St. Louis Blues

"St Louis Blues", the 1958 biopic of the great W.C Handy, is, though not perfect, very enjoyable to watch and-- more importantly-- listen to.

Portraying Handy is Nat King Cole, in his only leading role in a feature-length Hollywood film. He sings a few tunes (all fantastically performed, of course) and his acting is even relatively convincing. Also in the cast is Eartha Kitt (whose role I believe would have been better filled by someone like Lena Horne), Cab Calloway, Pearl Bailey and even Billy Preston as Handy as a child. Ella Fitzgerald joins the cast, too, but it is only a cameo. Nevertheless, her part is very important; she gives a stellar rendition of "Beale Street Blues", one of the many great W.C Handy tunes featured.

I would definitely recommend this movie, mostly because of the talent in it-- Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and the rest of the cast's talent and, of course, W.C Handy's talent.

This perfect blend of lightheartedness, drama and music is a great biopic of one of America's-- and the world's-- most talented songwriters is a must-see for any lover of Handy or Cole, or, such as myself, both.

It's incredible to see all this talent in one place. It's too bad that afro-americans were not supported commercially in the 50's, this film then could have been easy to find. As it is, the big A doesn't carry (or even mention) it. The performances of eartha kitt and nat cole are pretty subdued, for the period of the piece. But ella fitzgerald swings nicely and pearl bailey has a good moment. As for over all film quality, it's a bit stiff ( e.g., nat cole dropping his cane and falling to his kness against the screen door mimics lou pinela tring to convince an umpire he touched home plate), probably a bit more from direction than lack of talent, and the plot , trite. Fortunately, it doesn't dwell very long on the angst between slices of musical venue. A collector's item and an historical document.

I found the father-son estrangement contrived along conventional religion vs the devil lines, but moving nonetheless. I had forgotten what a good piano player Nat Cole was. Ertha Kitt is the heart of the film. She acts as she sings -- biting, precise, and all-knowing. I think the great Pearl Bailey is wasted here -- wonderful as the Aunt, but we only hear her singing a snippet of the title song. Cab Calloway was also much more talented than permitted to be here. I saw him as "Sportin' Live" in the post-WW II revival of "Porgy and Bess." We get a too brief taste of the great clarinet player, Barney Bigard, and an anachronistic appearance by Ella Fitzgerald singing "Beale St. Blues." The film provides a good definition of the blues as an authentic American musical and poetic form. This one, almost 50 years old now, has aged well. It makes one regret that more African-American based and performed films were not made when these great stars were available. Thanks again, TCM!

The film's story line has little in common with Handy's actual life, and some Hollywood writers were brought in to "improve" a few of Handy's lyrics. In other words: don't base your term paper on this picture, unless you're demonstrating how Hollywood can't leave history well enough alone. (Would you be surprised to learn that Handy's real story is more colorful than this -- literally -- black and white movie? Didn't think so).

On the other hand, the cast is sensational -- Kitt and Bailey, particularly, with a nice early sequence featuring Billy Preston as young Bill -- and the music is well played and sung.

Ella Fitzgerald and gospel great Mahalia Jackson are featured briefly, which is another plus.

If you ignore the weaknesses in the (at best) hackneyed script and try not to wince at the stereotyped characters, the film is nicely directed.

I enjoyed it a lot, almost in spite of itself.

This traditional composer biopic boasts a truly amazing cast, literally the top Black performers around for each role. It's not a big-budget or even famous movie from Paramount in 1958 (for that, think "Vertigo") but does boast VistaVision in glorious black & white, and costuming by Edith Head -especially effective in presenting star Nat 'King' Cole always looking nattily dressed.

The script's presentation of the psychology of the composer W. C. Handy seems hokey but that is the approach of such a Hollywood biopic, a format that reached its greatest expression in the TV and movie biopics by Ken Russell later on. Not only the music but the inspiration is psychoanalyzed, for better or worse.

But that cast! The opening reel has prescient casting with the 12-year old Willaim Handy played by Billy Preston, who a decade or so later would memorably play with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, as well as his impressive own career. Here he's shown at the organ playing in his father's church and earning the wrath of his dad (Juano Hernandez) for playing the devil's music.

He morphs into Nat 'King' Cole at the piano as an adult, and I found Nat's performance quite moving. But a secret of the film's success is that the music and singing is recorded live, not the pre-syinc or post-sync method of Hollywood musicals, which gives it bite. Especially in the performances here of leading lady Eartha Kitt. And who better as a romantic interest (platonic) than Ruby Dee; Mahalia Jackson leading the gospel choir; Ella Fitzgerald performing a song after Handy's success, and even Cab Calloway just right as a villain, hammering home a main theme of the film depicting how musical artists are exploited. And instrumental in giving the movie heart, Pearl Bailey as his amazing aunt.