highlight in her career) to the dramatic "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet with Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen (a forerunner of the sensual ballet's that Kelly performed in "An American in Paris" and "Singing in the Rain". And of course, there's the wonderful (and final) teaming of Rooney and Judy Garland (the amusing "I Wish I Were in Love Again").

From beginning to end, this is the best of MGM. Don't miss it.

Ese

A sanitized account of the personal lives and professional partnership of Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart. Tom Drake is his usual bland self as Rogers and Mickey Rooney is characteristically over-the-top as the self-destructive, troubled Hart. (According to the film, Hart's problems stemmed from a failed romance with a singer, played here by Betty Garrett. In truth, Hart was gay but this was only part of what contributed to his complicated personality.) The film is notable only for its many musical numbers. Among the highlights: Lena Horne's masterful rendition of "Where or When" and "The Lady is a Tramp"; June Allyson and the Blackburn Twins' charming "Thou Swell"; and Judy Garland and Rooney's spirited "I Wish I Were In Love Again" as well as Garland's dynamic "Johnny One Note". The show-stopper, however, is the brilliant jazz ballet, "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue", choreographed by Gene Kelly and danced expertly by Kelly and the fabulous Vera-Ellen. It, alone, is worth the price of admission.

NiceOne

Like most biographies of musicians or lyricists WORDS AND MUSIC is great as a showcase of the music, but a bent synopsis of the life story. It's of a piece with films as diverse as A SONG TO REMEMBER about Chopin, YANKEE DOODLE DANDY about Cohan, NIGHT AND DAY about Cole Porter, or STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER about Sousa. Except for elements about Chopin's patriotism to his native Poland and his affair with George Sand (which was twisted unfairly against Sand) A SONG TO REMEMBER was the most successful film of this bunch in chronicling a composer's career and showing some type of tension ridden story line. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY was (due to the upbeat nature of Cohan's stage career) the best of these films, but hid everything negative about the man. The Cole Porter film NIGHT AND DAY did capture the problems of Porter's physical catastrophe (the riding accident that crippled him), but it left him a total heterosexual. It was not until the more recent movie with Kevin Kline that his homosexuality was brought out.

It was a distinct negative for YANKEE DOODLE DANDY that Cohan was still alive, and vetoed any information about his first wife Ethel Leavy, and his campaign against Actor's Equity. Cole Porter was similarly alive when NIGHT AND DAY came out, but the studio would never (in the late 1940s) discuss homosexuality. Otherwise, we know Porter loved the film - he said he could not complain about a movie where he was portrayed by Cary Grant!

With WORDS AND MUSIC, concentrating as it did on Lorenz Hart (safely dead in 1948) it made nonsense about that lyricists personal demons. As mentioned on another review, Hart was fully as gay as Porter or Tschaikovsky were. For most of his life he was unhappy about this and sought a woman he could love who would make him a heterosexual. As has been pointed out, Vivienne Segall was the Broadway star he approached on several occasions to marry, and he never could get her to say yes (probably a wise move by Vivienne). Unfortunately, her last rejection was during the revival of A CONNECTICUT YANKEE in 1943, and it played a role in undermining his spirits.

The film shows June Alysson doing the "Thou Swell" number from YANKEE's original production in 1930. For the revival, Hart wrote the lyrics for his last masterly piece - Morgan Le Fay's "To Keep My Love Alive", which Ms Segall sang on opening night. Ironically, Hart died before the opening night of the revival. Broadway people in the know were aware that Vivienne may have turned down Larry, but that she came as close to loving him as was possible for a woman. When she finished her number, there was a standing ovation for her - and for the man who was not quite the man of her dreams.

This film is full of good moments, from Alysson in the above number, and Perry Como doing "Mountain Greenery" and Rooney and Garland in their last duet on film. It does not touch upon the struggles of Hart and Rodgers in getting Hollywood to take their work seriously. Fortunately their skillful use of "song - dialog" appears in several of the Paramount films of the early 1930s, most notably in the great LOVE ME TONIGHT and HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM. There use of ballet (with George Ballanchine) in ON YOUR TOES on Broadway is not noted, nor is their pushing one of the best first book musicals: PAL JOEY.

One can go on like this about what is not properly shown. It was not until a few years later that a solid dual biography about collaborators in musical theater, THE GREAT GILBERT AND SULLIVAN, turned up with Robert Morley and Maurice Evans. But in that case, both central characters were safely dead, and their personal quarrels were so well known to make a real story line, punctuated by segments from their operettas. Even so, this was not enough to change Hollywood technique - the next big musical biography was THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER with Clifton Webb, a good film but barely with any details of the subject's life and non-musical achievements.

As was mentioned on this thread in another review, Larry Hart's final, fatal binge (reminiscent of the father's death in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, by the way) was done after his attending the first night's performance of OKLAHOMA. Hart probably saw the handwriting on the wall: a new lyricist named Oscar was on the horizon to take his place - a good family man or impeccable theatrical background and success, and not a drinker!

But there is another element to it. The split between Hart and Rodgers had been growing for awhile, and Rodgers (per forma) had offered the job of lyricist in OKLAHOMA to Hart. Hart did not like the book, and begged out. He actually was approached by another composer to do the lyrics for an operetta. It was Emmerich Kalman, best known for the operetta COUNTESS MARITZA. Hart was still thinking about this offer (he had done lyrics for the movie version of THE MERRY WIDOW for MGM in 1934). Whether he and Kalman might have been as successful as Rodgers and Hammerstein were is a curious question to ponder.

Sagda

I sometimes imagine in horror that people, hundreds of years from now, will dig up _Night and Day (1946)_ (qv) or Words and Music and mistake it for actual history. Anachronisms jump off virtually every frame of both films: here for starters, the time line jumps back and forth inexplicably (it's 1925... no 1936! Nope, try a 1927 where everyone dresses like it's 1948). MGM---for obvious reasons--- brushed aside Lorenz Hart's angst over being gay (his actual personality was the polar opposite of Rooney's portrayal), The clothes are all wrong, songs are incorrectly connected to various productions and most glaringly, Perry Como (his last film) inexplicably morphs into himself in the last few minutes. MGM was in dire straits in 1948--- Loew's was breathing down an increasingly out of touch L.B. Mayer's neck over the red ink bleeding across most of the year's releases (1948 could arguably be cited as the beginning of the studio's long slow slide into decline). This is entertaining but, aside from the short shrift given the Rodgers and Hart partnership split and innumerable snubs at marriage proposals, there isn't any real truth in it. It's a collection of good-to-great musical numbers (best: Slaughter on 10th Avenue) tied to a story that never happened. Great R&H songs though... oddly watchable.

Fordredor

For years, I read again and again that this movie would disappoint me, that it was a waste of talent, that it was badly fictionalized, et cetera. What a load of hooey! The dialog is crisp and rings true, the musical numbers are full to the brim with pep and style, and the performances are nothing short of masterful! If you like music, Broadway, and old-fashioned musical brilliance, then this is the movie for you. I hate to sound like an advertisement, but you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll sing along, you'll dance in your seat! This is movie is not to be mistaken for a masterpiece, despite all of this. It is a very standard musical for the period and for the MGM style -- but that's the best!

Teonyo

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.

Nten

I first saw this movie on TV in 1963. I was only 13 years old. What caused me to sit down and watch was the mention of Mel Torme in the opening credits. I had only just become favorably aware of this man's music but had never seen as much as a photo of him.

This was my first experience of 'The Musical' genre of film and I was enchanted from beginning to end. Well apart from the Mel Torme bit. I think we got more of Larry Hart looking miserable, and his mother looking out of the window (no doubt wondering when this party was going to end. It's 4am and she probably needed her beauty sleep) than we did of Mel.

I was stunned by the brilliant 'Slaughter On 10th Avenue' sequence. There was stuff like this available and yet kids my age were listening to the Beatles? What on earth was wrong with the world? And Lena Horne's out-standing performance of The Lady Is A Tramp just blew me away.

Plot? OK it was sanitized but I didn't know that at the time. Homosexuality was never mentioned back then. I just figured that anyone who would write a song like 'My Funny Valentine' would never score with the ladies.

"Your looks are laughable - unphotographable" Come on. You can't be serious?

I finally found this on DVD a few days ago and couldn't believe my luck. I had wanted to see it again ever since reading in Mel Torme's autobiography that he and Richard Rodgers had had a falling out over how to handle the vocals on 'Blue Moon'. Mel had wanted to go with the meaning of the lyrics, example 'you heard me saying a prayer... (pause) for someone I really could care for.

Rodgers had insisted that he stick with the rhyme, example you heard me saying a prayer for (pause) someone I really could care for.

Sorry, Dick, but I'm with Mel on that one.

Arashigore

Among the leading cast of "Words and Music" are 5 fine talented performers who posed great problems for future casting. They're all ideally presented here to utilize their best assets.

The stars are Tom Drake, Betty Garrett, Marshall Thompson, Perry Como and Lena Horne. All super-gifted, providing they're given the right forum.

Drake was forever the "boy next door," and his charming, naive persona was seldom as well used as here and in "Meet Me in St. Louis." Garrett had a great personality and contralto voice, who was seldom allowed to show her full potential.

Thompson was the perfect supporting player but, like Tom Drake, limited to lightweight parts which came few and far between.

Como and Horne, while superstars as singers and entertainers, were likewise limited to "specialties" in films rather than leading roles. Como went on to star in his own tv show, which lasted for many seasons. But Horne represented a truly great talent who was wasted in terms of future acting roles and other musical offerings.

They're all presented in "Words and Music" in their element, and come across beautifully. Other stars are well featured in this fictionalized and Hollywoodized bio of two great songwriters, Rodgers and Hart.

What wonderful music this collaboration rendered musical theater, and this film preserves many of their best numbers.

It's so easy

If you have the patience to sit through one of Mickey Rooney's most frantic and hyperactive performances in which Larry Hart becomes a caricature, you'll be rewarded by some typically stylish MGM musical interludes with stars like Judy Garland, Lena Horne, June Allyson, Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen. Perry Como and Mel Torme both have a chance to warble a couple of Rodgers & Hart tunes too.

The musical numbers have the glossy MGM touch but the main storyline is diminished by allowing Rooney to chew so much scenery that he ends up resembling a frantic wind-up toy--and he's less than convincing when he attempts the heavier melodramatics of the final scenes. He throws the whole picture off gear and makes us yearn for the music to start so we can see cameo turns by MGM's roster of stars. His only good moment is a song routine with Judy Garland that he does in typical Rooneyesque manner.

By contrast, the restrained and natural performances of Tom Drake (as Richard Rodgers) and Janet Leigh (as the girl who becomes his wife Dorothy) are a welcome relief. Betty Garrett does well to in a supporting role as Rooney's highly fictional girlfriend.

The only musical number which failed to charm me was the routine given Ann Sothern for the Garrick Gaieties number. A weak song with even weaker choreography. All of the other numbers are done in high style, especially Judy Garland's solo on the "Johnny One-Note" song and June Allyson's delightful "Thou Swell". Lena Horne also gets a chance to strut her stuff with "The Lady Is A Tramp".

Fans of MGM musicals will love this one--with reservations, perhaps, about its inaccuracies and Rooney's sledgehammer acting. A more serious attempt to play Hart is sorely needed--preferably with another actor in the part.

Zainn

Even when you consider how these whitewashed Hollywood musical biopic extravaganzas usually play out, "Words and Music" is embarrassingly ill-conceived. MGM might have been wiser to borrow Abbott & Costello from Universal for the roles of Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers. But, the movie is beautifully produced at all times, by Arthur Freed and the studio. And, the musical numbers range from terrific to indispensable. For a song, listen to Mel Tormé doing "Blue Moon"; it's one of the most beautiful renditions of that standard, and became a Capitol hit for Mr. Tormé. For a dance, observe Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen doing "Slaughter on 10th Avenue"; it's a superbly performed and choreographed vignette, and belongs with the best of Mr. Kelly's work.

****** Words and Music (12/9/48) Norman Taurog ~ Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Gene Kelly

Nern

Another old movie from my garage vaults; one I always loved because of the great music and so many MGM stars. The loosely based biography of both Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart. They were a great pair. Rogers wrote the music and Hart did the sometimes crazy lyrics Tom Drake plays Rogers, and Mickey Rooney plays Hart. The big numbers in this were by June Allison in "Thou Swell"; Judy Garland's "Johnny One-Note"; Judy and Mickey doing "I'll Take Manhattan"; Mel Torme's "Blue Moon", and many others. I believe this film was one of Perry Como's and Mel Torme's first. The story may seem like a hodgepodge of great talent, but who cares the music is wonderful! How could anyone not love Judy Garland or June Allison? 7/10

Bolv

I enjoyed the hell out of this picture. Mickey Rooney should have been nominated, one of the best things he ever did. He has enormous energy, presence, more talent than should be legal and is riveting on the screen.

Most all of the reviews of this picture conclude that they hate it. Why? It's not an accurate portrayal of Hart's life. SO WHAT! You want facts, read the biography.

It is a fully enjoyable musical with wonderful songs and dances by some of the most talented people of the last 100 years. They don't write songs like this anymore, they don't have talent like this anymore. Mickey Rooney was terrific, Gene Kelly was athelitic and wonderful, June Allyson was cute and adorable, this entire picture is just a fine example of the Musical Art I think many of those who dislike this picture need to lighten up and enjoy the Words and the Music! Life's to short for the petty objections related in most of the other reviews.

Mogelv

Oh, dear, dear, dear. What can one say about "Words and Music?" That it contains some boffo musical numbers? Sure. That it has cameo appearances by a whole galaxy of Hollywood musical stars? Check. That it keeps on going with a "and then this and this and this happened" rhythm that would make even the shaggiest of shaggy dog storytellers blush? Yup. Alas. This big, white-washed, no-expenses-spared movie musical has about as much to do with lyricist Hart's real life story as "Night and Day" had to do with that of Cole Porter. Rooney was (presumably) cast by the studio since he could sing and was a big box-office draw, but here he seems to be channelling the spirit of a chipmunk with Broadway aspirations; anyone seeing this movie would come away with the impression that Hart's fundamental problem was that he was short. Hart's alcoholism is (tastefully) glossed over; his homosexuality is never even mentioned.

However... every time the viewer is fed up with the bland dialogue, or the inability of the studio to decide just what era to set the film in, along comes one of those boffo musical numbers to lull (or club) you into dewy-eyed attentiveness. My advice is to rent this movie and fast-forward through all the "drama", pausing only to enjoy the musical numbers. You'll have a good time and it'll cut the film's running time down to a sparkling hour plus change

Rageseeker

Mickey Rooney and the long-forgotten Tom Drake portray Rodgers and Hart in WORDS AND MUSIC, a star-studded salute to a pair of early 20th century pop songwriters who gave us such immortal tunes as "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Blue Moon" and "With a Song In My Heart." Judy Garland. Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, Vera Ellen and June Allyson are just some of the performers on hand, some of them portraying themselves, which gets mildly confusing at times. To make things absolutely surreal, Perry Como plays both a buddy of the songwriting duo, and for the final number, himself! The plot is the same old MGM hooey, excepting the fact that Rooney gives the deeply troubled Hart (a drinker and gay) a bit more of an edge than a lesser actor might have. MGM pulled out all the stops for this giant-scale musical. Wait until you see the costumes, not to mention the sets and the dozens upon dozens of dress extras. By the time of the film's release in 1948, these grand MGM-style musicals -- along with Westerns -- were beginning to give way to other film genres. Within another decade, they would be gone forever. A shame, really, even if they bore little resemblance to reality. They were rooted in the Depression, when the public desperately needed to escape their daily lives.

Downloaded

After first watching this 20 years ago, I saw this again on DVD twice-once as it was and then again with commentary by John Barrios. He points out many of the inaccuracies depicted in the life of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, particularly the latter, on film. But as long as the musical performances permeate during most of it, I don't think that should be too distracting while watching it. And what great performances they are-June Allyson doing "Thou Swell", Lena Horne singing "Where or When" and "The Lady is a Tramp", Judy Garland reuniting with Mickey Rooney with "I Wish I Were in Love Again" before soloing on "Johnny One-Note", and the sensually beautiful dance number "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" with Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen. That last number got me welling up in tears both times I just watched it! After that sequence, however, it gets a bit ridiculous as Rooney, playing Hart, suddenly collapses on the floor before being taken to a hospital and then doing it again, for good, in a later rainy scene-no matter how true to life that last one was. I also thought it was a bit silly for Perry Como to be playing someone fictional and then being introed as himself at the very end! Still, because of all those musical numbers of which Cyd Charisse also did some good turns, Words and Music was pretty entertaining most of the time.

Fararala

In 1948, you couldn't make a biography of the true story of Lorenz Hart. That couldn't be done because of a little line in the Hays code that stated basically that any reference to homosexuality could not be presented on screen. So the very heterosexual Mickey Rooney was cast as Hart, and is still presented as troubled (insecure because of his height and lack of success with women, he turns to alcohol) while Tom Drake as Richard Rodgers is presented as very happily married and successful. That's basically all that happens, and in one of the lamest excuses for a guest appearance in a musical, Judy Garland (at 26 in 1948) meets Hart in a year when she was approximately 18 or 19, just so Rooney and Garland can share a duet.

Certainly that duet ("I Wish I Were in Love Again") is magic, as is Judy's other song ("Johnny One Note"), but unlike "Till the Clouds Roll By" (where she portrayed Marilyn Miller), she isn't out of place dramatically and historically in the film. Yes, just two years before, we were all supposed to believe that Cary Grant was Cole Porter in "Night and Day", another mediocre musical biography saved only for its cast and its songs. So here, it's just a parade of Rodgers and Hart's best songs sung by MGM's top stars. You do get a full chance to see Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen perform the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet from "On Your Toes", June Allyson singin' up slang with "Thou Swell" in "A Connecticut Yankee", and Lena Horne in a nightclub singing "The Lady is a Tramp". Rooney figures out a clever way to introduce us to "Manhattan" (his lyrics basically scribbled all over a menu), while Perry Como ("Mountain Greenery") and Ann Sothern ("Where's That Rainbow"?) give us some obscure songs from forgotten Rodgers and Hart shows.

Rooney does get a brief love interest with Betty Garrett's character (supposedly based upon a man in real life), the ending of which sets him up with despair. He puts too much emphasis on the energy in his performance so when his character falls all the way down to ultimate despair, it doesn't come off as true. Some of Rodgers and Hart's best songs are missing (especially some classics from their two best known shoes, "The Boys From Syracuse" and "Pal Joey") and the casting of the dramatic parts seems entirely uninspired. You'll find a lot to like musically in this film, but as a whole, the film has aged as one of MGM's great disappointments, an entirely missed opportunity.

Gldasiy

The high score I've given this is purely for the musical numbers - 'On Your Toes', 'There's a Small Hotel', 'Johnny One Note', 'I Wish I Were In Love Again', 'On Your Toes', 'Blue Moon', 'A Blue Room', 'Mountain Greenery', and best of all, the dance sequence to 'Slaughter on 10th Avenue'. Performers showcased in this movie include Judy Garland, Perry Como, June Allyson, Betty Garrett, Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen, who are all great.

As Rodgers and Hart themselves, Tom Drake (a bit colourless) and Mickey Rooney (a bit manic) are passable, but the story has little to do with the reality of their lives. As a biopic, then, this film is laughable. But as a musical showcase, it works well.

Agamaginn

Coming out in 1948,was this glossy MGM musical intended as a cure for the postwar blues? Considering the thinness of the story line, a quite poor commentary on Lorenz Hart's short life,maybe it was supposed to be only entertainment. I think that it was. Perhaps it was dulled somewhat by the narration by Tom Drake as Richard Rodgers more or less presenting it as a brightened up musical documentary but otherwise I found it very enjoyable; but then there's a melody about Rodger's music that is just not here in modern pop numbers. The splash of color in Ann Sothern's rendering, "Where's that Rainbow" plus the whole production values makes this fine entertainment for those who like this style; Perry Como and the chorus put on "Mountain Greenery" quite well surrounded by scenery;there is an evocative song "Blue Moon" by Mel Torme,while "Hart" sits back in wistful reminiscence of his lost love. Neither the diminutive Mickey Rooney nor Tom Drake resemble in appearance or personality the famous duo, but what of it? It wasn't supposed to be a biography (or biopic,as it is now called),but a very colorful musical. The only likeness I found was Hart's unreliability and alcoholism ; but give it a plus for well delivered "Words and Music", including most impressive of all,Lena Horne's "Lady is a Tramp". "Words and Music"; that's all it was meant to be.

ndup

Just like Till the Clouds Roll By, this is a fictional biography of the song writing team of Rodgers & Hart. the musical numbers are worth the rental

When this film was made.They could not say that Lorenz Hart---Mickey Rooney's character was gay. so they made in a remorseful drunk.

Tom Drake was a very limp Richard Rodgers.

Odd note is the scene with Mickey & Judy Garland (she played herself & the song they sang was written many many years earlier, granted most people would catch that, BUT movie buffs sure would.

I was 20 at the time.

The ending of this film, you will seem made up by Hollywood writers. Sorry to disappoint you,. I verified this right after seeing film by going to the microfisch at the New York Daily News. I was very surprised to find that what seemed like a corn ball Hollywood ending was nearly 90% true.

as unbelievable as it looks on screen, it is accurate. For those who have not seen this, I will not spoil it for you

as always

Jay Harris

Adorardana

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.

Great. I rate it high. I love song and dance musical films. You know that, from reading many of my other reviews. I give this film a ten, because it was truly enlightening and entertaining. Hardly any bio pictures are true to real life, but they must get tweaked in order to sell tickets to the audience.

This was 1948. Rooney had been in WW Two in the military, and he later said that when he came back his career almost non-existed. He was older, more jaded, had weight gain, was over the hill, etc., etc., etc. It was difficult to get cast in pictures. Happy-go-lucky Andy Hardy had become an adult.

A few years ago, I wrote and presented a research paper to a military group. I spoke to veterans about movie stars who participated in WW Two. Many stars came home to a changed Hollywood, a changed audience and lessened careers. They were older, and had seen the horrors of war. Times had changed, and many actors were less bankable. The musical film genre had seen its heyday.

Rooney got this manic, out-of-control spinning-top lead part, of portraying the famous Lorenz Hart. Rooney needed the cash, obviously. Rooney, he of the many wives and romantic lovey-dovey relationships, portrayed a homosexual man who was closeted in real life plus in this film. Did Garrett dump him (Hart) because he just couldn't make it in the bedroom? That would be offscreen, of course. Someone wrote that Garrett's character stood in place of a man, in Hart's real life. In this film, did Hart's enormous cigars stand for his yearning to explain away his impotence? Did the mile-high shoes do anything for his inferiority complex of being a short shrimp? Truly, his high-waters pants were the laughingstock of the whole movie.

Many stars in the heavens. This was the subject of an MGM short film extolling its virtues, and bragging about all of its star actors. Words and Music looks like one of the films I heard about that employed a ton of actors whose careers were sliding post-WW Two. There were more tons of them in this film than I could have imagined, not to mention lead actors and slews of crowd scene dancers. Crowd scenes cost way too much money. Big stars were getting to be a dime a dozen.

Musical films were on the way out, down the slope. LB Mayer was being blamed for more and more of these money-losers, and his own star was fading fast. Do we read that many of these quite young stars "retired" by the early 1950s, to get married and raise their children? Perhaps, because their careers were finished or about to be so. Mayer was gone, replaced by someone else. Papa's favorite children had to move on. Maybe some of them became special guest stars on 1950s TV variety shows. Garland had her own TV show for awhile. Garrett was on some TV shows.

Yes, Como went on to host a many-years successful TV show that had his own name. Later in life, Rooney played a janitor (?) in a Night at the Museum film. Garland's life ended quite early, after a spectacular and relatively short career in films; later, she was said to be constantly in poverty. The Boy Next Door never was a major star. Kelly went on to make some big movies.

I like seeing the ballet and tap dancing in this film.

I didn't notice women's clothes in this film looking too much like 1920s and 1930s, but early cars looked authentic of the time period. I saw late 1940s automobiles that looked way past the time period of Hart's life, since the real Hart passed away in 1943.

Note that stars of this film were born around and after World War One. (For example, Rooney 1920, Garland 1922). I call them postwar baby boomers of that generation. It's odd to think that the next big war helped kill their careers.

Rodgers' and Hart's careers also blossomed between those two wars. Go figure. Rodgers went on to team up with Mr. Hammerstein.

I am a degreed historian, studies including military history coursework. I am also an actress, film critic and movie reviewer. Additionally, I study the lives of theatrical and cinematic actors and actresses.

Globus

It's not that I don't like music or musicals. Instead, I adore Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and more great artists like them. I also like biopics and the stars they're about, like Cole Porter in 'Delovely' and Glenn Miller in 'The Glenn Miller Story'. But I must confess I hated this version of the lives of Rogers and Hart.

Why? Because it's a typical Hollywood-movie. The characters aren't real human beings, even though they'd have to. When a person is sad in the life story of the two music- and lyric writers, or when damnation strikes, it seems like the director wants that his audience feels sad too. But please, we can only feel sad when we feel sad. When do we feel sad? When we identify ourselves with the characters. But here that is impossible, because this isn't a realistic approach: each character is just a figure with one dimension. Mulder and Scully would have more problems to get real life in this production than to prove Alien lifeforms exist.

Sweet Hollywood, I love you, but please, if you make a movie about my life, mix the good with the bad and a bit of movie magic, because here it was only bad or good. No, I will never see this monstrous picture again.

Mikarr

Usually, musical biopics from the 1940s and 1950s aren't that great, but Words and Music isn't that bad. It's the history of the partnership between Richard Rodgers, played by Tom Drake, and Lorenz Hart, played by Mickey Rooney. It's chalk-full of over a dozen of their greatest hits, sung by a dozen different stars, so not only is it a treat for audiences to see an all-star cast together in one movie, but it's a sweet way for many singers to honor their legacy.

Most of the movie focuses on Mickey Rooney, and if his characterization was true-to-life, I feel very sorry for Larry Hart, who had a sad and lonely life. If it weren't for the lovely songs, the movie might feel like too much of a downer. But, when Mickey Rooney sings "Manhattan," Judy Garland joins him for "I Wish I Were in Love Again," and Lena Horne performs "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Where or When," it's hard to feel sad for very long.

An extra treat is the dance number "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," from the musical On Your Toes performed on an elaborate stage set by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen. I'm a huge fan of both, and while I've always thought Vera-Ellen was beautiful, cute, and had an incredible figure, she wasn't really known for having much sex appeal. In this dance number, she must have taken lessons from Gene, because they are absolutely smoldering together. Her costume almost shows too much, and they seem connected by an invisible string as they give audiences a particularly boundary-pushing dance. Robert Alton's choreography more than makes up for June Allyson's song-I think the person who first told her she could sing must have been deaf-"Thou Swell."

Quendant

Larry Hart (Mickey Rooney) is an energetic songwriter. Herb Fields brings in Richard Rodgers to play his song and becomes his writing partner. The movie is told through Rodgers' eyes. Hart is taken with singer Peggy Lorgan McNeil. Fields gains some success and brings in his friends for a new Broadway show. Rodgers proposes to older leading actress Joyce Harmon but she turns him down.

This is a fictionalized account of the music writing duo. The real story is nowhere to be found and shouldn't be expected especially during that era. It does feel scattered following both guys. Tom Drake doesn't have quite the charisma. Rooney and Garland have a final pairing. It's old fashion including the musical performances. At least, it has the songs. It's old fashion in many different ways.

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