Before I saw this film, I didn't think of Doris Day as a serious actress, so seeing her performances in both "Young Man with a Horn" and "I'll See You in My Dreams" gave me a pleasant surprise. Doris Day is perfect in this film for the character of Jo Jordan, the big-band singer who falls for Rick Martin (Kurt Douglass). This is almost a tour-de-force for Day. It is not a comedy, and she acts accordingly. We see her anguish upon realizing that Martin (who is the protagonist) is smitten with her acquaintance Amy North (Lauren Bacall). Douglass plays a trumpet-player who is aware of his amazing gift and is careful with himself, that is, until he meets Bacall's confused character. The story is quite interesting, based on the true story of a gifted trumpet player who died of alcoholism at the age of 28. The movie stays pretty true to the real story, with a few elaborations. Martin is an orphan who is taught the trumpet and almost raised by a black trumpeter by the name of Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez). He grows up to be a great talent and plays in big bands for money, then plays his own kind of music til the wee hours for himself. He is said to "speak" through his trumpet by the film's narrator, "Smoke" (Hoagy Carmichael). Martin carries his horn around with him everywhere and is lost without it. Day's character tells him that people will refer to him as the "young man with a horn" because he refuses to part with it. Bacall's character refers to the horn as Martin's "alter ego". The supporting cast is great - Day, Carmichael, and Hernandez are terrific. Douglass was not the first choice to play the main character, but he does a good job. We see his naivete at the beginning, and then his clear anguish at his downfall. Bacall is the antagonist of the film. Her character is not perfect, but symbolizes wealth and everything that Martin is not. I was not blown away by her performance; she seemed to me rather wooden. The viewer really is given no insight into her reasoning or her character. I couldn't understand her motivation at all and I think her portrayal takes away from how great the film might have been. However, I think the performances of Douglass and the supporting cast are worth watching the movie for. The cinematography is also very interesting, especially one scene at a train station. The film is not sappy, but is not perfect, either. Overall, I would give it 2 and 1/2 stars out of 4.
Review of Young Man with a Horn
