Birth of the Blues *** (1941, Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, Brian Donlevy) – Classic Movie Review 11,328

‘Strike up the band, here comes happiness, in a merry medley of romance and rhythm’: Birth of the Blues (1941).

Director Victor Schertzinger’s 1941 Paramount Pictures musical hit Birth of the Blues stars Bing Crosby, Mary Martin and Brian Donlevy.

Crosby as a romantically inclined clarinetist called Jeff Lambert and Martin as band singer Betty Lou Cobb enliven a music-plus-comedy-plus-drama tale of a New Orleans jazz band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, surviving and prospering against a background of a crime mob run by Blackie (J Carrol Naish). Donlevy plays band’s cornet player, Memphis. Naturally, both Jeff and Memphis fall in love with Betty Lou.

We have seen it all before so there are no surprises in the story by Harry Tugend, but the tunes alone (‘St Louis Blues’, ’St James Infirmary’, ‘Melancholy Baby’, ‘Birth of the Blues’) are worth the price of admission.

Crosby is on top form both vocally and as actor in a thoroughly entertaining old-style movie.

Musical director Robert Emmett Dolan was Oscar nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Also in the cast are Carolyn Lee, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, J Carrol Naish, Jack Teagarden, Horace MacMahon, Warren Hymer, Minor Watson, Danny Beck, Harry Barris, Perry Botkin Sr, Harry Rosenthal, Ruby Elzy and Cecil Kellaway.

It is shot in black and white, with a Technicolor sequence.

It is based loosely on the story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, with Crosby’s character based on the band’s founder, clarinetist Alcide ‘Yellow’ Nunez, and Donlevy’s character based on their cornetist, Nick La Rocca. Trombonist Jack Teagarden was a member of the band in the 1920s.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,328

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