A Song Is Born

Howard Hawks's 1948 film is a musical remake of his own Ball of Fire from 1941. The structure stays the same, except that the professors are now writing a music encyclopedia and looking for knowledge about jazz. The academic played by Danny Kaye leaves the institute to learn about swing, jive, blues, boogie-woogie and Dixieland and comes upon the nightclub singer Honey Swanson, whose gangster boyfriend has no intention of letting her go. The real value is in the cast: Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet and Mel Powell appear as themselves and perform. Even where the story flags, the film is unmatched as a jazz record. Hawks remaking his own picture is a decision that rarely works; the comic timing is looser than the original and Danny Kaye takes Gary Cooper's role somewhere else. Who it's for: viewers interested in jazz history and classic Hollywood musicals. Who it's not for: anyone who has seen Ball of Fire and will compare, or bothered by musical numbers stopping the story.