Words and Music (1948 film)

Words and Music is a 1948 American biographical musical film loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film stars Mickey Rooney as Hart and Tom Drake as Rodgers, along with Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, Ann Sothern, and numerous musical stars. The film is best remembered as the final screen pairing of Rooney and Judy Garland, and for the lavish showcasing of the Rodgers and Hart catalogue of songs. As in many similar biopics of the era (such as Cole Porter's depiction in Night and Day), the story was heavily fictionalized. The script sanitized Hart's complex psychological problems, alcoholism, and self-destructive behavior, which all contributed to the break-up of the writing partnership and Hart's early death, as well as changed his sexual orientation. (Hart was gay.)

The introduction to the film is staged as if composer Richard Rodgers was actually playing himself. Actor Tom Drake appears alone in character, identifies himself as Rodgers and tells the audience it is about to see the story of his collaboration with Lorenz Hart. (Contemporary posters from the film featured the faces of most major cast members, including Rooney, but did not show the face of Drake, and his name was in smaller type than those of the other main stars.)

The film was the second in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers; it was preceded by Till the Clouds Roll By (Jerome Kern, 1946) and followed by Three Little Words (Kalmar and Ruby, 1950) and Deep in My Heart (Sigmund Romberg, 1954).

Though the film performed very well at the box office, it proved to be quite an expensive production and, as a result, failed to recoup its cost in its first release. The film was issued on DVD in 2007 by Warner Bros. and extras included video and audio outtakes. Among these were two songs deleted from the film sung by Perry Como: "Lover" and "You're Nearer".