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.

Everybody's heard of this movie because of the famous title song, but almost nobody's ever seen it. It defies genre classification -- both a musical drama and a sort of missing link between the Warners gangster movies of the 1930s (mugs, molls, and rat-a-tat dialogue) and 1940s film noir (femme fatale, dark shadows, smoky atmosphere, seamy underside of life). It's a genuine one-of-a-kind movie that deserves to be much better remembered than it is.

However, one commenter here needs to refresh his memory; BLUES IN THE NIGHT has nothing whatever to do with the career of Jimmy Lunceford or any other famous musician of the period. It's about a small jazz combo, not a big band, and they begin and end the movie as obscure journeymen living from hand to mouth between gigs.

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.

"Blues in the Night" from 1941 is an intense noir directed by Anatole Litvak. The stars are Richard Whorf, Lloyd Nolan, Howard da Silva, Priscilla Lane, Betty Field, Jack Carson, Elia Kazan, and Wallace Ford.

"Jigger' Lane (Whorf), an excellent pianist, puts a band together consisting of Leo (Carson) who plays the trumpet, his wife "Character" (Lane), a singer, and two other musicians, Nickie, and Peppi. These are all musicians dedicated to performing the real New Orleans blues.

They travel by sneaking into boxcars. On one of their trips they meet Del Davis, (Nolan) a gangster. Del has a job for him in New Jersey at a club he owns.

That's where the trouble begins. Powell falls for a good-time girl, Kay Grant (Field), though he drops her when he finds out Character is pregnant.

"Jigger" decides to make Kay the replacement singer since Character is told she can't work. They wind up taking off together. By the time the rest of the band locates him, Jigger's in rough shape and has to enter a mental hospital.

"Blues in the Night" is a turgid drama with a highly dramatic ending. The performances are all good. Field pulls out all the stops as Kay, and Lloyd Nolan is an effective tough guy. Howard da Silva and Wallace Ford are on hand giving sympathetic performances.

The brilliant director and controversial figure Elia Kazan only has seven acting credits listed. Here he's an enthusiastic band member .

The music, with the exception of an awful number at a club where Jigger plays the piano, is fantastic, with some great trumpet playing, though the musician is uncredited.

The song "The Man That Got Away" was written for this film. Harold Arlen didn't like the Johnny Mercer lyrics; some time later, he gave the song to Ira Gershwin to add the lyrics.