Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) on Netflix
Roger Grant turns from classical violin to ragtime, scandalizing his family and teacher. His band succeeds, and he falls for its singer, Stella Kirby. He resists her move toward a solo career.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.8/102,518 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Roger Grant studies the classical violin, and his family and his teacher, Professor Heinrich, expect him to stay with serious music. Instead he organizes a jazz band, a choice that scandalizes them. The band does well, and its singer, Stella Kirby, becomes the woman he loves. Roger's fear of losing her puts him in the way of the solo career she wants. The story follows the band's music across more than two decades, from ragtime's early popularity to the years when swing won acceptance as an art form, and the war carries that music overseas with American soldiers.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A 1944 federal judge ruled that Berlin and his collaborating writers had plagiarized a 1937 manuscript by Dieckhaus and used many of its elements, but in 1946 the ruling was reversed on appeal because there was no evidence they had ever seen her manuscript.
- The film fictionalized real events from jazz history, including the Original Dixieland Jass Band's tour of Europe, the spread of jazz by U.S. soldiers during World War I, and Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall performance.
- At the time of its release, Alexander's Ragtime Band was 20th Century Fox's highest-grossing film ever, taking $2.63 million in domestic rentals and $3.6 million worldwide.
