Cary Grant stars in this recap of the life of one of our most prolific music composers to date, Cole Porter. He wrote more standards than anyone else I can think of; if you’re singing a Golden Oldie, chances are you’re singing a Cole Porter. The movie title, “Night and Day,” is also the title of one of his hits.
The movie takes us on a journey to Yale, where we see young Cole Porter as a student. His family wants him to go into law, but his heart is in his music. Going home for Christmas vacation, he tells his family that he’s leaving Yale in the hopes of pursuing his dream. His mother supports him, his grandfather is disappointed, and all Cole knows is that his music is his life. While home, he meets a friend of his cousin’s, a tall blonde named Linda, and they seem to hit it off but life takes them in different directions, he to produce a Broadway play and she to study nursing.
Opening night arrives and the stage is set. The music starts – and suddenly the audience starts leaving in droves. Word has just come that the Lusitania has been sunk, and so is Cole’s show. He goes into the military, finding inspiration for some of his music in his travels, and gets injured. He goes to the military hospital to find Linda there, waiting, working as a nurse.
Yada yada yada – the end.
What’s up with that, you wonder? Okay, here’s the deal. I enjoyed the movie when I watched it. I have always loved Cole Porter’s music, I love Cary Grant, I was in 7th heaven. But then, as I usually do when I’m intrigued by a subject, I went online to learn more, and I found out that this movie is so loosely based on Cole’s life, it could have been about an entirely different man altogether. The movie portrayed Cole as an injured war hero – he was not. He did serve in the war, but he feigned his injuries and used them to his advantage the rest of his life. The movie shows him falling madly in love with a sweet young thing while recovering from those injuries – he was actually living an alternative lifestyle and married a woman named Linda as a shield for his activities, but eventually those activities gained so much notoriety that there was no hiding them anymore. Hollywood created this movie to make Cole look good and to appeal to the masses, but it was nothing but a musical lie. I’m told that “De-lovely,” the recent film starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, is much more true to fact, but if that is the case, I certainly can’t review the film here.
So, this is what I suggest. Be prepared to enjoy the movie for what it is – chock full of great music. Songs you know, songs you’ve never heard, songs you didn’t know Cole wrote – this movie has them, performed very well. Enjoy Cary Grant’s great acting ability. Take it for what it is – an entertaining fictional film. But if you are expecting a true story, you’re not going to get one from this movie.
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