The Five Pennies (1959)

Directed by

Melville Shavelson

Genre

comedy film, biographical film, musical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 57m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 29 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A biographical musical about jazz cornet player Red Nichols as he rises to fame in the 1920s. The film follows his career and family life, including his efforts to balance music with fatherhood. Danny Kaye stars as Nichols, with actual cornet playing by the real Red Nichols on the soundtrack.

lightheartednostalgicupbeatwhimsicalsentimentallivelywarmbittersweet

What happens

The Five Pennies is a 1959 American biographical music drama film in VistaVision and Technicolor starring Danny Kaye as jazz cornet player and bandleader Loring "Red" Nichols. Other cast members include Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld. The film was directed by Melville Shavelson. The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Musical Scoring (Leith Stevens), Best Original Song (Sylvia Fine—Danny Kaye's wife), Best Cinematography (Daniel L. Fapp), and Best Costumes (Edith Head). The real Red Nichols recorded all of Kaye's cornet playing for the film soundtrack. The other musicians in Red's band were not asked to provide their musical contributions, and the sound of his band was supplied by session players. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Young Man with a Horn (1950)
• The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
• The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)
• There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959)
• Main Street to Broadway (1953)
• Love in Syncopation