... played as an adult by Nat "King" Cole. From childhood, Will Handy's biggest problem is his father, a fire and brimstone preacher with a - pardon the expression - black and white view of life. Music is either of God - hymns - or it is of the devil, which is everything else including the music of the streets, of workers, of African Americans. Young Will is drawn to jazz and buys a trumpet. When his dad discovers it he throws it underneath a team of horses so that it is destroyed, to "save his soul".
When Will grows up and graduates college his dad and his girlfriend/fiancee expect him to become a teacher. But Will is still drawn to jazz and the blues. A simple song he composes and performs for a political candidate he doesn't even know gets him the attention of local blues singer Gogo Germaine (Eartha Kitt) . He starts spending his days working on songs with Gogo, and nights performing them at her club. When he is found out by his dad, he is told to either stop this music and become a teacher or get out. Will chooses the latter option.
The obvious conflict in Will is not that of right and wrong, but between the fact that he does not feel like he is doing evil when he writes and performs jazz, but that his dad constantly tells him he is doing evil. How will this work out? I'd say watch and find out, because the biography of the actual W. C. Handy is fascinating, but it's nothing like this film.
I don't think Nat King Cole had any training as an actor, and yet he gives a great performance here. Eartha Kitt plays the glamorous singer who needs Will professionally but has the integrity to not seduce and keep the initially fascinated Will around with her feminine charms. The portrayal of Handy's girlfriend, Elizabeth (Ruby Dee), is just a little too passive considering that Will is constantly dropping in and out of her life. It's OK to be supportive, but the character is in doormat territory.
The supporting musical talent is tremendous and includes Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billy Preston.
When Will grows up and graduates college his dad and his girlfriend/fiancee expect him to become a teacher. But Will is still drawn to jazz and the blues. A simple song he composes and performs for a political candidate he doesn't even know gets him the attention of local blues singer Gogo Germaine (Eartha Kitt) . He starts spending his days working on songs with Gogo, and nights performing them at her club. When he is found out by his dad, he is told to either stop this music and become a teacher or get out. Will chooses the latter option.
The obvious conflict in Will is not that of right and wrong, but between the fact that he does not feel like he is doing evil when he writes and performs jazz, but that his dad constantly tells him he is doing evil. How will this work out? I'd say watch and find out, because the biography of the actual W. C. Handy is fascinating, but it's nothing like this film.
I don't think Nat King Cole had any training as an actor, and yet he gives a great performance here. Eartha Kitt plays the glamorous singer who needs Will professionally but has the integrity to not seduce and keep the initially fascinated Will around with her feminine charms. The portrayal of Handy's girlfriend, Elizabeth (Ruby Dee), is just a little too passive considering that Will is constantly dropping in and out of her life. It's OK to be supportive, but the character is in doormat territory.
The supporting musical talent is tremendous and includes Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billy Preston.