Great obscure dvd release: Blues In The Night

[Phillyrich]

I just borrowed the WB 1941 film: "Blues In The Night" from the library. What a terrific dvd. Never expected it.

The film is a hodgepodge of music, comedy, melodrama and film noir. The tone shifts a lot and its uneven. But still it works pretty well. Lots of major figures in early, odd roles. The montage scenes in the film (by a young Don Siegal) are superb, as good as anything I've ever seen-- and a must see. (Loved Betty Field running on the piano keys in her nightmare.) Elia Kazan as an actor is really quite good. Richard Whorf (future director) is not quite up to his leading role, and we could have used more of Priscilla Lane.The print of BITN is very good and sound excellent. Great, over-the-top, murder scenes at the finale. If murder is fun, this is it.

The dvd also includes "Jammin The Blues" from 1944, an homage to Lester Young. Surely, this is one of the most stunning black and white film shorts ever made. The print is fine, with a nice greyscale. If anyone says b&w isn't beautiful and expressive--they must be shown this short. Another vitaphone short includes the full Jimmy Lunceford orchestra, and is in good shape. Three WB cartoons are included. One is the goofy "Swooner Crooner" where farmer Porky Pig must deal with rooster Sinatra taking all the chicks. Owl Jolson, Cab Calloway, Durante and Bing are interviewed for the competition. Surreal.

What a great disc. Released quietly in 2008, its now available really cheap. Just got a new copy for $ 2.75 plus shipping from amazon. Now, I'm swooning...

[Jim Roots]

Sounds great. Is it captioned?

Jim

[Rick Lanham]

Sounds great. Is it captioned?

Jim

According to this review, "yellow subtitles are provided":

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/crimepassion.php" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Rick

[bobfells]

Anatole Litvak directed so you know the film is going to be exceptional even though the various elements don't jibe. Warners evidently thought Whorf was going to be the next big star with touches of Bogart and perhaps even Garfield thrown in. I'm conditioned to Whorf's later films where he's ulta-serious. Here I can almost hear Litvak yelling at him to smile when he sings. Whorf seems a little self-conscious at those points. Great ensemble cast and the Warners house style of energetic editing keeps you glued to the film even while you're saying, "This isn't really working." Thanks for the tip, Phillyrich, on the bargain pricing at Amazon. I just picked it up too.

[Richard P. May]

I agree with all the good things mentioned above. I discovered this film while working on WB library preservation while at Turner, and keep recommending it.
One more impressive thing not mentioned is the singing of the title song by prisoners in the jail. A bit unrealistic, I'd guess, but surely well staged.

[Changsham]

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like the kind of film I like. Ordered my copy.