I'm sure that if the brothers Warner had known that Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer would give this film a score that would include This Time The Dream's On Me and the title song Blues In The Night, they would have found a better film for the score to be in. They also would have used some of their A list stars in the production.
Instead this film was attached to a film that was clearly part of their B picture unit. Not that it's bad in fact the music raises it to a level unheard of for B films. It's the story of a jazz combo consisting of Jack Carson, Elia Kazan, Peter Whitney, Billy Halop, girl singer Priscilla Lane and their tempestuous leader Richard Whorf.
As is the usual in real life and films these musicians are barely making a subsistence living until they meet up with Lloyd Nolan, a gangster on the run who puts them into a steady gig at a Jersey roadhouse he's got an interest in. They provide the entertainment and Nolan upstairs runs a gambling operation. His help is Howard DaSilva, Wallace Ford, and Betty Field.
Field is some piece of work, she transitions nicely from her bad girl role in Of Mice and Men to this film. But the girl that got strangled by Lon Chaney, Jr. in that film is Mary Poppins next to the one she plays her. Nolan's on to her, Ford's a faithful stooge, but for Whorf she sends him for quite a tumble.
In fact Blues In The Night becomes something of a prequel for The Lost Weekend. Whorf goes through the same kind of trip Ray Milland went through and the cinematic techniques showing his lost mind are quite similar.
Blues In The Night got an Oscar nomination for Best Song, but lost to The Last Time I Saw Paris which was not written specifically for Lady Be Good the film it appeared in. It was 2 years old and quite the timely hit with the Nazis marching into Paris that year.
If Blues In The Night had been in an A production it might have stood a better chance for an Oscar. I doubt if the Warner Brothers publicity machine went into any kind of gear for this film. Nevertheless the composer of The Last Time I Saw Paris, one Jerome Kern thought Arlen and Mercer should have won that year. He campaigned himself to get the rules to state clearly the song must be an original one written specifically for a film.
It's an average B film, still Blues In The Night has achieved its own immortality through its musical score.
Instead this film was attached to a film that was clearly part of their B picture unit. Not that it's bad in fact the music raises it to a level unheard of for B films. It's the story of a jazz combo consisting of Jack Carson, Elia Kazan, Peter Whitney, Billy Halop, girl singer Priscilla Lane and their tempestuous leader Richard Whorf.
As is the usual in real life and films these musicians are barely making a subsistence living until they meet up with Lloyd Nolan, a gangster on the run who puts them into a steady gig at a Jersey roadhouse he's got an interest in. They provide the entertainment and Nolan upstairs runs a gambling operation. His help is Howard DaSilva, Wallace Ford, and Betty Field.
Field is some piece of work, she transitions nicely from her bad girl role in Of Mice and Men to this film. But the girl that got strangled by Lon Chaney, Jr. in that film is Mary Poppins next to the one she plays her. Nolan's on to her, Ford's a faithful stooge, but for Whorf she sends him for quite a tumble.
In fact Blues In The Night becomes something of a prequel for The Lost Weekend. Whorf goes through the same kind of trip Ray Milland went through and the cinematic techniques showing his lost mind are quite similar.
Blues In The Night got an Oscar nomination for Best Song, but lost to The Last Time I Saw Paris which was not written specifically for Lady Be Good the film it appeared in. It was 2 years old and quite the timely hit with the Nazis marching into Paris that year.
If Blues In The Night had been in an A production it might have stood a better chance for an Oscar. I doubt if the Warner Brothers publicity machine went into any kind of gear for this film. Nevertheless the composer of The Last Time I Saw Paris, one Jerome Kern thought Arlen and Mercer should have won that year. He campaigned himself to get the rules to state clearly the song must be an original one written specifically for a film.
It's an average B film, still Blues In The Night has achieved its own immortality through its musical score.