Benny Goodman Movies

In the '30s, drummer Gene Krupa shifted percussion from supportive background music to a standalone art form, tout seul. Millions so worshipped his ability with the sticks that he became something of a heartthrob and even a screen idol, with onscreen appearances in such films as Howard Hawks' 1941 Ball of Fire. The home-video release Swing! Swing! Swing! presents 14 back-to-back, unexpurgated Krupa performances, where he plays with such greats as Lionel Hampton, Charlie Ventura, Anita O'Day, and Benny Goodman. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

This PBS documentary features jazz legend Gene Krupa playing on the drums with many of the great names in music. Archival film clips capture Krupa at his best accompanying other jazz greats such as Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, and Benny Goodman. Interviews with family, friends, and colleagues give the viewer insight into the man behind the drums. The program culminates with the historic battle of the drums between Krupa and fellow musician Buddy Rich. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, Rovi

The 1940s was a monumental decade for the United States. Amid World War II, economic recovery, and the start of the Cold War, American music provided a soundtrack to a generation. The Music Classics line from MPI Home Video attempts to offer the chance to relieve the era with a ten-volume series of restored film footage featuring performances by many of the 40's most revered artists. The second installment in the series, Music Classics, Vol. 2, includes the music of such luminaries as Benny Goodman, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, and Louis Prima. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Unabashedly sentimental, this war film was produced by David Putnam in partnership with Catherine Wyler, whose father William Wyler directed an acclaimed documentary about the real-life events depicted in the film. The ensemble cast is composed of ten young actors portraying the crew of the World War II B-17 bomber "Memphis Belle," anticipating their 25th and last mission before they will be able to go home. Having won fame with their exemplary war record and amazing lack of casualties, they expect their final assignment to be a cakewalk, but instead they are ordered to bomb Bremen, a heavily defended German city that will mean almost certain loss of life. Led by their experienced captain, Dennis Dearborn (Matthew Modine), the crew shoulders its responsibility despite mounting fears, while their commanding officer (David Strathairn) and a public relations specialist (John Lithgow) wait anxiously for their return. Aboard the bomber, there's friction between Dearborn and his disgruntled co-pilot Luke Sinclair (Tate Donovan), and between medical officer Val Kozlowski (Billy Zane) and the rest of the crew when it's learned that Val lied about his qualifications. Despite impressive technical credits and a popular Generation-X cast, Memphis Belle (1990) was a box-office disappointment, its enthusiastic patriotism considered a throwback to a bygone era of filmmaking. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Grab sweetheart and swing along to Goodman's classics as he performs live at the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen in this concert video. Along with Goodman are Sven Osmussen, Pete Witte, Harry Pepe, and Don Hass. ~ Rovi

Just when life was deep into a well-hewn rut for Nino Conti (Marcello Mastroianni) and the socialite he married, he runs into an old, impoverished charwoman (Romy Schneider) on a bus. She later gets in touch with him by telephone and lets him know that she is the very same Anna he had loved two decades earlier. Ghosts of the past start to haunt Nino in more ways than one, as he remembers the times he shared with Anna. In flashbacks to those years, the film wends its way to the final conjuncture of past and present phantoms -- poking fun at upper-class society along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Turn up the volume and take a lively trip back to the swing-jazz era as Ella Fitgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and a whole host of jazz legends share the stage of New York's Philharmonic Hall for a once-in-a-lifetime performance captured live on October 23, 1972 and hosted by popular Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen. In addition to offering the first and only television appearance by the original Benny Goodman Quartet, this concert also featured an unforgettable performance of "Blueberry Hill" by Buddy Hackett, rousing ensemble versions of "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" and "Mack the Knife", and a memorable performance of "Oh! Lady Be Good" by Fitzgerald and Basie. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An original telecast from April of 1959, this performance features Benny Goodman doing "Why Don't You Do Right," "Air Mail Special" and many others. ~ Rovi

A Song is Born is a musical remake of the 1941 comedy Ball of Fire, with the same producer (Sam Goldwyn) and director (Howard Hawks) at the helm. It will be recalled that the original film, co-scripted by Billy Wilder, was an amusing spin on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," wherein seven pedantic professors, working on a dictionary of slang, "adopted" an authority on the subject, breezy burlesque dancer Sugarpuss O'Shea. In the remake, the septet of scholars are working on an encyclopedia of music, but they're held up on the subject of "swing." When nightclub singer Honey Swanson (Virginia Mayo), escaping from her gangster suitor Tony Crow (Steve Cochran), takes refuge in the professors' home, she offers to introduce them to the world of popular music. This proves to be quite a tuneful undertaking, since two of the professors are played by Danny Kaye and Benny Goodman! The tang and zest of original plotline has been muted to the point of harmlessness, but the film is saved by the presence of Goodman, his fellow bandleaders Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey and Mel Powell, and specialty performers Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton and Buck & Bubbles. A Song is Born was Danny Kaye's final starring vehicle for Sam Goldwyn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sgt. Andy Mason Jr. (James Ellison) is on the eve of shipping out from New York with his unit -- he's the son of Andrew Mason Sr. (Eugene Pallette), a wealthy, blustery Wall Street financier. While paying respects to his father and the latter's business partner, dithering fuss-budget Peyton Potter (Edward Everett Horton), at the Club New Yorker, he spots chorus girl Eadie Allen (Alice Faye) and turns on the charm and all of the allure that the ne'er-do-well son of a Wall Street millionaire can muster. That, however, doesn't impress Eadie, who ignores his invitation so she can do her patriotic bit helping servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen (or, as it's called here, the "Broadway Canteen"). Realizing how down to earth and genuine she is -- exactly the kind of girl who doesn't care about his money or social position -- Andy shows a bit of the boyish innocence he has hidden beneath the arrogance that comes from his background of wealth and privilege, and also some humility, hiding that background and his real name. Before the night and their "date" on the Staten Island Ferry are over, they're genuinely in love with each other, but that presents a problem -- since age 12, Andy has been unofficially "engaged" to Potter's daughter Vivian (Sheila Ryan), who expects to marry him, and he can't quite bring himself to hurt Vivian by telling her that he's met someone else.

Flash forward a few months, and Andy is on his way home on leave, a hero in the Pacific, and his father is so proud that he has to do something special to honor him, trying to rent out the Club New Yorker for a party but discovering that it's closed for rehearsals of a new production. Suddenly, his fatherly devotion, patriotism, and Wall Street experience all click together -- he brings the entire performing company, plus Benny Goodman's band, up to his and Potter's adjoining estates in Westchester to stage their act for his upscale neighbors and friends as part of the biggest War Bond rally ever seen (minimum admission a new 5,000-dollar War Bond), and in the process giving his son the biggest party he's ever seen. This leads to more comic turns for Horton's Potter, as a man who would make coffee nervous -- especially around show people -- but delights his ex-dancer wife (Charlotte Greenwood). That's also how Eadie and Vivian end up at the Potter mansion together, comparing notes on their remarkably similar respective fiancés. When the show's star, Dorita (Carmen Miranda), lets the cat out of the bag, it looks like Andy may lose Eadie, who can't bear to lose Andy but also won't even try to take him away from Vivian, who loves him too, but has loved him a lot longer. But while they sort out their romance, the show must go on, and go on it does. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this lighthearted musical comedy from legendary director Busby Berkeley, Henry Bowers (Dick Powell) is a saxophonist in a jazz band who wins a talent contest. His prize is a ten-week contract with a movie studio, Miracle Pictures (whose slogan is "If it's a good picture, it's a Miracle"). One of his first "assignments" is to escort lovely starlet Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) to a movie premiere, but while Henry is looking forward to his date with a movie star, he's disappointed to discover that Virginia has opted not to go at the last minute, instead sending her lookalike stand-in, Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane). Henry is more than a bit miffed at this, but when he appears on Louella Parsons' radio show, he's a big hit and rockets to stardom. Ronald Reagan has a bit part as a radio announcer (which he did full time before acting and politics began paying the rent for him), and keep an eye peeled for Susan Hayward and Carole Landis in minor roles. By the way, Rosemary Lane and Lola Lane look a great deal alike for a good reason -- they're sisters. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi