The Strip

At first, The Strip seems like an ordinary mid-fifties mystery, and while technically it is, there are a few elements in it that make it stand out from the rest of the pack. The song "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was introduced in this movie, and you'll get to hear it sung three times. First, William Demarest and Mickey Rooney sing it at the piano, then Kay Brown uses it as an audition piece, and finally Louis Armstrong performs it at a nightclub. If you like that song, you'll be pretty happy.

Next up is Mickey Rooney, who not only gives a good acting performance, but also gets to show off his impressive drum skills. If you missed Strike Up the Band, you'll get to see him drumming himself into even more of a frenzy in this one. Mickey stars as a guy who gets pushed around and falls into a bad situation because he's chasing the wrong girl. He falls for Sally Forrest, an aspiring entertainer, but as she strings Mickey along, she also makes eyes at his boss, the powerful and dangerous James Craig. Sally gets a couple of killer dance numbers to show off her talent, appeal, and figure. If you like Lee Remick, you'll think Sally is a doll. It's no wonder she gets both Mickey and James crazy about her! Poor Mickey, Sally prefers James because she thinks he'll help her break into show business. When she breaks a date with Mickey for James, Mickey wears a wonderful expression on his face as he says, "I don't like that." You can see the defeat in his eyes, as if he already knows it's a lost cause. He's trying to come across as authoritative and possessive in a macho way, but he knows it's only coming across as pathetic and out-of-control. It's a nondescript line and a very brief scene, but he makes it memorable.

You might think this is just a thin plot stringing together a bunch of song and dance numbers, but give it a chance. If you've never seen Mickey Rooney as an adult, you'll be very pleasantly surprised at what he can do when he doesn't have manic energy. Next up, rent Killer McCoy to see him pull out all the stops! And if you watch this movie and root for James Craig to get the girl, rent Lost Angel to see him in a really cute role.

The Strip marked Mickey Rooney's return to MGM after he had left in 1948 and the property was considerably down from what he was used to. Still The Strip is a nifty little noir film from MGM's B Picture unit that managed to earn itself one Academy Award nomination.

In The Strip Mickey finds himself a returning Korean War veteran who wants to get back into civilian life and he meets up with gangster James Craig, a rather smooth individual who 'sells insurance'. Mickey works for him in some non-violent occupations and Craig actually lets him leave to pursue his real dream of being a drummer. But Mickey finds himself falling big time for Craig's girlfriend Sally Forrest and that's where his problems begin.

The film is structured like Mildred Pierce with Mickey hauled into police headquarters because one of the cast has been found murdered and another hanging on for dear life. He relates his story to detective Tom Powers and we see the tale unfold.

The Strip is also a nice look at the jazz club life in Los Angeles of that period. Where Rooney winds up working is William Demarest's jazz club on Sunset Boulevard better known as The Strip. The film also gives us an exhibition of one of Mickey Rooney's many talents, that of a drummer. He shows that if he pursued and concentrated on that he could have been another Buddy Rich or Gene Krupa. And the chance to jam with such people as Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden must have been what sold the Mick on doing this film.

Guest starring in The Strip are singers Vic Damone and Monica Lewis, but the best thing about The Strip is the song A Kiss To Build A Dream On. That was the last song written by the celebrated Tin Pan Alley duo of Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar. It was an unfinished theme because Kalmar had died a few years earlier. To finish the lyric Ruby called on none other than Oscar Hammerstein, II and the combined talents of those three people earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for 1951. It lost however to In The Cool Cool Cool Of The Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman's hit from Here Comes The Groom. Louis Armstrong made a big hit record of it back in that day, you could hear it on jukeboxes for years.

I'm sure it was of some satisfaction to Rooney that he made a small B film so much better with his incredible talent for his former home studio. That and a wonderful song attached to The Strip make it fine entertainment still.

Korea vet and aspiring drummer Mickey Rooney ('Quicksand') gets driven off the road by suave racketeer James Craig ('While The City Sleeps'). To compensate, Craig gives Rooney a job in his bookmaker's room. When the police bust in to the business, Rooney manages to escape and hitches a ride with Sally Forrest ('Mystery Street'), who works at a nightclub owned by William Demarest ('Night Has A Thousand Eyes'). Rooney pays the nightclub a visit and before he knows it, he's switched jobs from the bookie room to the drum kit and has fallen hard for Forrest. Forrest wants a movie career however, so Rooney introduces her to Craig, who has some contacts. But Craig isn't interested in helping Forrest, he just sees another pretty girl to add to his list of conquests. When Rooney confronts Craig about this things quickly fall apart, leading to Craig getting killed, and Forrest nearly dead, and Rooney as the prime suspect...

Told in flashback, the movie starts with the discovery of Forrest barely alive on her apartment floor, and during the investigation, the discovery of Craig's body and a gun. Rooney is brought in for interrogation, and he tells his side of the story in flashback. It all sounds like pure noir, until you see the movie, which is also in many ways a musical. Artists and musicians like Louis Armstrong, Vic Damone and Jack Teagarden are given plenty of time to play their music and sing their songs, as a large part of the movie plays out in nightclubs. In fact, one of the songs (sung by hatcheck girl Kay Brown) got the movie an Oscar nomination. Thankfully, unlike some noirs where musical interludes slow down the story, it works rather well here. And seeing Rooney and Forrest showing off their drumming and dancing skills respectively was way more fun than I expected, impressive stuff.

But a noir it still is, trust me. People use people and through the flashback structure, there is always tension under the surface as (part of) the outcome is already known to the viewer. And it has a bleak, downbeat, even ironic, ending that firmly establishes this as a noir. Performances are great across the board, helped by the well- written characters and dialogue. The main negative is that the directing by Laszlo Kardos ('The Tijuana Story') and cinematography by Robert Surtees ('Act Of Violence') is good but not very noir or imaginative. Still, that's only a minor quibble, this movie impressed me with its successful blending of noir and musical, the performances and the story. Recommended! 8/10

The murder/suspense plot is little more than a convenient set of bookends to showcase the post-adolescent Mickey Rooney, Sally Forest and a gathering of jazz greats (Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Vic Damone) in the setting of a Sunset Strip nightspot. James Craig isn't bad as the mustachioed "heavy" doting on his office foliage (after Dewey's defeat in '48, mustaches became quite unAmerican). This movie is neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring, and only marginally "noir" by virtue of date, setting and plotline, but it's watchable -- the music and dance numbers are pretty good. Like a couple of other films ("The Man I Love;" "Love Me or Leave Me") it gives evidence that a new genre might have been in formation: the musical noir.

If you like jazz, you'll like this one : there's a good part of this movie which takes place in Los Angeles' night-clubs with guest star Louis Armstrong. The story may look classical for a film noir, but the way it shows the story of a drummer penetrating in the underground world is surprising : watch it especially for the drum solos. Enjoyable !