Irving Rapper’s Rhapsody in Blue offers the magnificent music of George Gershwin in a first-rate production with some sadly typical narrative inclusions.
The Production: 3.5/5
An acknowledged genius of musical composition, George Gershwin achieved an astonishing amount of product during his all-too-brief thirty-eight years on Earth, and Irving Rapper’s Rhapsody in Blue manages to offer an acceptable sampler of his remarkable work. The man had his first tune on Broadway while still a teenager, turned out an unbelievable number of pop tunes, musical comedy scores, orchestral compositions, and even a folk opera. While enormously popular, he was still never quite given his due during his lifetime; only after his early death did critics begin to seriously reevaluate his unique contribution to the nation and the world. By then, it was too late.
Born of Jewish parents on New York’s East Side who were astonished that younger son George Gershwin (Robert Alda) exhibits more talent at the piano than his older brother Ira (Herbert Rudley) who had taken lessons, George quickly allows music to become all-consuming to him. After failing as a mere song plugger, he gets his own song “Swanee” heard by Al Jolson who inserts it into his current show Sinbad, and Gershwin is on his way. Tin Pan Alley tune hits allow his struggling parents (Morris Carnovsky, Rosemary DeCamp) to live more comfortably, and soon producer George White recruits George to write music for his revues. From there, George’s unique fusion of ragtime, jazz, blues, and pop add luster to Broadway shows while his old music teacher Professor Franck (Albert Bassermann) cudgels him to write more serious compositions resulting in his first orchestral work “Rhapsody in Blue” which conductor Paul Whiteman debuts to wild acclaim. While basking in his successes, George is always on the prowl to extend his musical talents in different areas of composition leading to his folk opera Porgy and Bess. But blinding headaches and an incessant impatience within himself signal that George’s time may be running out.
Based on a story by Sonya Levien, the screenplay by Howard Koch and Elliot Paul leavens the “…and then I wrote” trope for Hollywood biographical composer musicals by inventing two fictional romances for George: showgirl Julie Adams (Joan Leslie, vocals by Sally Sweetland) who’s supposedly the love of his life and the girl that got away and divorcee Christine Gilbert (Alexis Smith) who’s a painter who introduces George to Parisian café society. Both of these illusory relationships follow typical Hollywood melodramatic trajectories, and neither are worthy of a serious biography of the man. Luckily, the relatively small amount of Gershwin’s music is given first-rate treatment. Yet, the authors skip a couple of genuinely dramatic instances in Gershwin’s life: his exclusion from the Pulitzer Prize designation for Of Thee I Sing since the committee didn’t feel the music contributed to the show’s merit (absurd; the Pulitzers did eventually honor George posthumously) and the outrageous critical division over the brilliance of Porgy and Bess. As a new opera, the show’s 124-performance run would count as a triumph, but as a Broadway show, its original run lost money with, ironically, the music critics finding less of substance in the show than the drama critics who also reviewed it.
In some cases, clever montages are mounted by director Irving Rapper to briefly cover major moments in the composer’s life: one dealing with his Tin Pan Alley period of hit writing, another that skips around the City of Light while Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” symphonic tone poem accompanies it, and a third covers his “Cuban Overture” exploration of its sights and sounds. Elsewhere we get some of the real thing as Al Jolson sings “Swanee,” the “Blue Monday Blues” number is presented complete in the blackface of the era and serving as the inspiration for Gershwin’s subsequent concert piece that Paul Whiteman conducts – “Rhapsody in Blue” (all fourteen minutes of it in higher fidelity sound than was available when he conducted it in 1930’s King of Jazz). Hazel Scott offers a medley of “The Man I Love,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” and “I Got Rhythm” (out of continuity; the later song was written years after the fact), and original Bess Miss Anne Brown sings “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess with subtle power and feeling even though her character didn’t actually sing the song in the show. Real-life Gershwin friend Oscar Levant steals a number of scenes with his banter and his piano performances of Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” (years before he’d do it in An American in Paris) and “Rhapsody in Blue.”
The young Robert Alda was an inspired choice for George Gershwin. He’s handsomer than his real-life counterpart and plays the driven artist most convincingly while also managing to feign playing those virtuoso piano pieces well enough. Herbert Rudley as older brother Ira Gershwin looks quite like his real-life counterpart and is a source of warmth and solace for his tormented younger brother. Morris Carnovsky is a most appealing poppa to the boys while Rosemary DeCamp, having played the mother the previous year of George M. Cohan, now repeats the matriarchal role nicely but with less showy fanfare. The two invented women in his life played by Joan Leslie (also repeating as the protagonist’s love interest from Yankee Doodle Dandy with the same voice double which matches her speaking voice to perfection) and Alexis Smith perform their duties acceptably, the former jealous of the latter and the latter jealous of George’s devotion to his musical gift instead of showing more interest in her. Charles Coburn as a music publisher whose support sends George on his way and Albert Bassermann as his music teacher and confident make much out of otherwise clichéd roles.
Video: 5/5
3D Rating: NA
The movie’s 1.37:1 original theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully executed in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Image quality is sterling throughout with no scratches, dirt, or dust to disrupt the visuals. Greyscale is very good, and close-ups reveal details in facial features previously unseen in other home video releases. The lengthy movie has been divided into 51 chapters.
Audio: 5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix is typical of the era of the film’s production. Present is the ten-minute overture which only accompanied the film in its premiere showings in New York and Los Angeles. Dialogue and song lyrics have been beautifully recorded and are presented with the music very much balanced and the appropriate sound effects where necessary. There are no worries with aural anomalies like hiss, pops, crackle, or flutter.
Special Features: 1/5
Theatrical Trailer (2:19, SD)
Song Selection Menu: offers instant access to twenty-seven musical moments in the picture.
Overall: 3.5/5
After the stunning success of the biographical Yankee Doodle Dandy, Warners put Rhapsody in Blue immediately into production, and when completed, it was first shown overseas to the World War II troops for over a year before premiering stateside. The movie presented here is the original cut, twelve minutes longer than most home video releases which have been available for this title. Warner Archive deserves a great round of applause for finally presenting the film as originally shot and shown, full of memorable Gershwin melodies that have entranced the world for more than a century.
Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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