La fièvre du jazz

Previous comments size this one up pretty well; it has jazz strengths, story weaknesses, and jazz weaknesses.

But it has jazz, so it's obviously better than movies that do not. ;-)

Somewhat surprised there have been no mentions of the film's clearly dismissive treatment of the "symphonic jazz" maestro "Ted Browning", a full-on swipe at a certain real-life caucasian bandleader with an ironic surname who profited handsomely from the music while bringing relatively little to it himself.

But set aside whether the character's model merits the derision; "Ted Browning" seems almost too close to TOD Browning, the name of the director of both Dracula and Freaks, to have been a purely coincidental choice.

That you'd essentially name the bandleader of an orchestra that was clearly depicted as sucking the life from jazz musicians after the director of a vampire movie feels like another small point in favor of this seldom-shown movie.

I came away with a different slant on this film than the other reviews I've seen here, so let me just say that for 1942 this terrific little love note to jazz is remarkably progressive for its day. While it's true that the plot ultimately leads to the white jazz stars of the early '40s, it is true to the roots of jazz and even includes a scene where an adult black musician calls an adult white musician "boy" and it's clear who's teaching who. This movie is as passionate about hot jazz music as were the people who created it, and it shows.

Also, the plot is not as thin as many such films. It has the production values of an "A" picture, and its three stars were not exactly "B" list talent. It sometimes stretches credulity, but no more so than any other musical, and in fact even less so, considering that the music is an inherent part of the story.

Here's hoping TCM shows this again soon; I'd love to record and keep it, as I doubt an official DVD release is in the offing.

I suppose a script would need to be twice the length in order to smoothly bring a group of characters out of New Orleans and up the river to Chicago to parallel the development of jazz from the start of the century to World War II. So this one jumps from cliché to cliché (including some well- meaning but dated portrayals of black people) as actors meet and re-meet with a quantity of coincidence that would make Dickens shake his head. The actors sell the situations, though, under Dieterle's sure hand. (And he helps out at one point, in a short fantasy sequence, with a touch of pure old German expressionism.) Not everything is a cliché: there is a stereotype-breaking lady pianist, and there is a bitter attack on punctilious big-band jazz of the Paul Whiteman style-- a little surprising in a movie that celebrates the variety of style and interplay in black, white, southern, and urban traditions. Most of all, though, there is a soundtrack of remarkable music, including a moment that might be the most impressive tour de force by Gene Krupa ever captured on film.

The merits of this picture lay rather in the execution of the great jazz scores than the plot itself - lacking and predictable. Starting by a little chronicle about the jazz development from its African roots till its further evolving into New Orleans and Chicago style, the story approaches the career's flourish of a young trumpeter Cooper, who falls for a "stride" piano player during the Great War. The movie also portrays the prejudice of higher classes against jazz valued as a 'vulgar' genre. A movie that certainly will apply the classic jazz lovers, with locations in Basin street and, at the end, a very special featuring of the most hot jazz players of early 40's as Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, Gene Krupa, Harry James, Jack Jenny, Joe Venuti, and Alvino Rey, not forgetting the special appearance of Connie Boswell singing "under a falling star". As against another movies as "Alfie", "anatomy of murder" or "Ball of fire" which conciliate good scripts with good music (Sonnie Rollins, Duke Ellington and Roy Eldridge respectively),Syncopation, even unprovided of a consistent story, still is a delicious option in order to evoke one of the most fruitful music period in this century.

An interesting film, shown on turner classics. Watch it for the great music and the fun movie stars. Beginning with the slavery days, and the mournful blues, up through the big jazz bands during world war two, we watch various stories unfold. At the center is the life and loves of kit latimer (bonita granville). Surrounded by the huge stars of the day. The summary tells us that rko and the evening post took a survey to see who readers wanted included in the cast. There's a story here, but it's just a good excuse to hear some fun, jumping music. Some of the songs are listed in soundtracks. If you have a minute, check it out, as well as the cast list. Good stuff. It was released in 1942, a couple months after the united states got pulled into the war. Probably a good chance to sell some war bonds too! Wikipedia dot org has a great history of the defense bonds, later called war bonds.