Classic Film Club: Young Man with a Horn (1950)

Our next screening is on Sunday July 12. Young Man with a Horn (1950) was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Kirk Douglas, Doris Day and Lauren Bacall. It's a drama about an outstanding and intuitive trumpet player. Rick Martin (Douglas) is crazy about jazz but has to make do playing sing-a-long tunes in routine dance bands. Until he meets Jo (Day), a young woman who finds him a job in a New York dance band. They get along fine until Rick meets Amy (Bacall). Then everything seems to go wrong. The film also features composer-pianist Hoagy Carmichael, and has a much praised trumpet score by Harry James, who was praised by The New York Times for supplying "the tingling music, which flows wildly, searchingly, and forlornly from Rick Martin's beloved horn. This is an instance where the soundtrack is the very soul of the picture." If you are a fan of Kirk Douglas, of Lauren Bacall or of Doris Day (who made this film before she was a virgin) … but more especially, if you like good music ... this is a must-see.