MGM knew it would take a bath on its all-black musical Cabin in the Sky (few Southern theaters of 1943 would touch the film), but the studio still provided its standard A-plus production values to the film; besides, it served as a training ground for up-and-coming director Vincente Minnelli. Based on the Broadway musical by Lynn Root, John ...
The Five Pennies is the life story of influential jazz cornetist Red Nichols, played here by a remarkably straight-faced Danny Kaye. The somewhat romanticized screenplay chronicles Nichols' rise from obscurity, annotates the many future bandleaders who would play with Nichols' "Five Pennies," and details his self-destructive streak and (seeming) ...
The second film of director Martin Ritt with both Paul Newmanand Sidney Poitier, it's set in a city that has long been a haven for black musicians eager to escape the racism of the U.S. Newman is Ram Bowen, a trombone player who makes his living in a jazz group, which also includes tenor man Eddie Cook (Sidney Poitier), while studying music and ...
Twenty-seven-year-old Barbra Streisand seemed an inappropriate choice for middle-aged, match-making widow Dolly Levi, but her energy carries her right through the role and dominates the lackluster movie around her. The plot, drawn from Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (itself based on a 19th-century British farce), is set in motion when Yonkers ...
A star-studded cast invigorates this film of a jazz trumpeter (Sammy Davis Jr.) who experiences both the prejudices of the music industry and terrible guilt following the traffic accident that killed his family, a tragedy he feels personally responsible for. Co-stars include several giants of jazz and popular music: Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, ...
In his only visit to Columbia Pictures, Paramount's resident crooner Bing Crosby stars in a sentimental musical drama. In jail on a trumped-up charge, Crosby meets a condemned prisoner, and promises the doomed man to look after his little girl (Edith Fellows) when he gets out. The girl's grandfather (Donald Meek) is also part of the "deal," and ...
New Orleans is Republic Pictures' spin on such "musical origin" films as Birth of the Blues and Dixie. Covering nearly four decades, the story is a fanciful recreation of the "birth" of American jazz music. Arturo de Cordova plays Nick Duquesne, owner of a posh gambling house in turn-of-the-century New Orleans (yes, that's an uncredited Shelley ...
One of the world's best-loved performers, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, headlines this exclusive concert, performed and shot in Australia circa 1964. A five-piece band comprised of Billy Kyle, Arvell Shaw, Danny Barcelona, Trummy Young and Joe Darensbourg, backs up Armstrong, while singer Jewel Brown lends added vocal support. Selections include: "I ...
The release Louis Armstrong and Friends compiles rare kinescope footage of the legendary titular bluesman performing, culled from various early television broadcasts. The included performance footage finds Armstrong playing alongside such contemporaries as Dizzy Gillespie (in what was reportedly the duo's only filmed performance together) and Jack ...
This release compiles a number of songs by the legendary Louis Armstrong. Taken over the course of four different decades, these performances often feature other superstars such as Gene Krupa, Bing Crosby, and Jackie Gleason. Among the numbers delivered are "Blueberry Hill," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen ...
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide or All Movie Guide. © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide and All Movie Guide are registered Trademarks of All Media Guide, LLC.