Jazzgossen (1958) User Reviews

Stockholm In The Rain

[ptb-8 · 8/10 · 5 June 2008]

This is a fascinating big budget song and dance drama made in Sweden in 1958 almost as if to prove that The Swedish Film Industry could produce a stylish MGM sized musical. Filmed in truly gorgeous Eastman color and with lavish ambition they certainly succeeded. Set in the period 1922-1946 JAZZGOSSEN means Jazz Boy or Mr Jazz... in a nightclub setting/Florenz Zeigfeld sense. Clearly influenced by the iconic 1950s Technicolor MGM biographies like LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and DEEP IN MY HEART and even Columbia's THE JOLSON STORY this beautiful and entertaining drama is made to aspire to the international level of those Hollywood musicals. The scenes from the 1920s nightclub and lavish apartment moments clearly mirror SINGIN IN THE RAIN. The opening image for the title credits are lifted straight from THE TENDER TRAP. Directed by Lasse Ekmann whose career spanned several decades in popular romantic music and dance films, JAZZGOSSEN is a real lost treasure... a genuine find of the highest interest and I urge the Swedish Film Institute to restore and reissue the film for international film festivals on 35mm and follow that with a pristine DVD for everyone to appreciate. I saw JAZZGOSSEN recently on a rare Swedish TV appearance. This 50s period in Swedish Cinema is really remarkable. As an experiment in seeing if they could make a Hollywood level musical JAZZGOSSEN got it right. Next in 1958 they made their 'Hitchcock' thriller also in Eastman color and cinema-scope MANNEQUIN IN RED (a murder mystery set in the haute couture world of Swedish women's fashion....wow!) which was the forerunner to Mario Bava's 1960 horror film BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. What a set of movie titles! Anyway, snazzy JASSGOSSEN is singing out to be loved all over again and I for one champion any attempt to see it before an appreciative audience. The only things anyone could nit-pick in a mostly splendid film is a wish for a couple more big dance numbers .....and an odd moment late in the film with a singing Nazi......! which almost sees it inadvertently in 'Springtime For Hitler' territory. But the GUYS AND DOLLS style showgirl pussycat dance number early in the film is enough to carry you to the very end.