Rhapsody in Blue (1945)

Interesting facts

• Budget: $2.5M
• Awards: 0 · Nominations: 2

Rhapsody in Blue, subtitled The story of George Gershwin is a 1945 American biographical film about composer and musician George Gershwin, released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Robert Alda stars as Gershwin. Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Hazel Scott, and Anne Brown also star, while Irving Rapper directs. The film premiered in New York on June 27, 1945 and was released in the United States on September 22, 1945.

Production background

Starring Robert Alda as Gershwin, the film features a few of Gershwin's acquaintances (including Paul Whiteman, Al Jolson, and Oscar Levant) playing themselves. Alexis Smith and Joan Leslie play fictional women in Gershwin's life, Morris Carnovsky and Rosemary De Camp play Gershwin's parents, and Herbert Rudley portrays his brother, Ira Gershwin. Levant also recorded most of the piano playing in the movie, and also dubbed Alda's piano playing.

The film introduces two fictional romances into the story, one with a woman named Julie Adams, played by Leslie, and the other a near-romance with a rich society woman played by Smith.

The film notably features performances of Gershwin music by two African-American musicians/singers, Anne Brown and Hazel Scott. Both were child prodigies whose training included study at the Juilliard School. Brown, a soprano, created the role of "Bess" in the original production of Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. In the film, she sings the aria Summertime from Porgy and Bess, albeit rearranged, with the first verse sung by chorus only.

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