The Benny Goodman Story (1956)

The Benny Goodman Story
Directed by Valentine Davies
Written by Valentine Davies
1956/USA
Universal International Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

Alice Hammond: I can’t remember when I’ve been so moved.
Benny Goodman: That wasn’t me – that was Mozart.

The pacing of this fictionalized biopic is not too good but the music is glorious.

As a boy, Benny Goodman (Steve Allen) is the youngest and so receives the least coveted instrument.  It is a clarinet.  He proves to be a prodigy and his teacher dreams of a classical career.  His practice piece is Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.  His family needs money so he gets a job in a dance band.  Once he hears jazz, he is in love.  High-society beauty Alice Hammond (Donna Reed) frequently accompanies her jazz-lover brother to Benny’s gigs.  She initially has nothing but disdain for popular music.  But when Benny plays the Mozart Concerto at a soiree at the Hammond family manse she begins to fall in love.

Movie is in color but the best stills are in black-and-white

The story takes us through the ups and downs of Benny’s career and the couple’s protracted romance.  It culminates when Goodman’s orchestra plays at Carnegie Hall with other jazz greats.  With Sammy Davis Sr. as Fletcher Henderson and Harry James and Gene Krupa as themselves.

I love swing music and Benny Goodman and enjoyed listening to the many selections included in this movie.  The story just kind of meandered on and on without many high points.  The acting is not bad though.  Steve Allen does quite well in a performance as restrained as Goodman was.