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Help the Free French? Not world-weary Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). But he changes his mind when a sultry siren named Marie asks, "Anybody got a match?" That red-hot match is Bogart and 19-year-old Lauren Bacall in her acting debut. Full of intrigue and racy banter (certain whistling instructions), this thriller excites further interest for what it has and has not. Cannily directed by Howard Hawks and smartly written by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, it doesn't have much similarity to Ernest Hemingway's novel. And it strongly resembles Casablanca: French resistance fighters, a bluesy piano man (Hoagy Carmichael) and a Martinique bar like Rick's Cafe America in. But foremost, it has Bogart and Bacall, carrying on with a passion that smolders from the tips of their cigarettes clear through to their souls.

Description

With a secondhand trumpet and the loving guidance of a brilliant bluesman, a lonely boy grows into manhood as a superb musician whose talent carries him from honky-tonks to posh supper clubs. But his desperate search for an elusive high note -- trapped in his mind but impossible to play -- starts him on a boozy downward slide. Charged with dynamic performances by Kirk Douglas (the title role), Doris Day, Lauren Bacall and Hoagy Carmichael, and pitch-perfect direction by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), the film is a feast of hot, cool, moody jazz. Legendary Harry James dubbed Douglas' hornwork. Day brings another fine instrument -- her voice -- to four standards. Movie and music lovers will be glad to meet this Man.