Young Man with a Horn (film)

Infobox Film | name =Young Man with a Horn


caption =Theatrical poster to "Young Man with a Horn"
director = Michael Curtiz
producer = Jerry Wald
writer =Dorothy Baker (novel)
Carl Foreman
Edmund H. North
starring =Kirk Douglas
Lauren Bacall
Doris Day
Hoagy Carmichael
music =
cinematography = Ted D. McCord
editing = Alan Crosland Jr.
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = February 9, 1950 (U.S. release)
runtime = 112 min.
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0043153

"Young Man with a Horn" is a 1950 film based on a biographical novel of the same name about the life of Bix Beiderbecke. The film is considered to be the first contemporary big-budget jazz film, a genre that became common not soon after the release of the movie, as well as one of the first major Hollywood productions to deal with lesbianism.

It stars Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, and Doris Day, and was directed by Michael Curtiz. It was produced by Jerry Wald, and Carl Foreman and Edmund H. North wrote the screenplay.

Casting and characters

Douglas plays the lead character, Rick Martin, who is likely to be based on Beiderbecke. Bacall performs the second lead, Martin's mixed up love interest named Amy North. This was one of the few scripts accepted by Bacall, who was famous for her habit of turning down projects she wasn't interested in. It has become one of her defining roles, even though she stated in her autobiography that she didn't think highly of the part.

The rest of the cast includes Hoagy Carmichael and Juano Hernandez. Douglas's horn playing is dubbed by Harry James.

Treatment of lesbianism

The film is regarded as one of the first major Hollywood productions to present a woman with strongly implied lesbian tendencies. [http://www.dorisday.net/young_man_with_a_horn.html] [http://www.coolness.nl/reviews/blf_youngm.htm] This is suggested by Bacall's occasionally frigid character's unaccounted overnight absence from her husband at the same time she is talking of moving to Europe with a female artist. The artist, Miss Carson, is later present, and Amy gushes to her: "I'm dying to see the rest of your sketches."

Because of this controversial subject matter, the film was banned in many countries until it was re-released worldwide in 1962. The US movie industry, while conforming to the Production Code, showed the movie when it was released in 1950.

External links

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