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20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Musical Moments Salvage Weak, Inaccurate Story and Dialogue, 13 August 2005

Author: gftbiloxi (gftbiloxi@yahoo.com) from Biloxi, Mississippi

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

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19 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
THE BEST OF MGM'S ALL-STAR MUSICALS, 3 September 1999

Author: Suzanne Frasuer

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.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Notable only for its many musical numbers., 17 February 2003
Author: hrd1963 from Philadelphia, PA

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.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
delightful!, 17 May 2004

Author: (willrams@earthlink.net) from Santa Maria, CA

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

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Now That Cole Porter Got An Uncensored Version of His Life................................, 24 August 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Hollywood bio is salvaged by some nice musical stars..., 8 January 2004
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

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.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Watch it for the musical numbers., 10 September 2003
Author: movibuf1962 from Washington, DC

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.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Five Tough Talents, 30 April 2004
Author: harry-76 from Cleveland, Ohio

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.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Our Funny Valentine, 25 August 2006

Author: theowinthrop from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Post WW II pickup. "Where's that Rainbow", 29 September 2005

Author: haustin-1 (haustin@chugach.net) from ANCHORAGE,Alaska

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.

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