Words and Music (1948)

47% of users liked it
(131 ratings)

A musical biography of song and show composers Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Rodgers, who penned the music, managed to live a reasonably happy and normal life, with a stable marriage and comfortable home. Lyricist Hart, by contrast, gradually grew more and more depressed, and never succeeded in… More A musical biography of song and show composers Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Rodgers, who penned the music, managed to live a reasonably happy and normal life, with a stable marriage and comfortable home. Lyricist Hart, by contrast, gradually grew more and more depressed, and never succeeded in finding the relationship he longed for; he died when only 47 years of age. The film features numerous musical and choreographic interludes, performed by some of MGM's best-known stars.

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 1 min.
Directed By: Norman Taurog
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Classics

In Theaters: Dec 9, 1948 Wide
On DVD: Jul 24, 2007

Critic Reviews

Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
some good song numbers
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Appallingly sanitized biopic of Rodgers and Hart.

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

There's some great stuff here, the music of course and the Slaughter on 10th Avenue ballet with Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly is amazing. Janet Leigh is lovely and impossibly young but is given nothing to do but Drake is bland almost to the point of invisiblity and Rooney is frankly… More
There's some great stuff here, the music of course and the Slaughter on 10th Avenue ballet with Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly is amazing. Janet Leigh is lovely and impossibly young but is given nothing to do but Drake is bland almost to the point of invisiblity and Rooney is frankly a major hambone here terrible and annoying beyond measure. The songs and dances are five star but the story, most of which is fiction, is one.