Cavalgada de Melodias

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.

The 1942 Syncopation is somewhat outdated, but, aaaah, the incredible music makes this film watching and wanting for more.

Syncopation (1942)

** (out of 4)

Well-meaning but ultimately flat tale trying to teach Americans why "black music" is so important. Our film follows three people throughout a twenty-plus year period as George Latimer (Adolphe Menjou) sees his daughter (Bonita Granville) want to play music herself and she gets her chance when she meets a young man (Jackie Cooper) who wants to put a band together. This film starts off on a very weird note with the strangest credits I've ever seen. We get a quick glimpse of slaves being taken from Africa to America and then we get the credits, which simply introduce the "people in front of the camera" and then we see another group of names followed by "people behind the camera." Why they decided to do this I'm not certain but it was quite strange. SYNCOPATION offers up quite a bit of good including the music, which features Jack Jenney, Joe Venuti, Harry James, Benny Goodman and Charlie Barnet among others. The soundtrack to the film features some popular tunes and these here certainly help keep the viewer interested in everything that is going on. Another plus are the three lead performances, which are all pretty good. I thought Granville and Cooper had some nice chemistry together and even though it's obviously not them playing the instruments, I thought both of them sold it quite well. The biggest problem with this film is that it tries to hard to tell people that Jazz isn't evil. I thought the film was a bit too preachy about it at times and at other times it's almost like the filmmakers are trying to beat the viewer over the head. Another problem is that the story of this couple going through various eras of music just never really works as it just feels forced and there's not much holding it together. The film certainly means well and it's portrait of blacks is certainly a lot more positive than the majority of films from this period.

This movie definitely gets points for:

1) its general love for the music and mood of New Orleans 2) the great jazz/blues score 3) and most particularly its view of African/Americans as musicians and maids which sounds bad until you consider that, in 1942 in Hollywood, it was pretty much maids period. With an occasional train porter thrown in for variety.

The movie gets points taken away for:

1) The flat, corny, pseudo poetic dialogue (expected more from Phil Yordan who penned the noir classic ,"The Big Combo" and the fine, dark western, "Day Of The Outlaw") 2) The general saccharininity (how's that for a new word?) of Bonita Granville 3) most especially that horrible final montage of jazz/blues immortals all of whom are white (what? Satchmo didn't make the cut? In a film about friggin New Orleans? Shameful)

When the dust settles, give it a C plus.

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.