Blues in the Night (1941)

This is a rarity that deserves a much wider audience. Lots of interesting credits from Anatole Litvak who was nothing if not eclectic shooting stuff as diverse as Mayerling, The Snake Pit, Sorry, Wrong Number, Anastasia and The Deep Blue Sea. Robert Rossen who wrote the screenplay was one of three future directors involved in the project the others being Richard Whorf and Gadg who weighs in with a frenetic acting performance. Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer provided two all-time great standards though neither one, This Time The Dream's On Me and the title song gets a workout worthy of them. The cast is a movie buff's dream with the likes of Howard da Sylva, Betty Field, Lloyd Nolan, Prisscilla Lane and Jack Carson all emoting for local 802. There's a certain melodramatic element which does no harm and tends to move the whole thing to the outskirts of noir. Catch it if you can.

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.

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.

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.