Director: Henry King
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Top Billed Actors: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Scoring - Alfred Newman
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Production - 20th Century-Fox
Best Original Story - Irving Berlin
Best Song - "Now It Can Be Told" (music and lyrics by Irving Berlin)
Best Art Direction - Bernard Herzbrun and Boris Leven
Best Film Editing - Barbara McLean
Plot: Alexander's Ragtime Band plays a slew of songs all over the world, but Alexander himself just wants the dame.
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Top Billed Actors: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Scoring - Alfred Newman
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Production - 20th Century-Fox
Best Original Story - Irving Berlin
Best Song - "Now It Can Be Told" (music and lyrics by Irving Berlin)
Best Art Direction - Bernard Herzbrun and Boris Leven
Best Film Editing - Barbara McLean
Plot: Alexander's Ragtime Band plays a slew of songs all over the world, but Alexander himself just wants the dame.
One of the most decorated films of the 11th Academy Awards (six nominations) and the highest grossing film of 1938, Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) is a journey through the evolution of swing music in the early 20th century. This success is no doubt attributed to the onslaught of songs by one Irving Berlin, who was nominated for both the story and one of the many songs appearing in the movie. Rather than penning a grand biopic, which Berlin is said to have thought too personal, he opted to provide a treatment of the history of ragtime and swing music. The 20th Century-Fox heavy hitters were assigned to the project and Henry King directs the stars of the studio in this musical classic. The story became a litigious subject when it was discovered that Berlin might have plagiarized the plot of a script that made the rounds to studio execs in the mid-1930s. Oddly enough, the lucky break that the band gets is when they steal sheet music with Irving Berlin's name as composer written on it. Also, if you've been following along with this Project, the director and a lot of the cast is also in a Best Picture nominee for the year prior - In Old Chicago (1938).
First and foremost, this film is a vehicle to parade a cavalcade of Irving Berlin tunes. Going through the history of this type of music, early jazz played by white folks, is an intriguing hook. From the first time the title tune is sung to the finale of it in Carnegie Hall, there is so much music that it would be difficult for one not to gravitate to a number of songs. Some of them play into the plot, like the aforementioned title tune that gives the band their break or the ballad that sparks the romantic plot, and some of them are merely to entertain during a concert - complete with choreography and costumes. When the band is playing, this is such a great time. Alice Faye and Ethel Merman stand out with their vocal abilities (assuming they don't have stand-in singers) and the instrumentation is always fresh and pleasing. On the topic of the instrumentation, Alfred Newman wins the first of his nine Academy Awards for Best Scoring. I can't find much information on this category of musical score, but I can only assume it has to do with the orchestration or perhaps the performance of the orchestra rather than the composition (Best Original Score was awarded to The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)). In any case, the music is great all around, from the singing to the playing.
When the music stops, the film starts to fall apart. The romantic subplot between Faye and Tyrone Power is extraneous to say the least. Their first romantic moment together after fighting during their first few encounters contains dialogue that seems very derogatory towards Fay's character. Power exclaims his love for Faye but he mentions that he feels like Pygmalion and he sculpted Faye to his desires and whims. She pleads that he loved her from the very start, but eventually kind of goes along with that statement; this left a poor taste in my mouth for the rest of the non-musical moments of the movie. Despite their previous experiences in film together (see In Old Chicago), the two doesn't have much chemistry and, before long, the romantic aspects of the story seems to just get in the way of the music. There's also the matter of the history of ragtime/swing/jazz music. I never got a clear sense of which year the story was taking place until the World War I and Prohibition scenes. The scenes that came before this didn't seem like they took place earlier. My feelings about this are vindicated as I found contemporary reviewers of the day state that these earlier scenes are anachronistic. More care could have been taken to period this piece up a bit.
Overall, come for the Berlin music and stay for the Berlin music. Although a silly little thing like plot or art direction might get in the way, there are so many musical numbers that will endlessly entertain and hopefully educate an eager moviegoer who wants to explore the history of ragtime and swing music.
My Score: 6/10
First and foremost, this film is a vehicle to parade a cavalcade of Irving Berlin tunes. Going through the history of this type of music, early jazz played by white folks, is an intriguing hook. From the first time the title tune is sung to the finale of it in Carnegie Hall, there is so much music that it would be difficult for one not to gravitate to a number of songs. Some of them play into the plot, like the aforementioned title tune that gives the band their break or the ballad that sparks the romantic plot, and some of them are merely to entertain during a concert - complete with choreography and costumes. When the band is playing, this is such a great time. Alice Faye and Ethel Merman stand out with their vocal abilities (assuming they don't have stand-in singers) and the instrumentation is always fresh and pleasing. On the topic of the instrumentation, Alfred Newman wins the first of his nine Academy Awards for Best Scoring. I can't find much information on this category of musical score, but I can only assume it has to do with the orchestration or perhaps the performance of the orchestra rather than the composition (Best Original Score was awarded to The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)). In any case, the music is great all around, from the singing to the playing.
When the music stops, the film starts to fall apart. The romantic subplot between Faye and Tyrone Power is extraneous to say the least. Their first romantic moment together after fighting during their first few encounters contains dialogue that seems very derogatory towards Fay's character. Power exclaims his love for Faye but he mentions that he feels like Pygmalion and he sculpted Faye to his desires and whims. She pleads that he loved her from the very start, but eventually kind of goes along with that statement; this left a poor taste in my mouth for the rest of the non-musical moments of the movie. Despite their previous experiences in film together (see In Old Chicago), the two doesn't have much chemistry and, before long, the romantic aspects of the story seems to just get in the way of the music. There's also the matter of the history of ragtime/swing/jazz music. I never got a clear sense of which year the story was taking place until the World War I and Prohibition scenes. The scenes that came before this didn't seem like they took place earlier. My feelings about this are vindicated as I found contemporary reviewers of the day state that these earlier scenes are anachronistic. More care could have been taken to period this piece up a bit.
Overall, come for the Berlin music and stay for the Berlin music. Although a silly little thing like plot or art direction might get in the way, there are so many musical numbers that will endlessly entertain and hopefully educate an eager moviegoer who wants to explore the history of ragtime and swing music.
My Score: 6/10