This movie is generally described as "loosely based" on the Dorothy Baker novel, which in turn is "loosely based" or "inspired by" the career of Bix Beiderbecke. Wrong. The movie has absolutely nothing to do with Bix's life. Even the musical instrument involved is not the same--Bix played a cornet, which has a somewhat different sound quality from the trumpet "played" by Kirk Douglas here.
I could list the details of the career of Rick Martin (the lead character played by Douglas)and compare them with those of Bix, but I would be here all day. There simply are no details that are similar.
One good thing about the movie is the trumpet music supplied by "musical consultant" Harry James, which is dubbed for Douglas. Anyone who enjoy's Bix's wonderful solos, however, will see no similarity at all in sound or style between Bix and James. Not that it matters that much, given what I've already said about the movie.
Kirk Douglas plays Kirk Douglas--not a bad thing, really. Lauren Bacall, who is really beautiful in this film, plays an unbearably self-centered, spoiled woman, and the character is really quite a bore. Every time she appears on screen, the movie grinds to a halt, unless you take all her posturing and foolish talk seriously.
Bix pretty much killed himself by drinking and never developed into the great jazz master that he seems destined to have become. But even so he gained the respect of an undoubted master, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and Bix was influenced early on by Armstrong's innovative performances, though the two men really did not play the same sort of music.
In the movie, the "Armstrong" character is a trumpeter named Art Hazzard, played by Juano Hernandez. While Armstrong was a man of enormous gifts,appetites, and personality--a real force--the part written for Hernandez is more that of the "kindly Negro" favored in the 1950s by those professing to have no race prejudices. It's quite a comedown for Hernandez, who was wonderful, two or three years earlier, in his role as Lucas Beauchamp in the movie adaptation of Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust."
Hoagy Carmichael, who knew Bix Beiderbecke, does his usual shtik as the piano player who's been around. We see him at his piano, endlessly smoking. Another boring performance in the film.
And then there's Doris Day--lovely and talented and delightful to see and hear. When she is on screen, this otherwise dumb movie just lights up.
I could list the details of the career of Rick Martin (the lead character played by Douglas)and compare them with those of Bix, but I would be here all day. There simply are no details that are similar.
One good thing about the movie is the trumpet music supplied by "musical consultant" Harry James, which is dubbed for Douglas. Anyone who enjoy's Bix's wonderful solos, however, will see no similarity at all in sound or style between Bix and James. Not that it matters that much, given what I've already said about the movie.
Kirk Douglas plays Kirk Douglas--not a bad thing, really. Lauren Bacall, who is really beautiful in this film, plays an unbearably self-centered, spoiled woman, and the character is really quite a bore. Every time she appears on screen, the movie grinds to a halt, unless you take all her posturing and foolish talk seriously.
Bix pretty much killed himself by drinking and never developed into the great jazz master that he seems destined to have become. But even so he gained the respect of an undoubted master, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and Bix was influenced early on by Armstrong's innovative performances, though the two men really did not play the same sort of music.
In the movie, the "Armstrong" character is a trumpeter named Art Hazzard, played by Juano Hernandez. While Armstrong was a man of enormous gifts,appetites, and personality--a real force--the part written for Hernandez is more that of the "kindly Negro" favored in the 1950s by those professing to have no race prejudices. It's quite a comedown for Hernandez, who was wonderful, two or three years earlier, in his role as Lucas Beauchamp in the movie adaptation of Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust."
Hoagy Carmichael, who knew Bix Beiderbecke, does his usual shtik as the piano player who's been around. We see him at his piano, endlessly smoking. Another boring performance in the film.
And then there's Doris Day--lovely and talented and delightful to see and hear. When she is on screen, this otherwise dumb movie just lights up.