Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
- Directed by
- Henry King
- Genre
- drama film, musical film, romantic comedy
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h 48m
- Rated
- NR
- Rating
- 6.8 of 10 from 33 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A wealthy young man chooses ragtime music over classical, upsetting his family. Over 20 years, his career and romance unfold against the evolving history of jazz.
nostalgicmelodramaticlivelyromanticsentimentalbittersweetsweeping
What happens
Alexander's Ragtime Band is a 1938 American musical film released by 20th Century Fox that takes its name from the 1911 Irving Berlin song "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to tell a story of a society boy who scandalizes his family by pursuing a career in ragtime instead of "serious" music. The film generally traces the history of jazz music from the popularization of Ragtime in the early years of the 20th century to the acceptance of swing as an art form in the late 1930s using music composed by Berlin. The story spans more than two decades from the 1911 release of its name-sake song to some point in time after the 1933 release of "Heat Wave", presumably 1938. It stars Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman, Jack Haley and Jean Hersholt. Several actual events in the history of jazz are fictionalized and adapted to the story including the tour of Europe by Original Dixieland Jass Band, the global spread of jazz by U.S. soldiers during World War I, and the 1938 Carnegie Hall performance by The Benny Goodman Orchestra. The story was written by Berlin himself, with Kathryn Scola, Richard Sherman (1905–1962) and Lamar Trotti. In 1944, a federal judge ruled that most of the story by Berlin and collaborating writers had been plagiarized from a 1937 manuscript by author Marie Dieckhaus, but that decision was reversed on appeal. Alexander's Ragtime Band was 20th Century Fox's highest-grossing film of the 1930s and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning the award for Best Music, Scoring. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Listen, Darling (1938)
Mis dos amores (1938)
Everybody Sing (1938)
The Duke Is Tops (1938)
You Can't Take It With You (1938)
Four Daughters (1938)
Joy of Living (1938)
Swing Your Lady (1938)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.