RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Irving Rapper
Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, Oscar Levant,
Alexis Smith, Charles Coburn, Julie Bishop
Alan Alda's dad, looking vaguely like Liberace minus the glitz, plays George Gershwin in a good-parts-only biography of the great composer. It's the kind of life story where everybody defers to George, the obsessive genius who's driven to create at the expense of everything else. Apparently there were more than a few women in Gershwin's life, but you don't learn much about that side of the story here. He comes off as a workaholic celibate. Gershwin deserves better, in other words, but it's typical of the musical biographies Hollywood was making at the time. Musically it's a medley of Gershwin's greatest hits, with real-life Gershwin associates Paul Whiteman and Oscar Levant playing themselves. Any movie Oscar Levant's in is at least worth watching for Oscar Levant.
Joan Leslie
(1925-2015)
