Blues in the Night

This fast-moving film is not at all typical of most musicals of the period. Jazz musicians, gangsters, stool pigeons, and canaries populate Anatole Litvak's interesting -- and little seen -- story of a pianist who tragically attempts to transform an off-key singer (Betty Field, over-the-top and enjoyable as all get-out) to replace the pregnant vocalist (Priscilla Lane). All of the performances are interesting (Lloyd Nolan, especially), and the face-off between Lane and Field is worth a look. Highly recommended -- if you can find it.

A band lead by Jigger (Richard Whorf) has trouble landing a job. They get involved with gangster Dell (Lloyd Nolan) who gives them a job at his club. His jealous girlfriend Kay (Betty Field) sets out to destroy the band. Will she?

I'm only giving this a 9 because of the overly familiar story. That aside this is incredible. Nobody in the cast was a name at the time, but they're all very good actors. Field has a fun time in her bad girl role. Nolan is just great as Dell. Whorf is OK as Jigger. Also in the cast (and band) is Jack Carson, future director Elia Kazan and Priscilla Lane (who does wonders with the thankless 'good girl' role). The film is beautifully directed in gorgeous black and white by Anatole Litvak--he makes good use of his low budget and has some very nice sequences using light and shadows. Also there are a few truly bizarre (but fun) montages--they're unlike ANYTHING you'll see in a 1940s film. Also there's some really great music in here.

So...great music, good acting, beautiful photography...and just an OK story.

Still, well worth seeing.

Strange thing about this film--everybody seems to know about it, but it's almost never shown! Try catching it on TCM--their print isn't that great (the image kept shaking) but it's still worth seeing.

Interesting film by director Anatole Litvak creating film-noir with a musical.

Two future excellent directors, Richard Whorf, who bore a strong resemblance to Robert Taylor, and Elia Kazan star. Kazan was also in Litvak's 1940 film "City for Conquest."

The picture has an excellent cast. A group of musicians led by Jigger (Whorf) meet up with gangster Lloyd Nolan while hitching a ride on a train. Nolan likes them when they don't turn him in despite the fact that he holds them up for $5.00!

He brings them to a Road House where the group perform. We have some great musical settings here and the various montage depiction is excellent.

The film is extremely well paced. There is never a dull moment. He moves beautifully from film noir to musical and back to film noir again.

In addition, there is a terrific performance by Bette Field as a Road House girl in love with Nolan, who spurns her. Whorf is hopelessly in love with her and her rejection of him leads to his mental breakdown. How ironic that 16 years after this film, Nolan and Field both appeared in the 1957 film "Peyton Place" but had no scenes together. Field is both catty and quite vicious in this film. It's her viciousness that shall prove to be her undoing.

Jack Carson toots his horn and is wed in the film to Priscilla Lane. One major flaw of the film is their lack of emotional outburst when it is revealed that their baby boy has died.

A real mish-mash of a movie which within its sub-90 minute running time contains enough characters and plot-lines to carry at least three films.

It starts off straightforwardly enough as talented pianist Richard Whorf's Jigger character puts together with his mates a hot swinging band who promptly hit the road looking for a break. Included in their ranks are Priscilla Lane as their vivacious girl-singer, her errant husband, trumpeter Jack Carson and mile-a-minute clarinettist Elia Kazan.

So it rolls along for the first third like a good-time, grown-up Rooney and Garland feature until, that is, the band crosses paths with escaped gangster Lloyd Nolan, who after initially repaying their collective kindness by robbing them of the little money they have, later relents and promises them a gig at his old haunt, where he reunites with his old flame Betty Field, shifty accomplice Sam and sad-sack drunken barman Brad, none of whom were expecting or are exactly appreciative of his return.

After Field tries and fails to lure Nolan back she eventually settles on Whorf and entices him away with her to the big city where he gets a job in a chintzy, fancy-dan band, all dress-suits and shiny shoes but who play the most appalling music, indeed I still can't decide whether the band's featured number "Sez You, Sez Me" is deliberately awful just to highlight how low Jigger has sunk, but believe me, it's about the worst musical number I've ever heard in a vintage Hollywood feature.

Anyway, there are a number of unlikely twists and turns from there till the end, taking in murder, domestic tragedy, a fist-fight and an automobile smash before the film leaves you breathlessly back where it started as if nothing had happened in between.

Director Anatole Litvak just about prevents the whole thing from going off the rails pretty much by just ploughing on regardless. Don Siegel contributes the innovative montage sequences, a typical Litvak trait, although he does overdo them a little this time. You also have to excuse or at least accept some un-P. C. treatment of a partially disabled character but overall, despite having more crossing-points than the New York metro, I was won over in the end by the movie's energy and drive.

I liked Whorf, an actor I've not come across before, who comes over like a cross between Dick Powell and Alan Ladd, which is exactly what his part demands, Lane brings her customary brightness and can hold a tune too while Field makes a good impression as the gangster's moll / femme fatale of the piece.

Best known today for containing the Oscar-nominated title song written by Harold Arlen - Johnny Mercer (and that one comic-clinker number apart, the music is excellent throughout) this curate's egg of a musical/gangster/noir movie is worth delving into.

This movie was a bit unusual because it starts off strictly like a musical the first 20 minutes. It had me puzzled; I didn't think I had rented a musical. Well, it wasn't, as it turned out, even though music was a central element in the story. The rest of the film was a combination of drama, film noir and melodrama. At least that's the way I saw it and, yeah, I was glad to see IMDb confirm my description when I got to the title page here to post the review.

The only time the movie bogged down was when it became a little too melodramatic in a few spots. Betty Field ("Kay" )was usually in those scenes, playing a woman with a chip on her shoulder. As I watched her, I thought, "Wow, this woman is tailor-made for film noirs. She could have been another Marie Windsor." Sadly, she wasn't, but she was in a good number of movie and television shows. Still, I think noir would have been the best vehicle for her.

Priscilla Lane plays the female opposite: the wholesome-looking good gal ("Character") who just wants the band to click and for everybody to be happy. Heck, that's what the band in general wants, but "Jigger" is the guy who keeps putting a monkey-wrench into the deal and seems to be the band member whom everyone looks to for leadership.

Richard Worf plays "Jigger," and he's so-so as an actor. The fact he never made it big is understandable. There's a smoothness to his delivery that's missing. His changed his career from acting to directing in 1945 and did better at that. Obviously the same can be said for another member of the band in this story: "Nickie," played by Elia Kazan, who classic film fans know as a very famous director.

When all is said-and-done, actors Lane and Lloyd Nolan ("Del") seemed to be the most "real" in this film, and those two were the ones who had the best careers of this cast, particularly Nolan. Jack Carson and Howard da Silva are also in this movie and they're "known" actors, too.

My favorite part of the movie was a very short scene with about 15 minutes left with "Jigger" was in the hospital and he was hallucinating. The innovative camera-work was terrific, right out of Dali painting. Kudos to director Anatole Litvak for some good closeup shots and interesting camera angles and use of light, in that scene and others in the film. This movie is very well photographed. Ernie Haller was the cinematographer. Haller's resume includes some very famous films.

The odd mix of genres makes this intriguing movie I'm glad I checked out, and I recommended to fellow classic film fans.