The Five Pennies
Directed by Melville Shavelson
Written by Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson; story by Robert Smith
1959/USA
Dena Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original. – Louis Armstrong
This is a solid little biopic. The fabulous jazz takes it up a notch.
It is the Roaring Twenties. Loring ‘Red’ Nichols (Danny Kaye) is spotted playing the cornet out in his hometown of Ogden, Utah and hired to play in band in New York. He promptly meets and falls in love with fun-loving singer Willa ‘Bobbie’ Stutzman (Barbara Bel Geddes) and they marry. She sticks by him in his numerous run-ins with bandleaders who do not appreciate his penchant for Dixieland jazz or clowning. Finally, he starts his own band and goes on to success on the road. His bands include many of the players who will become stars in the big band era.
Red and Bobbie both dote on their daughter Dorothy. When she is about six, Bobbie feels they should settle down and put her in school. Red doesn’t want to give up his band and they compromise by putting the child in boarding school, where she is miserable. Dorothy develops polio and Red blames himself. He works at a WWII shipyard while the couple nurse her back to health. Can Red be separated permanently from his horn? With Tuesday Weld as the teen-aged Dorothy.
The best thing about any movie with Louis Armstrong in it is Armstrong and this is no exception. Furthermore, it is jam-packed with music from Satchmo and Red Loring, who is heard while Kaye mimes the playing. The story is sweet and a little corny but could not have been done better for its kind. Kaye and Bel Geddes are both endearing.
The Five Pennies was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Cinematography, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Music, Original Song (“The Five Pennies”); and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1LGhi-s5qc
Clips – fabulous trumpet playing
