Blues in the Night (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Blues in the night |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1941 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Anatole Litvak |
| script | Robert Rossen |
| production | Hal B. Wallis for Warner Bros. Pictures |
| music | Heinz Roemheld |
| camera | Ernest Haller |
| cut | Owen Marks |
| occupation | |
| |
Blues in the Night is a 1941 American musical film directed by Anatole Litvak . The script, written by Robert Rossen , is based on Edwin Gilbert's Hot Nocturne . The leading roles are starring Priscilla Lane , Betty Field , Richard Whorf , Lloyd Nolan and Jack Carson . Members of a traveling blues band try to prevent their boyfriend from drinking themselves to death.
action
When jazz pianist Jigger Pine meets up-and-coming clarinetist Nickie Horoyen in a bar in St. Louis , he is able to convince him to put together a blues band that includes drummer Peppi, trumpeter Leo Powell and bassist Pete Bassett belong. The musicians want to indulge their great passion and interpret blues and jazz . Leo's wife Character is involved as a singer. Pine and Horoyen were inspired to this idea after they briefly ended up in prison for a fight, where a prisoner sang a blues song in an impressive way. The group quickly became known and traveled the entire south of the USA by train, always playing in new places.
When Character becomes pregnant during the tour, she is afraid to tell her husband about it as she fears he will leave her. A man named Del Davis, who joins the musicians and travels in the same train car, steals from the band, but is so impressed by their solidarity that he offers them a job at his rest stop "The Jungle" in New Jersey . There the musicians meet Davis' former accomplices, Sam Paryas and Kay Grant, an aspiring singer, and the physically disabled Sam Paryas. It turns out that Del escaped from prison to collect his share in a robbery committed together. However, he learns from Kay that the money has since been spent. So Del came up with the idea of turning the rest house into a place for illegal gambling, even though business was doing very well, mainly thanks to the performances of the jazz band. Kay would like to revive her past relationship with Del, but is rejected by him. So she turns her attention to the married Leo Powell, hoping to make Davis jealous. Jigger is concerned about this as he fears that the band could split up and split up. However, the young woman ignores his request to Kay to stop her behavior. But when Leo learns from Jigger that he is going to be a father, he only has eyes for his wife, whom he lovingly takes care of.
Kay is now trying to hook up with Jigger, who has to use all his will to resist the charming woman he is secretly in love with. When the attending doctor advises Character to stop her vocal performances for the time being, Jigger offers Kay her place. Although the band members protest, Jigger works hard with Kay to improve her vocal performance. Finally he can't help it and tells Kay that he fell in love with her. Brad Ames, a former guitarist, overhears the conversation and advises Jigger to stay away from Kay, adding that his love for Kay is to blame for his being paralyzed by an accident.
However, Kay continues to try to win Davis back by revealing Sam's alleged plan to betray Davis to the police, whereupon he kills Sam. As the band continues to oppose Kay, Jigger takes a job as a pianist in a more traditional band with Kay. Kay has little understanding for his longing to want to return to his quintet and laughs at him. She also lets him know that she only loves Davis anyway.
Jigger is deeply hit and surrenders to the alcohol, resulting in a nervous breakdown. In this state he is finally found by his friends, who take him back to the rest stop and nurse him back to health. In the meantime, Kay Davis asks to take it back, but he firmly refuses. Kay is more than just annoyed, a gun comes into play. Jigger arrives and says he has to defend Kay. In the fight that now follows, Kay gets hold of the gun and kills Del. Jigger wants to stay with Kay and go out with her, but his friends are totally against it and argue that the stress of recent times has also caused Character to lose her baby. Behind this is the deep concern that Jigger could ruin his life with a woman like Kay at his side. Brad is then the one who brings about a decision, he drives the car in which he is sitting with Kay over a cliff, both of which are killed. Together, the band goes out on the streets again, where they can play their beloved blues music.
production
Production notes
The film was shot from mid-June to the end of July 1941. The film owes its title to the main musical number Blues in the Night , a song that was very popular at the time. His working title was still Hot Nocturne .
background
Among the films that Warner Bros. released in 1941, Blues in the Night was something of an anomaly. The story of some gifted traveling jazz musicians and their Priscilla Lane-embodied singer, all searching, serves the same several film genres, including that of musicals. The Harold Arlen Johnny Mercer score includes This Time the Dream's On Me and the haunting theme song, plus Jimmie Lunceford and his band appear in a film sequence. The plot corresponds to a drama at the same time. The band members with their different temperaments up to that of the manic-depressive band leader embodied by Jack Carson, who forms a clear antithesis to the clarinetist embodied by Elia Kazan, collide with each other again and again during their tours. However, the film also contains elements of film noir : an escaped convict joins the band, whereby his relationship with the femme fatale Kay Grant, portrayed by Betty Field, both fascinates and repels the group and ultimately paves the way for a tragic climax. It is also noteworthy that Blues in the Night has two future important directors: Elia Kazan as clarinet player Nickie, who later directed films such as Endstation Sehnsucht (1951) and Beyond Eden (1955) and Richard Whorf, who plays the role of jigger, who focused more on light entertainment films such as the music film Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) or the comedy Champagne for Caesar (1950).
For Kazan, Blues in the Night was his last film as an actor. He had previously starred in a James Cagney drama Im Taumel der Weltstadt (1940), also directed by Anatole Litvak, and although he had received good reviews, he had begun to reorient himself, viewing his role in Blues in the Night as a money-making opportunity earn, in order then to go the path that he felt was right for himself. He was also of the opinion that Litvak was not a good director and that the film would have got better under his direction. Kazan's judgment of the film was accordingly negative, but was not shared by large sections of the critics, who praised the film as a consistently fascinating melodrama with schizophrenic personalities, its mysterious combination of soap opera and musical numbers, peppered with occasionally sharp dialogues by the scriptwriter Robert Rossen and atmospheric black and white images of the great Ernest Haller (Oscar winner for his work in Gone With the Wind , 1939) fascinate. The memorable Oscar- nominated theme song also contributed to this opinion , which was so successful that the title of the film was changed from Hot Nocturne to Blues in the Night shortly before its theatrical release .
Originally, James Cagney was slated for the role of Del Davis. In noirish puts it, it was a blessing that the role got any reason Nolan, because it would have changed the whole dynamic of the film when Cagney would have played the role. At TCM it was said that originally Dennis Morgan was traded as Cagey's successor. Richard Whorf, however, replaced the original John Garfield .
Film music
The title song is sung in the film by an unnamed black prisoner (William Gillespie) together with three of his cellmates, who are also black (Ernest Whitman, Napoleon Simpson, Dudley Dickerson) and accompanied a cappella . For Gillespie, who believed he could use his film appearance as a stepping stone for his career, the film was a disappointment because his name was only mentioned in the credits and it was so difficult to find out who the great singer of the theme song was. Woody Herman was the first to cover the song and thus landed a hit, Gillespie's version was not represented in the hit lists.
The following titles can be heard in the film:
-
Blues in the Night , music: Harold Arlen , text: Johnny Mercer
- sung by William Gillespie in prison, sung by blacks in a montage, played by Stan Wrightsman for Richard Whorf on piano and as background music
-
I Got Rhythm , music: George Gershwin , text: Ira Gershwin
- played in the "St. Louis Café "
-
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles , music: John W. Kellette, text: Nat Vincent, James Kendis and James Brockman
- sung A Cappella by Matt McHugh
-
Hang on to Your Lids, Kids , music: Harold Arlen, text: Johnny Mercer
- played by the band and sung by Priscilla Lane in the "Jungle Club"
-
This Time the Dream's on Me , music: Harold Arlen, text: Johnny Mercer
- played by the band and sung by Priscilla Lane, repeated by Betty Field, played towards the end
-
Wait Till it Happens to You , music: Harold Arlen, text: Johnny Mercer
- played on the piano by Wallace Ford, sung by Betty Field
-
In Waikiki , music: Arthur Schwartz, text: Johnny Mercer
- sung a cappella by Jack Carson, Peter Whitney and Elia Kazan
- Says Who? Says You, Says I, music: Harold Arlen, text: Johnny Mercer
- played by the Will Osborne Orchestra with Stan Wrightman for Richard Whorf on piano, sung by Mabel Todd and quartet
publication
The film premiered on November 15, 1941 in the USA. From December 11, 1941, it was shown in New York. In addition to the working title Hot Nocturne , there was another working title New Orleans Blues .
In Mexico the film was released on August 7, 1942 under the title El canto a la vida and in Turkey in 1946 under the title Gece serenadi .
The film is currently only available in the original English version on DVD, released on July 22, 2008 by Warner Home Video.
criticism
Leslie Halliwell found in Halliwell's Film Guide , Seventh Edition, New York 1989: “Atmospheric little melodrama with good film music and refined dialogues.”
Leonard Maltin from Movie & Video Guide was rather divided in his judgment and wrote: “Fascinating musical drama neglects its promise early on in order to slide into a sentimental, stupid melodrama. [...] Good moments, wonderful Warner Bros. compilation, but the great theme song is never played in full in the film! "
TMP of the New York Times believed that the film's leading actors had developed a melodic soundtrack and that the film had a lot to offer as far as music was concerned. The way Anatole Litvak selected and used the musical sequences was praised, but he lost control when it came to the ups and downs of his musical quintet . [...] It was also said that the eye was offered a tolerable distraction, the ear, on the other hand, could indulge in music . Richard Whorf has a rather ungrateful role, which he coped with praiseworthy , while Betty Field wasted her talent in portraying an unpleasant character . Elia Kazan spreads nervousness as soon as he appears on the screen and Jack Carson is very individual in his role as a rumbling trumpeter .
Award
The film received a nomination for the Oscar in the category "Best Song" (music: Harold Arlen , text: Johnny Mercer ) at the Academy Awards in 1942 . However, the Oscar went to Jerome David Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and the song The Last Time I Saw Paris from the film musical Lady Be Good .
Web links
- Blues in the Night at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Blues in the Night at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Blues in the Night trailer for the film
- Blues in the Night various film posters and pictures in the IMDb
- Videos for Blues in the Night. In: Turner Classic Movies . (English).
Individual evidence
- ^ Blues in the Night (1941) - Screenplay Info. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 20, 2020 .
- ^ A b c Jeff Stafford: Blues in the Night (1941) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Blues in the Night at dvdbeaver.com (with movie posters, English)
- ↑ a b c Blues in the Night (1941) at noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com (English)
- ^ Blues in the Night (1941) - Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Blues in the Night (1941) at digitallyobsessed.com (English)
- ↑ Source: Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide , Seventh Edition , New York 1989, p. 127, original text: "Atmospheric little melodrama with good score and smart dialogue."
- ↑ Source: Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 141, original text: Intriguing musical drama abandons early promise for soapy, silly melodramatics. […] Good moments, wonderful Warner Bros. montages, but the great title song is never played once in its entirety!
- ↑ TMP: At the Strand film review in the New York Times, December 12, 1941 (English). Retrieved January 2, 2017.