Birth of the Blues

As with many musicals of the era, the little girl of the film sparks a sort of magic, something Carolyn Lee was quite good at. She first appears as six-year-old "Aunt Phoebe" sliding down a spiral banister and landing on Bing Crosby's lap, after which she smashes his lucky hat. Bing, nice guy that he is, takes her on his lap and smiles tremendously. So Phoebe becomes a sort of mascot/hanger-on of the early New Orleans blues band that struggles to survive against strong prejudices against "darkie" music. Every time she opens her little mouth to say a few lines I found myself giggling at her. Some of her pranks are quite memorable. I especially liked the scene where she paints herself in white-face and puts a girdle on for a dress. Her little broom dance with Rochester is also adorable. Carolyn was a very funny little girl. Towards the end of the movie Bing picks her up and lullabies her to sleep with the #1 hit song of 1941, "Melancholy Baby". I never imagined this song was written to sing to six-year-old Carolyn Lee. The Melancholy Baby scene alone is worth the price of admission.

The movie is well filmed, the jazz is great, the acting good and the story interesting. Bing is at his best, Mary Martin is gorgeous and Brian Donlevy with his rakish mustache is quite the rogue. One thing I liked about the film was the close, friendly relationships between the African-American and White jazz musicians. Seems like the jazz folks were ahead of their time and we can only wish that the rest of the country will eventually catch up.

In this musical comedy set in New Orleans in the 1890's, a clarinet player with a passion for jazz, played by Bing Crosby, organizes a band of white musicians in an effort to bring this "blue music" to the white café society of New Orleans, during an era when whites looked down on jazz as a product of Black people.

The film's screenplay is not very good. Characters are poorly defined. They exist only to further the contrived plot. For a musical, there's too much dialogue, composed largely of supposedly humorous one liners. That may have worked in 1941. But times change. Sixty years after the film, the script now seems dismissive of serious social concerns, and is therefore not funny.

Meanwhile, the shallow plot dilutes the impact of the film's music. Blues numbers include "Melancholy Baby", "Memphis Blues", and several others. But they are uninspired, and seem tangential to the talky script. The only musical number I found even faintly memorable was "St. Louis Blues", performed with passion by diva Ruby Elzy.

One thing I did find interesting was the inclusion of a couple of bit part actors who would later become well known. Mantan Moreland (from the Charlie Chan series) shows up toward the beginning as a trumpet player. And Barbara Pepper (as Doris Ziffel from "Green Acres") shows up off and on in the film as a nightclub hussy.

Given the title, I was expecting a blues extravaganza, not a talk fest. Even so, "Birth Of The Blues" might have some value given its historical subject matter. And it probably would be a good film for fans of Bing Crosby, for whom the film functions as a cinematic vehicle.

Another of Der Bingle favorites with Mary Martin; wow, how I loved her; her heart really sang to Daddy. I haven't seen it for some years, but I do have it on VHS which I recorded. I have over 1000 recorded VHS movies all in the garage, so now that I am retired, I have time to look at some now and then. This also has Crosby singing with Louis Armstrong.

Not a great film, and as far as Victor Schertzinger-directed and Bing Crosby and Mary Martin films go, there is a preference for 'Rhythm on the River'. However, despite the script, story and characterisation not being as strong as the rest this is good-natured entertainment.

The songs and performances especially make much more of an impression than the aforementioned not-so-good things. The story is paper-thin, shallow and contrived. While the script has its fun, light-hearted and heart-warming moments, it's also talky, hokey and even flimsier than the storytelling. Despite strong performances, not much attention was given to characterisation, which is barely there.

On the other hand, it is a very handsome looking film and very well directed by Schertzinger. The songs are simply great, standouts being the title song, "St Louis Blues", "Melancholy Baby" (definitely a highlight here) and the jazzy rendition of "Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie". Even with its faults, there is something about 'Birth of Blues' that stops one from being too hard on it, it's funny, charming and good-natured.

Performances are great, with Bing Crosby and Mary Martin singing in a way that takes you to another world that you don't want to leave, while they look comfortable and are charming. Brian Donlevy is delightfully roguish, J. Carrol Naish agreed seems incapable of being bad and while real-life trombonist Jack Teagarden is better as a trombonist than an actor there is denying how much of a legend he was on the instrument.

In summary, not great but a good, fun film that are lifted particularly by great songs and a talented cast giving their all. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The blues is a black American invention...period. So, seeing and hearing Bing Crosby and a bunch of white actors singing what they refer to as 'the blues' and its birth is pretty funny....in a sad way. It's a lot like the 1950s when black rock 'n roll songs were remade by dull white singers--such as when (I kid you not) Pat Boone remade Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti"--and outsold the original! Sad...very sad.

Now despite the title of the film being 100% ridiculous, there is one other problem with the film. Most of the music is NOT the Blues but Dixieland--a much happier and bouncier variation on Jazz and the Blues. Now I don't mind this style of music--but this isn't the film's title! So is the film worth seeing? Well, yes--provided you don't take the film very seriously. The actors (Bing Crosby, Brian Donlevy and Mary Martin) are fine--but very white and middle-class. An enjoyable film but not at all a tribute to the black men who created this music. While the black men are mentioned (such as by using enlightened phrases like folks referring to it as 'darkie music'!), this is clearly a white-wash--though an enjoyable one.