Blues in the Night (1941) User Reviews

Litvak's little-known musical drama looks forward to film noir

[bmacv · 8/10 · 15 June 2002]

There's much in Anatole Litvak's Blues in the Night which suggests that Martin Scorsese borrowed heavily from it for New York, New York (though Scorsese cites The Man I Love as his chief inspiration). A melodrama set in the jazz world, it explores the volatile relationships and raffish milieu of a troupe of players trying to keep body and soul together without abandoning their musical ideals.

Five rough and ready amateurs form a band in St. Louis and start touring the south – Memphis, New Orleans. Richard Whorf is their leader; trumpeter Jack Carson and canary Priscilla Lane (whose character's name is `Character') are man and wife; and among the rest is the young Elia Kazan. On the road complications ensue: Lane, pregnant, thinks the free-and-easy Carson will take a powder if he knows a kid's coming; riding the rails, they hook up with a lammed-up mobster (Lloyd Nolan). Nolan offers them a gig at his roadhouse (The Jungle) in New Jersey, the spires of Manhattan just across the river. Around him, however, swarms a strange menage: Betty Field, his hard-as-nails ex-squeeze; Howard Da Silva, bartender and jack-of-all-trades; and the excellent Wallace Ford, as a has-been hanger-on. The grasping Field snares Whorf and pries him away from the band; when she tires of him, now piano man in a glitzy novelty band, she gives him the air. He hits the bottle, loses his talent, goes round the bend. But Field's not through with him yet, or, for that matter, with Nolan....

The film is full of surprises. Don Siegel did the clever montages, cutting his teeth, (as it were), and Robert Rossen's script stays fresh and slangy: just when you spot another cliche coming round the mountain, he sneaks in a low-key, well-acted vignette. Litvak modulates the tone expertly, starting out light and insouciant and darkening his palette as the story advances, with heavy foreshadowings of film noir. It's a significant milestone in the formation of the noir cycle, and why it isn't better known remains one of cinema's mysteries: Blues in the Night is an involving, inventive musical drama.

Film Noir meets Jazz

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 12 November 2009]

This is a very offbeat kind of film that is not well known. You'll either really love it - I do - or you'll not care for it at all. Anatole Litvak, who directed so many womens' pictures, directs this odd little film that starts out as a kind of "small town band does good" picture, takes a turn into gangster territory, and then gets really dark with a venture into film noir and mental illness. Nobody in this film was a big name at the time, and I get the feeling it was one of those films that Warner's liked to grind out like sausages in the 30's and 40's that just happened to turn out to be rather special. Great performances are turned in from everyone involved, which includes Priscilla Lane as a good girl with depth, Lloyd Nolan as a gangster with a touch of the entrepreneurial and even a bit of a mentor, Jack Carson as a heel with a large bag of excuses for his behavior, Betty Field as the gangster's moll who aspires to be a singer and also ruins men as a hobby, and Richard Whorf as the musician and bandleader who falls for the moll and also into temporary insanity. Also note that future great director Elia Kazan shows up playing a small part as one of the bandmembers.

Released just three weeks before the beginning of World War II, it provides a snapshot of how the Depression and the era of the gangster were receding into memory just as an age of optimism was beginning that would go on hiatus during the war effort, and restart and peak after the war was over. Great atmosphere and great acting - highly recommended.

Blues in the Night *** Well Paced, Fast Action

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 15 November 2007]

Interesting film by director Anatole Litvak creating film-noir with a musical.

Two future excellent directors, Richard Whorf, who bore a strong resemblance to Robert Taylor, and Elia Kazan star. Kazan was also in Litvak's 1940 film "City for Conquest."

The picture has an excellent cast. A group of musicians led by Jigger (Whorf) meet up with gangster Lloyd Nolan while hitching a ride on a train. Nolan likes them when they don't turn him in despite the fact that he holds them up for $5.00!

He brings them to a Road House where the group perform. We have some great musical settings here and the various montage depiction is excellent.

The film is extremely well paced. There is never a dull moment. He moves beautifully from film noir to musical and back to film noir again.

In addition, there is a terrific performance by Bette Field as a Road House girl in love with Nolan, who spurns her. Whorf is hopelessly in love with her and her rejection of him leads to his mental breakdown. How ironic that 16 years after this film, Nolan and Field both appeared in the 1957 film "Peyton Place" but had no scenes together. Field is both catty and quite vicious in this film. It's her viciousness that shall prove to be her undoing.

Jack Carson toots his horn and is wed in the film to Priscilla Lane. One major flaw of the film is their lack of emotional outburst when it is revealed that their baby boy has died.

Feverish mix of melodrama and music: A worthy effort . . .

[jwbaker · 9 September 2000]

This fast-moving film is not at all typical of most musicals of the period. Jazz musicians, gangsters, stool pigeons, and canaries populate Anatole Litvak's interesting -- and little seen -- story of a pianist who tragically attempts to transform an off-key singer (Betty Field, over-the-top and enjoyable as all get-out) to replace the pregnant vocalist (Priscilla Lane). All of the performances are interesting (Lloyd Nolan, especially), and the face-off between Lane and Field is worth a look. Highly recommended -- if you can find it.

Little Bit Of This, Little Bit Of That......

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 19 August 2008]

This movie was a bit unusual because it starts off strictly like a musical the first 20 minutes. It had me puzzled; I didn't think I had rented a musical. Well, it wasn't, as it turned out, even though music was a central element in the story. The rest of the film was a combination of drama, film noir and melodrama. At least that's the way I saw it and, yeah, I was glad to see IMDb confirm my description when I got to the title page here to post the review.

The only time the movie bogged down was when it became a little too melodramatic in a few spots. Betty Field ("Kay" )was usually in those scenes, playing a woman with a chip on her shoulder. As I watched her, I thought, "Wow, this woman is tailor-made for film noirs. She could have been another Marie Windsor." Sadly, she wasn't, but she was in a good number of movie and television shows. Still, I think noir would have been the best vehicle for her.

Priscilla Lane plays the female opposite: the wholesome-looking good gal ("Character") who just wants the band to click and for everybody to be happy. Heck, that's what the band in general wants, but "Jigger" is the guy who keeps putting a monkey-wrench into the deal and seems to be the band member whom everyone looks to for leadership.

Richard Worf plays "Jigger," and he's so-so as an actor. The fact he never made it big is understandable. There's a smoothness to his delivery that's missing. His changed his career from acting to directing in 1945 and did better at that. Obviously the same can be said for another member of the band in this story: "Nickie," played by Elia Kazan, who classic film fans know as a very famous director.

When all is said-and-done, actors Lane and Lloyd Nolan ("Del") seemed to be the most "real" in this film, and those two were the ones who had the best careers of this cast, particularly Nolan. Jack Carson and Howard da Silva are also in this movie and they're "known" actors, too.

My favorite part of the movie was a very short scene with about 15 minutes left with "Jigger" was in the hospital and he was hallucinating. The innovative camera-work was terrific, right out of Dali painting. Kudos to director Anatole Litvak for some good closeup shots and interesting camera angles and use of light, in that scene and others in the film. This movie is very well photographed. Ernie Haller was the cinematographer. Haller's resume includes some very famous films.

The odd mix of genres makes this intriguing movie I'm glad I checked out, and I recommended to fellow classic film fans.

Booze in the Noir

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 17 September 2013]

That could be the drunken malapropism for the seemingly sadomasochistic character played by Betty Field, tested here for the equally crazy role of Cassie in "King's Row", and one of the most unforgettable psychotic femme fatals prior to Ann Savage in "Detour". Once you see her overly teased hair, melodramatic acting, and every bit of evil within her, you'll never forget her. Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity", Jane Greer in "Out of the Past" and Lizabeth Scott in "Dead Reckoning" owe everything to this performance, because once they saw it, they probably agreed that to tone down the insinuations of psychosis in their characters which was the best way to play it because Field is entirely over the top.

Of course, the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer song will attract your attention from the moment a black group of jail inmates begins to sing it and band member Richard Whorf decides to take it on as his theme. This is film noir right at the very beginning of the genre, not an early experiment like "I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" or accidental noir like "Fury" and "You Only Live Once", but one of the first in a series of dark films that took to the sleazy side of life. This is about a blues group that travel by box car, are held up on a train, and end up friendly with their friendly neighbor thief (Lloyd Nolan) who sends them to his shanty honky-tonk run by the hard as nails Howard da Silva where they meet the unforgettable Field. There's also the battle trumpet player Jack Carson and his wife Priscilla Lane as well as other assorted dark characters. Mabel Todd (of "Hollywood Hotel" and "Varsity Show") has a musical specialty here that is zany and unforgettable.

Beyond the music here (one of the few actual musical noirs made), this is a story of how ambition can destroy and how desperate it can make those down on their luck determined to make the big time. The same year's more light-hearted "Birth of the Blues" can't even be compared to this. The violent ending is one of the most brutal post-code finales in film history.

Full of clichés, but still fun.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 February 2010]

This film stars mostly second and third-tier actors from Warner Brothers. Familiar actors like Jack Carson, Priscilla Lane, Lloyd Nolan and Wallace Ford are here, but there is also a starring role by the relatively unknown Richard Whorf as well as a supporting role by Elia Kazan--before he made a REAL name for himself as a director. And while none of these folks are huge stars, they do a fine job and the film has the usual high quality and polish you'd expect from the studio.

This film is sort of like a fairy tale about a group of musicians who love Blues, though it's NOT exactly the same style you'd find in Black America--it's more like a big-band/Hollywood idea of the Blues! It's filled with various clichés (such as the BAD girl who might break up the band) but because it's made so well and the music quite enjoyable, it's still worth seeing. Just be sure you aren't looking for THE Blues! Not great but for old movie fans (like myself), it's worth seeing.

Fast Moving Film

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 15 November 2007]

This film took me by surprise because it is a musical black and white film with fast movement of the camera and goes from Jazz and Blues music smack into a drama and murder. The film starts out with a piano player named Jugger, (Richard Whorf) who wants to organize a band and he has as his female singer, Ginger Powell, (Priscilla Lane) and her husband, Leo Powell, (Jack Carson) his trumpet player. Kay Grant, (Betty Field) plays the role of a gal who meets men and leaves them as quick as she meets them. Del Davis, (Lloyd Nolan) is an escaped convict who runs into this jazz band in a box car and decides to hold them up for all their money. There are many old time actors in this film and it really is a gem of a 1941 Classic. You could also call this film, riding the railroad through out the United States.

Almost perfect drama

[preppy-3 · 9/10 · 13 October 2003]

A band lead by Jigger (Richard Whorf) has trouble landing a job. They get involved with gangster Dell (Lloyd Nolan) who gives them a job at his club. His jealous girlfriend Kay (Betty Field) sets out to destroy the band. Will she?

I'm only giving this a 9 because of the overly familiar story. That aside this is incredible. Nobody in the cast was a name at the time, but they're all very good actors. Field has a fun time in her bad girl role. Nolan is just great as Dell. Whorf is OK as Jigger. Also in the cast (and band) is Jack Carson, future director Elia Kazan and Priscilla Lane (who does wonders with the thankless 'good girl' role). The film is beautifully directed in gorgeous black and white by Anatole Litvak--he makes good use of his low budget and has some very nice sequences using light and shadows. Also there are a few truly bizarre (but fun) montages--they're unlike ANYTHING you'll see in a 1940s film. Also there's some really great music in here.

So...great music, good acting, beautiful photography...and just an OK story.

Still, well worth seeing.

Strange thing about this film--everybody seems to know about it, but it's almost never shown! Try catching it on TCM--their print isn't that great (the image kept shaking) but it's still worth seeing.

Band On The Run

[Lejink · 7/10 · 29 April 2021]

A real mish-mash of a movie which within its sub-90 minute running time contains enough characters and plot-lines to carry at least three films.

It starts off straightforwardly enough as talented pianist Richard Whorf's Jigger character puts together with his mates a hot swinging band who promptly hit the road looking for a break. Included in their ranks are Priscilla Lane as their vivacious girl-singer, her errant husband, trumpeter Jack Carson and mile-a-minute clarinettist Elia Kazan.

So it rolls along for the first third like a good-time, grown-up Rooney and Garland feature until, that is, the band crosses paths with escaped gangster Lloyd Nolan, who after initially repaying their collective kindness by robbing them of the little money they have, later relents and promises them a gig at his old haunt, where he reunites with his old flame Betty Field, shifty accomplice Sam and sad-sack drunken barman Brad, none of whom were expecting or are exactly appreciative of his return.

After Field tries and fails to lure Nolan back she eventually settles on Whorf and entices him away with her to the big city where he gets a job in a chintzy, fancy-dan band, all dress-suits and shiny shoes but who play the most appalling music, indeed I still can't decide whether the band's featured number "Sez You, Sez Me" is deliberately awful just to highlight how low Jigger has sunk, but believe me, it's about the worst musical number I've ever heard in a vintage Hollywood feature.

Anyway, there are a number of unlikely twists and turns from there till the end, taking in murder, domestic tragedy, a fist-fight and an automobile smash before the film leaves you breathlessly back where it started as if nothing had happened in between.

Director Anatole Litvak just about prevents the whole thing from going off the rails pretty much by just ploughing on regardless. Don Siegel contributes the innovative montage sequences, a typical Litvak trait, although he does overdo them a little this time. You also have to excuse or at least accept some un-P. C. treatment of a partially disabled character but overall, despite having more crossing-points than the New York metro, I was won over in the end by the movie's energy and drive.

I liked Whorf, an actor I've not come across before, who comes over like a cross between Dick Powell and Alan Ladd, which is exactly what his part demands, Lane brings her customary brightness and can hold a tune too while Field makes a good impression as the gangster's moll / femme fatale of the piece.

Best known today for containing the Oscar-nominated title song written by Harold Arlen - Johnny Mercer (and that one comic-clinker number apart, the music is excellent throughout) this curate's egg of a musical/gangster/noir movie is worth delving into.

Strange blues

[ryancm · 3/10 · 16 September 2008]

This film could have been a lot better than it is. A strange melodrama where everyone gets their "due". In the old days, everyone pays for their sins and crimes. Part film noir, part musical, part thriller...doesn't really know what it wants to be. The main title BLUES IN THE NIGHT is not heard straight through even once, as noted in Maltin's book. Richard Whorf reminded me of Jerry Orbach, but not as talented. Jack Carson played Jack Carson. His performances never varied. Elia Kazan is fine as the one of the boys in the band. One writer noted that Betty Field and Lloyd Nolan were both in PEYTON PLACE years after this, but they had no scenes together. Wrong. They had a short scene outside Nolan's Hospital office. Field does just fine as the tart. Quite a contrast to her roles in PEYTON PLACE and especially PICNIC. Some interesting scenes and special effect montages, but really quite a dreary film filled with contrivances and plot holes. Looks like a lot was left "on the cutting room floor". Also the time element is confusing as is why these band players making money all live in a barn together in a barn yet. Like I said before, a strange film.

A neglected near-masterpiece

[luannjim · 9/10 · 9 October 2005]

Everybody's heard of this movie because of the famous title song, but almost nobody's ever seen it. It defies genre classification -- both a musical drama and a sort of missing link between the Warners gangster movies of the 1930s (mugs, molls, and rat-a-tat dialogue) and 1940s film noir (femme fatale, dark shadows, smoky atmosphere, seamy underside of life). It's a genuine one-of-a-kind movie that deserves to be much better remembered than it is.

However, one commenter here needs to refresh his memory; BLUES IN THE NIGHT has nothing whatever to do with the career of Jimmy Lunceford or any other famous musician of the period. It's about a small jazz combo, not a big band, and they begin and end the movie as obscure journeymen living from hand to mouth between gigs.

interesting Anatole Litvak noir

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 6 August 2020]

"Blues in the Night" from 1941 is an intense noir directed by Anatole Litvak. The stars are Richard Whorf, Lloyd Nolan, Howard da Silva, Priscilla Lane, Betty Field, Jack Carson, Elia Kazan, and Wallace Ford.

"Jigger' Lane (Whorf), an excellent pianist, puts a band together consisting of Leo (Carson) who plays the trumpet, his wife "Character" (Lane), a singer, and two other musicians, Nickie, and Peppi. These are all musicians dedicated to performing the real New Orleans blues.

They travel by sneaking into boxcars. On one of their trips they meet Del Davis, (Nolan) a gangster. Del has a job for him in New Jersey at a club he owns.

That's where the trouble begins. Powell falls for a good-time girl, Kay Grant (Field), though he drops her when he finds out Character is pregnant.

"Jigger" decides to make Kay the replacement singer since Character is told she can't work. They wind up taking off together. By the time the rest of the band locates him, Jigger's in rough shape and has to enter a mental hospital.

"Blues in the Night" is a turgid drama with a highly dramatic ending. The performances are all good. Field pulls out all the stops as Kay, and Lloyd Nolan is an effective tough guy. Howard da Silva and Wallace Ford are on hand giving sympathetic performances.

The brilliant director and controversial figure Elia Kazan only has seven acting credits listed. Here he's an enthusiastic band member .

The music, with the exception of an awful number at a club where Jigger plays the piano, is fantastic, with some great trumpet playing, though the musician is uncredited.

The song "The Man That Got Away" was written for this film. Harold Arlen didn't like the Johnny Mercer lyrics; some time later, he gave the song to Ira Gershwin to add the lyrics.

"My mama done tol' me..." Arlen and Mercer hit a home run, but the movie just barely gets around second base

[Terrell-4 · 5/10 · 27 August 2008]

It's hard to decide which is the most awkward part of this slightly noirish movie...the beginning, the middle or the end. The beginning features five white musicians and a girl singer who decide to form a special kind of band, led by the impassioned piano player. "It's gotta be our kind of music, our kind of band...the blues, the real blues...the kind that comes out of people, real people...their hopes and their dreams...." The middle features these six riding a box car, becoming entangled with a rough gangster who befriends them, a tough- as-nails femme fatale who does not, and a roadhouse success in New Jersey. The end features a nervous breakdown, a dead baby, a shooting, a car ride to death and another box car. You know, the usual blues stuff. Along the way there is some impassioned dialogue.

What Blues in the Night has going for it are songs by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, including one great song, "This Time the Dreams on Me" and one they knocked out of the ball park, perhaps the best popular blues song ever written, "Blues in the Night." The movie also features another first-rate performance by Lloyd Nolan as the gangster. I wonder if any other actor appeared in so many flawed A movies or just plain B moves but who invariably gave believable, notable performances. There are several musical numbers that stand out. We also have the chance to see Betty Field, a first-rate actress who wasn't as successful in Hollywood as she was on Broadway. She plays the femme fatale, complete with bad grammar and the kind of sexy selfishness that can lead a man to bed at night and leave him alone with an empty wallet the next morning. She's brittle and hard here, but her strong suit as an actress, I think, was the fragile vulnerability and warmth she could project. After her role in this movie, the next year she played the doomed Cassie in Kings Row, two performances as different as a prostitute's embrace is from a tremulous first kiss. The movie also has the curiosity value of featuring Elia Kazan in his last acting role. He plays the band's hyperactive young clarinetist whose mother wants him to be a lawyer. Kazan and the film's screenwriter, Robert Rossen, both were hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Hollywood witch-hunts. Both named lots of names. While those they named saw their careers crushed, Kazan and Rossen prospered. Would I have done it differently? I don't know. What little reason there is to remember this movie, however, is the great Arlen/Mercer song:

My mama done tol' me, when I was in knee-pants,

My mama done tol' me, "Son, a woman'll sweet talk

And give you the big eye, but when the sweet talking's done,

A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night."

Anyone who doesn't believe Mercer's words are true American poetry...well, you should also throw out the works of William Carlos Williams. For Mercer fans, you might be interested in the CD An Evening With Johnny Mercer. Before an audience (which included Harold Arlen) he explains a bit about his writing, takes us through his career and breezes through a number of his songs. It was recorded in 1971, five years before he died. The drawback is that it runs less than an hour. For Mercer fans, it's essential. Mercer usually was his own best interpreter, but Bobby Troupe does a nice job with Bobby Troupe Sings Johnny Mercer. Troupe swings it and keeps it intimate. There's none of the over-orchestrating and lushness that some otherwise great singers brought to Mercer's songs. The CD is hard to find. Easier to locate is The Songs of Johnny Mercer sung by Susannah McCorkle, a fine, low-key stylist.

If I've given the impression you should forget this movie and instead spend more time listening to Johnny Mercer...you'd be right.

"A Woman's A Two Faced, A Worrisome Thing That'll Leave You Sing"

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 15 February 2010]

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.

Little Big Band

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 31 October 2010]

Jazz pianist Richard Whorf (as "Jigger" Pine) puts together a swinging 1940s band, with handsome young Billy Halop (as Peppi) on drums, law student Elia Kazan (as Nickie) playing clarinet, and cell-mate Peter Whitney (as Pete) handling the bass fiddle. In New Orleans, the quintet adds trumpeter Jack Carson (as Leo) and his pretty girl singer wife Priscilla Lane (as "Character"). The band is a hit, as managed by enterprising Lloyd Nolan (as Del Davis). But, trouble reigns as Mr. Nolan supplements nightclub success with a gambling racket, and involves sexy femme fatale Betty Field (as Kay Grant) with the group.

This adaptation of the jazzy play "Hot Nocturne" is astonishing in a couple of ways. The film's use of music is exceptional. The original soundtrack songs, by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, are excellent. Sung beautifully in the jail scene by William Gillespie, the title song was a huge "Academy Award"-nominated hit, with Woody Herman's double-sided Decca record "Blues in the Night" (#1) b/w "This Time the Dream's on Me" (#8) outdistancing an unstoppable parade of hit versions.

Dinah Shore, apparently parodied herein, had a million-seller with her "Blues in the Night". Also noteworthy is the film's marvelous use of film montage; there are several striking sequences, put together (presumably) by editor Owen Marks, photographer Ernie Haller, and director Anatole Litvak. You'll know them when you see them. However, the two future directors in the cast (Whorf and Kazan) don't always come across very well, and Mr. Litvak doesn't really get the performances possible from several in the cast. While other characterizations are curiously lacking, Nolan and Ms. Field make the most of their parts.

******* Blues in the Night (11/15/41) Anatole Litvak ~ Richard Whorf, Betty Field, Priscilla Lane, Lloyd Nolan

Skip the Last Half

[dougdoepke · 11 March 2008]

Great first twenty minutes: the hip dialogue, the jazzy atmosphere, the lively camera action, and especially the jailhouse scene where white men's ambitions meet up with black men's soul. I thought this would be something special, but the last half blows it. I'm guessing scripter Robert Rossen didn't know where to go with his novel characters and noirish ambiance. So he ends up with a melodramatic love affair that's neither believable nor well-acted.

Ahh, but that first part. It's sort of like the 1930's meeting up with the 40's-- the jive band jumping aboard a freight train like any other footloose hobo. But they don't care; they're making cutting-edge music and it's a special bond. Halop and Kazan make great hipsters, as does Carson's shifty-eyed trumpeter. Whorf hasn't much range, but as a dreamy-eyed composer, he's perfect. Notice how up-tempo are the dialogue delivery and camera moves-- it's a super-charged atmosphere even as the the night hangs heavy over their vibrant little spark.

Things go downhill once they hook up with The Jungle and Betty Field. The roadhouse is okay and a good fringes-of-the-law place for them to perform. But Field has all the seductive charm of fingernails across a blackboard, while having Whorf fall for her is totally out of character. Maybe if she had seduced him first, his obsession would make sense. But the way it's handled, his plight is little more than a poorly done contrivance.

Maybe the plot jumps overboard, but the visuals remain fascinating They're exotic and artistically composed. And those surreal montages show real flair, especially Whorf's delirious fantasies. All in all, the movie's a genuine oddity, something like a noirish musical. But the only number played to completion is that novelty tune with the buck-toothed singer. So calling it a musical is a stretch. Actually, it's an animal without a pedigree. Nonetheless, there's a really compelling image that stays with me-- the band making with the blues in a boxcar as the train rolls on through the night, going who knows where. Now, there's a final note to ponder.

adventures of a traveling jazz band

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 9 December 2021]

Bad timing... the official release date was november 15, 1941. Three weeks before pearl harbor. And a wider release december 11 1941. If anyone was still going to the movie house, a week after pearl harbor, and the us entry to world war II. The story of jigger pine (richard whorf) and the band he puts together. Adventures along the way, some good, some bad when they get hired on to play at a gangster's roadhouse. On the plus side, it does feature two bigtime bands, jimmy lunceford and will osborne. And one of my favorites, jack carson. Film was nominated for best music. The story is pretty unlikely, but izzallgood. Directed by anatole litvak. Twice nominated. Also directed sorry wrong number, decision before dawn, and some other biggies. On a sad note, about half the cast died in their forties or fifties... bill halop, betty field, jack carson, jimmie lunceford.

a lot

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 7 September 2022]

Jazz pianist Jigger Pine and other musicians get thrown in jail after a nightclub fight. Peppi desperately wants him to start their own band. Jigger has his jazz group dreams. They recruit hustler trumpeter Leo Powell and his singer wife Ginger 'Character' Powell. They form a five piece jazz band. While riding the rails, they get robbed by hobo Del Davis. Del takes a liking to the group and offers them a place to stay. Then there is femme fatale Kay Grant.

It starts as a musical with some social commentary about black culture. Then it turns into a crime noir and finally it becomes a romance melodrama. This movie is a lot. It's got a lot of pulpy melodrama. I do love the ending where they're riding off into the sunset.

jazz at The Jungle

[RanchoTuVu · 9/10 · 18 February 2010]

A jazz/blues band forms out of St. Louis after the members spend a night together in jail. An interesting travelogue by boxcar ensues as they move through the southern half of the US, the progress seen on a map with the names of a lot of small towns and medium sized cities rather than through their individual gigs. While back in the boxcar again, they meet up with a fugitive who takes a liking to them and gets them a job in New Jersey with the New York skyline beckoning in the distance, in a road house known as The Jungle. The story gets quite interesting. This is not a musical, though it has a lot of music in it. Things really start going over the top with the arrival of Betty Field as Kitty, fugitive Lloyd Nolan's ex-girlfriend, a tough exterior over a brittle interior. With Nolan is Howard DaSilva as his assistant who helps run the place and has plans for Kitty if only he can pull off a major double cross. The band, led by future director Richard Whorf and featuring clarinetist (and future director Elia Kazan) is fairly interesting, though the characters are not that believable. But once they start their extended stay at The Jungle, with DaSilve, Nolan, Field, and Wallace Ford as Brad (another lost soul), it becomes totally unique.

Talky And Plot Bound

[Lechuguilla · 3/10 · 6 July 2009]

The final minute is what I would have expected from the entire film: dark, slow, some blues music, and moody. Regrettably, that last minute is an aberration in a script wherein the intended blues theme is overwhelmed by way too much dialogue. And the story lacks focus.

A troupe of blues musicians never quite gets around to playing much blues music. Instead, lots of contrived situations keep the film plot bound, with assorted conflicts swirling around the various characters. Jigger Pine (Richard Whorf) is a piano player and the troupe leader, with lots of problems. But as soon as the angry, brittle Kay (Betty Field) appears, about a third of the way through the film, the story's emphasis seems to switch to her. Kay is nothing if not embittered, and she hisses her way through the remainder of the film, as she crosses paths with Jigger.

All that angry talk drains away a blues atmosphere, which could have made the film sultry and moody.

Casting and acting are acceptable. But characters talk ninety miles an hour. It's as if the director is timing actors' lines of dialogue with a stopwatch. The music is generally disappointing. One of the production numbers in the second half, "Says Who? Says You, Says I" is just awful.

The B&W cinematography is okay, but there are too many dissolves. And a montage that details a psychiatric problem is so visually juvenile that it looks like something from a high school drama class experiment.

Production design is drab, bleak, and cheap looking. But at least it gives what is probably a fairly accurate representation of film sets used during the Great Depression.

Overall, "Blues In The Night" is disappointing, mostly because of a script that is too talky and so rigidly plot bound that the intended musical blues theme gets smothered.

'T ain't What You Do, it's The Way ThatYou Do It

[hcaraso · 9/10 · 24 April 2010]

The above tune, one of Jimmie Lunceford's first, has nothing to do with BLUES IN THE NIGHT, but I think it fits perfectly the film. I am a jazz and movie buff, and maybe the first whom managed to write an essay on both, in 1957. My preference was that Michael Curtiz's YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN was the best example of how to make a film about jazz.Recently, I grasped a conversation between two French critics on TV, describing Anatole Litvak's 1941 film as the one who shows how these typical American arts may cooperate. I also discovered David Meeker's JAZZ IN THE MOVIES, listing more than 2000 titles. Then I ordered BLUES IN THE NIGHT from Amazon, and I received a real gem. The previous 19 comments were fully positive, and Jimmie Lunceford appeared almost immediately with Jack Carson blowing a trumpet with his band. Followed a very good combination of film noir and swing. T'AIN'T WHAT...etc., is EXACTLY what I feel about the job done by the Warner Brothers, Tolya Litvak, Betty Field, Lloyd Nolan and all the film celebrities who made long and fruitful careers after WWII. The only thing I wish to stress is that the Amazon DVD contains also the actual trailer of the movie and last but not least, a full rendition of the famous JAMMIN'THE BLUES, certainly the best jazz movie of all times. Now that you have read my divagations, hurry up and grab a copy of BLUES IN THE NIGHT, while they last.harry carasso, Paris

Good music, unmemorable story line

[longrush · 3/10 · 17 November 2007]

The blues and swing music are quite good, what there was of it. Unfortunately the music keeps getting interrupted by the sort of sappy story that Hollywood usually attached to films that were billed as musicals.

Down and out musicians, riding the rails like hobos, decide to form a band at Depression's end, but they keep getting involved with gangsters, stupid club owners and a woman of very questionable morals who would break up their happy family. There's a good girl, of course, a blond singer who belongs to a philandering trumpet player. Oh, what's the use--no one would watch this for the story or to see Jack Carson or Lloyd Nolan or the rest of them.

If only there had been more of the music and less of what some might call "drama," and what I would call fast talking, poor acting treacle.

The Film Noir Musical

[tbear_43 · 8/10 · 15 November 2007]

What an interesting idea: a film noir musical. While some of the acting was a bit over the top by today's standards, this film is a masterpiece of classic noir with great music, as well. The story line is formulaic, but weren't most of the in those days? I loved the song Bacall sang in THE BIG SLEEP, but BLUES IN THE NIGHT makes brings the music to the forefront, giving the viewer/listener a fuller experience.

What a femme fatale Kay is, and she leaves us with no doubt about it: out for herself, jealous, envious, self pitying, willing to sacrifice anything for what she wants, but once she gets it, goes about making it as miserable as possible. Even her death at the hands of a man she scorns as unworthy in every way is poetic justice.

I'm glad TCM is running BLUES IN THE NIGHT a bit more. I'm ready to see it again tight away!

Good Movie, not shown enough.

[robertc39 · 27 September 2004]

Saw this movie many years ago. Enjoyed it then and would probably enjoy it now. What strikes me as strange is that this movie is a bio of the Jimmy Lunceford band, which was one of the great bands of the 30's and 40's, which was black however in the movie all band members are portrayed as white. The movie was probably made at a major studio at the time and did not want to take a chance on making an all black movie and possibly losing money. There were a number of black actors available at the time that could have made the picture. Look at Stormy Weather, Cabin in the sky etc.

Anyone have any thoughts? Guess the world had a lot of prejudice at the time.