Words and Music (1948 film)
| Words and Music | |
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| Directed by | Norman Taurog |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Written by | Ben Feiner Jr. (adaptation) Fred F. Finklehoffe (writer) |
| Story by |
Guy Bolton Jean Holloway |
| Starring |
Tom Drake Mickey Rooney |
| Music by | Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart |
| Cinematography |
Charles Rosher Harry Stradling Sr. |
| Edited by |
Albert Akst Ferris Webster |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,048,000 |
| Box office | $4,552,000 |
Words and Music is a 1948 film loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film stars Mickey Rooney as Hart and Tom Drake as Rodgers, along with Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, Ann Sothern and numerous musical stars. It was the second in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers; it was preceded by Till the Clouds Roll By (Jerome Kern, 1946) and followed by Three Little Words (Kalmar and Ruby, 1950) and Deep in My Heart (Sigmund Romberg, 1954).
The movie is best remembered for featuring the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy Garland, and for the lavish showcasing of the Rodgers and Hart catalogue of songs. The script, as in many such films, was heavily fictionalized. It sanitized Hart's complex psychological problems and self-destructive behavior, which led to the break-up of the writing partnership and contributed to Hart's early death. In keeping with media taboos of the time, the film also completely avoided any mention of Hart's homosexuality. (Thanks to the same taboos, the New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther ridiculed the film's inaccurate portrayal of Hart but did not specify what was inaccurate.)
The beginning of the film is somewhat unusual for a biopic. Drake appears alone in character, introducing himself to the audience as Richard Rodgers and telling the audience it is about to see the story of his collaboration with Lorenz Hart. It's as if Rodgers were playing himself.
Though the film performed very well at the box office, it proved to be quite an expensive production and, as a result, barely recouped its cost in its first release.
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