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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Young Man with a Horn"
(1950) is really not a Doris Day film, though
Doris does appear in it to good effect. It stars
Kirk Douglas as Rick Martin, a fiery trumpeter
with raw jazz coursing through his veins. Loosely
based on the life of Bix Beiderbecke, the film
charts the highs and lows of a lonely existence,
buffeted by shallow relationships and fleeting
romances. The one main stay in Rick's life seems
to be sweet chanteuse, Jo Jordon (Doris Day) who
commits the carnal sin of introducing the man of
her dreams to the woman of everybody's dream, Amy
North (Lauren Bacall), thereby deflating her own
chances for long sultry nights in front of a fire.
However, all may not be lost for Jo just yet.
Initially a whirlwind romance of tempestuous
passion, Amy's neuroses eventually tap into Rick's
psyche, sapping him of his youth, talent and
prowess. He's washed up, through, finished. Then
Jo walks back into his life.
The prerequisite happy ending that is clumsily
tacked on dismantles what is, up till that point,
a masterful bit of direction from
filmmaker/artist, Michael Curtiz. Peppered with
solid acting and great black and white
cinematography, "Young Man with a Horn" is
dynamite box office entertainment wrapped in an
appealing shell and presented for your added
enjoyment with rising star, Doris Day in tow.
Warner's DVD is a mixed bag. The black and white
transfer is often stunning. However, there are
traces of second or third generation elements that
have been interjected into the otherwise flawless
picture. Thankfully, these sections are brief,
allowing one the sheer pleasure of delving into
the film's dramatic elements. Blacks are deep and
solid. Whites are clean. A trace element of film
grain and age-related artifacts will surely not
distract. The audio is mono but nicely balanced.
There are no extra features. |
