Ma vie est une chanson

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.

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.

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!

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

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.