Once one gets over the strangeness of seeing Kirk Douglas playing the trumpet, this one turns out to be a pretty good movie about an obsessed, self-destructive jazz musician, adapted from Dorothy Baker's novel, which was based on the short, remarkable life of jazzman Bix Biederbeck. Director Michael Curtiz once again shows himself a master of screen biography, albeit highly fictionalized in this case. His flair for capturing urban nightlife is sublime, as he has an intuitive understanding of the lonely moods that city people go through; their sudden changes in fortune, for reasons they scarcely understand; and the inability of anyone, really, to get a grip on modern life.
Miscast as a musician though he is, Douglas is quite good with the darker and more volatile aspects of his character's personality. Lauren Bacall is far less good as his society girl-friend with a lesbian streak, Doris Day marginally better as his True Love. There are some excellent supporting bits by Juano Hernandez and Jerome Cowan. This is overall a satisfying film, too slick for its own good in parts, it's not the best of its director's works, but it's in the high middle range.
Miscast as a musician though he is, Douglas is quite good with the darker and more volatile aspects of his character's personality. Lauren Bacall is far less good as his society girl-friend with a lesbian streak, Doris Day marginally better as his True Love. There are some excellent supporting bits by Juano Hernandez and Jerome Cowan. This is overall a satisfying film, too slick for its own good in parts, it's not the best of its director's works, but it's in the high middle range.