The Birth of the Blues
86 min. / B&W / 1.33:1 / SDH
Blu-ray: Universal $21.98
Available from MovieZyng
Time really does fly; Birth of the Blues made its DVD debut nearly a quarter-century ago and at last we have a sparkling, beautiful Blu-ray to replace it. It’s our favorite (non-Road) Bing Crosby picture, and we couldn’t be more delighted to have this new edition. What a delightful surprise!
Bing is Jeff Lambert, raised by his stern father to be a classical clarinetist, although there’s little chance of that in New Orleans when a kid can sneak off to Bourbon Street and jam with the African-Americans. As he grows, he puts together his own combo (in the segregated south, it would have to be all white, but there are plenty of nods to the Black source of the music throughout the film) and their band goes from failure to success to crossing a local gangster while both Bing and bandmate Brian Donleavy woo singer Mary Martin, a single “mom” raising her preteen “aunt” and look, the plot is the clothesline on which to hang the songs, don’t get too wrapped up in it.
Besides the title track, tunes include such old favorites as By the Light of the Silvery Moon, My Melancholy Baby, Cuddle Up a Little Closer, and Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie, as well as a delightful new novelty number for Bing, Mary, and Jack Teagarden called The Waiter and the Porter and the Upstairs Maid, and for more music and comedy the band’s sidekick is none other than reliable Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, too, as great as always.
A massive box office success; Variety called Birth of the Blues “… a film that has everything for mass appeal, from melody to comedy” and it’s a film that we’ve used along with High Society to help introduce younger people to both traditional jazz and Bing Crosby, his era’s biggest superstar and yet oddly overlooked today. It's natural that a mainly white cast isn't going to be able to showcase the real roots of this type of music, but Paramount (and, no doubt, Crosby) deserve kudos for not presenting a complete whitewash, as for example MGM did with their remake of Show Boat.
Birth of the Blues has its stars at their most appealing (even Brian Donlevy, whom we do not usually equate with lighter musical fare, do we?) and one toe-tapper after another. J. Carrol Naish is the gangster, and his affable thugs include such favorites as Warren Hymer. It’s a special treat to see Crosby paired with Miss Martin, a musical comedy star who can (almost) match him in talent and charisma.
The new Blu-ray lacks bonus material and we are sticklers for trailers so that’s an oversight we’ll have to overlook, and it’s one of four Crosby titles being released this month; the others – and they’re all fun – include Double or Nothing, Here Come the Waves, and Sing You Sinners.
Finally, a shout-out to director Victor Schertzinger, Paramount's workhorse, who finished one film and went straight into another, month after month. He gave us the first two Bing-Bob-Dorothy Road pictures and went straight from this to The Fleet's In and then dropped dead of a heart attack at age 53, a few weeks before Birth of the Blues was released. A busy man who also composed hit songs like Tangerine and I Remember You.
We remember you, too, Mr. Schertzinger.
Singing weird melodies
And they made that the start of the blues!”
