In a rare straight role, Danny Kaye plays the influential jazz musician Red Nichols, played here by a remarkably straight-faced Danny Kaye.
The romanticized biopic chronicles Nichols’ rise from obscurity, describing the future bandleaders who would play with Nichols’ “Five Pennies,” as well as his self-destructive streak and inability to change
A subplot concerns Nichols’ physically impaired daughter Dorothy, played by Susan Gordon as a child and by Tuesday Weld (in her debut) as a young woman.
Nichols’s long-suffering wife is portrayed by Barbara Bel Geddes, better known for her performance in Hitchcock’s Vertigo the year before.
The musical numbers elevate the sentimental biopic, especially Danny Kaye’s duet with Louis Armstrong.
Among the real-life musicians in the supporting cast are Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony, Shelly Manne, and, as Jimmy Dorsey, Bobby Troup.
Oscar Nominations: 4
Cinematography (color): Daniel L. Fapp
Costume Design (color): Edith Head
Scoring of musical: Leith Stevens
Song: The Five Pennies, music and lyrics Sylvia Fine
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
Ben-Hur won the Cinematography Oscar for Robert Surtees and Costumes Oscar for Elizabeth Haffendedn.
Porgy and Bess won the Scoring Oscar for Andre Previn and Porgy and Bess
Credits
Running time: 117 minutes.
Directed by Melville Shavelson
Written by Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose
DVD: December 13, 2005
Paramount
