Young Man With a Horn (1950)
Gripping drama showing a boy develop into a man with a real flair for the trumpet, but the desperate search for that elusive high note that would put him up with the the true jazz greats and the fateful meeting with Lauren Bacall's sultry dame send him off the rails and into a spiral of drink and depression.
I really didn't know what to expect with
Young Man With a Horn. Knowing it was directed by
Casablanca's Michael Curtiz promised good things i just didn't know how good.
Kirk Douglas is excellent as Rick, the red-hot trumpeter, as is Bacall, who by now does the film noir style broad to a tee, all husky voiced and positively smoldering. Doris Day almost steals the film playing a Broadway singer who befriends Douglas and who's voice almost outshines the jazz accompaniment.
As for the score, well if you like jazz it's superb. Hoagy Carmichael, bandleader, songwriter and pianist also stars in this film and adds a touch of class to an already excellent film. Douglas at one point plays a version of Silent Night in a down and dirty mob run joint one Christmas Eve and it's the highlight of the film. Dirty, smoky... a single jazz trumpet...film noir heaven. Naturally it's not actually Kirk Douglas playing the trumpet, that honour is dubbed on by legendary trumpeter and band leader Harry James.
Young Man With a Horn is a dark, noirish drama. Highly recommended.