In 1948, you couldn't make a biography of the true story of Lorenz Hart. That couldn't be done because of a little line in the Hays code that stated basically that any reference to homosexuality could not be presented on screen. So the very heterosexual Mickey Rooney was cast as Hart, and is still presented as troubled (insecure because of his height and lack of success with women, he turns to alcohol) while Tom Drake as Richard Rodgers is presented as very happily married and successful. That's basically all that happens, and in one of the lamest excuses for a guest appearance in a musical, Judy Garland (at 26 in 1948) meets Hart in a year when she was approximately 18 or 19, just so Rooney and Garland can share a duet.
Certainly that duet ("I Wish I Were in Love Again") is magic, as is Judy's other song ("Johnny One Note"), but unlike "Till the Clouds Roll By" (where she portrayed Marilyn Miller), she isn't out of place dramatically and historically in the film. Yes, just two years before, we were all supposed to believe that Cary Grant was Cole Porter in "Night and Day", another mediocre musical biography saved only for its cast and its songs. So here, it's just a parade of Rodgers and Hart's best songs sung by MGM's top stars. You do get a full chance to see Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen perform the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet from "On Your Toes", June Allyson singin' up slang with "Thou Swell" in "A Connecticut Yankee", and Lena Horne in a nightclub singing "The Lady is a Tramp". Rooney figures out a clever way to introduce us to "Manhattan" (his lyrics basically scribbled all over a menu), while Perry Como ("Mountain Greenery") and Ann Sothern ("Where's That Rainbow"?) give us some obscure songs from forgotten Rodgers and Hart shows.
Rooney does get a brief love interest with Betty Garrett's character (supposedly based upon a man in real life), the ending of which sets him up with despair. He puts too much emphasis on the energy in his performance so when his character falls all the way down to ultimate despair, it doesn't come off as true. Some of Rodgers and Hart's best songs are missing (especially some classics from their two best known shoes, "The Boys From Syracuse" and "Pal Joey") and the casting of the dramatic parts seems entirely uninspired. You'll find a lot to like musically in this film, but as a whole, the film has aged as one of MGM's great disappointments, an entirely missed opportunity.
Certainly that duet ("I Wish I Were in Love Again") is magic, as is Judy's other song ("Johnny One Note"), but unlike "Till the Clouds Roll By" (where she portrayed Marilyn Miller), she isn't out of place dramatically and historically in the film. Yes, just two years before, we were all supposed to believe that Cary Grant was Cole Porter in "Night and Day", another mediocre musical biography saved only for its cast and its songs. So here, it's just a parade of Rodgers and Hart's best songs sung by MGM's top stars. You do get a full chance to see Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen perform the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet from "On Your Toes", June Allyson singin' up slang with "Thou Swell" in "A Connecticut Yankee", and Lena Horne in a nightclub singing "The Lady is a Tramp". Rooney figures out a clever way to introduce us to "Manhattan" (his lyrics basically scribbled all over a menu), while Perry Como ("Mountain Greenery") and Ann Sothern ("Where's That Rainbow"?) give us some obscure songs from forgotten Rodgers and Hart shows.
Rooney does get a brief love interest with Betty Garrett's character (supposedly based upon a man in real life), the ending of which sets him up with despair. He puts too much emphasis on the energy in his performance so when his character falls all the way down to ultimate despair, it doesn't come off as true. Some of Rodgers and Hart's best songs are missing (especially some classics from their two best known shoes, "The Boys From Syracuse" and "Pal Joey") and the casting of the dramatic parts seems entirely uninspired. You'll find a lot to like musically in this film, but as a whole, the film has aged as one of MGM's great disappointments, an entirely missed opportunity.