Ballad in Blue (1964)

Director:

Paul Henreid

Writers:

Paul Henreid (story)
Burton Wohl

Release Date:

November 1964 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Ray Charles	...	Himself
Tom Bell	...	Steve Collins
Mary Peach	...	Peggy Harrison
Dawn Addams	...	Gina Graham
Piers Bishop	...	David
Betty McDowall	...	Mrs. Babbidge
Lucy Appleby	...	Margaret
Joe Adams	...	Fred
Robert Lee Ross	...	Duke Wade
Anne Padwick	...	Bus Conductress
Monika Henreid	...	Antonia
Brendan Agnew	...	Antonia's protector
Vernon Hayden	...	Headmaster
Leo McCabe	...	Doctor Leger
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Raelettes	...	Themselves

Directed by
Paul Henreid

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Paul Henreid		story
Burton Wohl

Produced by
Herman Blaser	....	producer
Alexander Salkind	....	executive producer
Michael Salkind	....	executive producer (as Miguel Salkind)

Cinematography by
Robert Huke		(as Bob Huke)

Film Editing by
Raymond Poulton

Art Direction by
Lionel Couch

Makeup Department
Henry Montsash	....	hair stylist (as H. Montsash)
George Partleton	....	hair stylist

Production Management
R.L.M. Davidson	....	production manager
Wilfred Eades	....	production supervisor (as Wilfrid Eades)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stuart Freeman	....	assistant director

Sound Department
John Aldred	....	sound recordist
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound recordist
Jim Shields	....	dubbing editor (as James Shields)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ronnie Taylor	....	camera operator (as Ron Taylor)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jackie Cummins	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
John Lee	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Stanley Black	....	composer: additional music
Ray Charles	....	musical director

Other crew
Eileen Head	....	continuity
Alexander Salkind	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Alsa Productions
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1966) (USA)

Also Known As:

"Blues for Lovers" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

USA:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Alsa Productions

Soundtrack:

Don't Tell Me Your Troubles

A Curio For The Converted

Ray Charles gets top-billing as himself in this Paul Henreid (Casablanca) directed slice of swinging 60s London cheesecake. The film opens with the first of many very staged-looking live song performances - Ray doesn't break sweat throughout - and moves 'seamlessly' into a school classroom for sightless children, where Ray plays call-and-response with the kiddies on "Hit The Road Jack". He strikes up a relationship with a small blind boy, and plans for the child to see a top eye specialist in Paris. Through the boy's smothering mum, Ray meets her gruff, overly-casual musician lover, played by Tom Bell, who accepts an invitation to be the American performer's arranger on a European tour including on the itinerary - you guessed - Paris.

While the movie tackles blindness head-on, and has a certain grim charm where it might have gone for sentimentality, it's still little more than a vehicle for Ray Charles - and staged or not, you can't complain - Ray belts out his hits with gusto. The scene with the blind children recalls Sam Fuller's "Naked Kiss", specifically the way Fuller staged the crippled kids' Bluebird" song, and is almost as weirdly haunting in its way. But the little lad himself delivers his lines so mechanically - Ray Charles is "as blind as a bat", he observes drily, before being admonished by mother - that you can't help laughing out loud at choice moments.

Not only do they not make them like this anymore, they didn't even back then - this was just one that slipped through the net while Ray Charles star was still somewhat in the ascendancy. Quite bizarre.