Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301978514
Format: Color
ISBN: 630197851X
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: 1992-04-01
Running Time: 120
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1948-12-31

The plot is a hokey whitewash of the careers of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with characters talking in stilted phrases ("Gee, Larry, that's marvelous, really and truly") and complexities reduced to ground zero. But Rodgers and Hart comprised one of the greatest song-writing teams of the 20th century, and Words and Music (1948) is an excuse for a gang of Hollywood's top performers to have their way with the tunes. Mel Tormé croons a melancholy "Blue Moon," June Allyson twinkles through "Thou Swell," and a climactic ballet to "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" features Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen in slinky, kicky form. As is often the case in MGM musicals of this period, Lena Horne steals the show with a self-contained sequence (so it could be snipped out in theaters in the U.S. South), here contributing stunning versions of "The Lady Is a Tramp" and that most mysterious of American pop songs, "Where or When."

The film's sense of time is deranged: Perry Como plays an early friend of R&H, then decades later, himself; Garbo's Camille is shown as a silent film, although it was released 10 years after sound came in; and the grown-up Judy Garland plays herself in a period when she would have been a child. The upside is that Garland romps through "Johnny One Note," one of many examples of Lorenz Hart's lyrical dexterity. Tom Drake is a dull Rodgers, but Mickey Rooney's buzz-saw energy and crazed appetite might have made a brilliant Larry Hart. In a better movie, that is. --Robert Horton

Customer Rating:
Summary: Words and Music
Comment: For Hollywood a fairly decent biopic at least better than Night and Day treatment of Cole Porter. It has the great Rodgers and Hart tunes - at least some of them and if they couldn't deal with Laurenz Hart I'm not sure they'd be ready even today. The acting was good the songs terrific, I'd reccomend for any lover of Richard Rodgers musicals.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: great MGM Musical
Comment: This terrific movie has all MGM's great stars singing and dancing to ROdgers and Hart's wonderful songs. It is a loose biograhy of one of the most prolific and excellent music writing teams. Rodgers' music and Hart's clever lyrics shine. The DVD is of high quality. The color and sound are near perfect. I highly recommend this.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: words and music
Comment: the movie is old (1948),but bright and entertaining.A little loose with it's historical facts , but great and nostalgic music

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Rodgers and Hart
Comment: Words and Music This is one of my favorite movies from the 40's. I've seen it numerous times.
Michele Cohen

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Disapointing
Comment: I love musicals. There is no question in my mind as to if this is ever worth my time again.
I was dearly disappointed that so many actors where misused. You have great Hollywood legands like Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, June Allyson, and Gene Kelly, who either played to small of a part or were misdirected so that their preformance wasn't worth watching at all.
I'm really not trying to compalain, but it is enough to make even the most devout musical viewer irritated.
There are movies that are so-so, and even these, I sometimes have at least something good to say about even a small part or scene - but this left me with nothing.

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