Tonight's Movie: Birth of the Blues (1941) - A Universal Blu-ray Review

The musical melodrama BIRTH OF THE BLUES (1941), starring Bing Crosby, was released on Blu-ray last week.

The movie, originally released by Paramount Pictures, is now owned by Universal Pictures. Universal previously released this film on DVD in multiple editions, including a 2017 Universal Vault release.

Other Crosby films newly out on Blu-ray from Universal are DOUBLE OR NOTHING (1937), SING, YOU SINNERS (1938), and HERE COME THE WAVES (1944).

In BIRTH OF THE BLUES Crosby plays Jeff Lambert, with Ronnie Cosby playing the character as a child. Young Jeff's passion for playing music with black jazz musicians in New Orleans greatly disappoints his classical musician father (Minor Watson).

The adult Jeff forms a band of white jazz musicians, hoping to popularize the musical style he loves, but the band struggles to go anywhere until adding cornet player Memphis (Brian Donlevy) and singer Betty Lou (Mary Martin).

The band then starts to see success, which is complicated when they learn the nightclub where they play is a front for the racketeering actitivities of Blackie (J. Carrol Naish). The band wants to move on, but Blackie doesn't want to let them go...

The premise of the movie is more interesting than the actual execution. It has some good musical moments, including Ruby Elzy singing "St. Louis Blues," but the story is rather "blah" and the music is actually a mishmash of Tin Pan Alley and jazz; for instance, one of the best numbers is Crosby and Martin singing the non-jazzy "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie."

Jack Teagarden has an acting role as a band member, but alas, other great musicians listed at IMDb, such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, are merely seen in a closing clip montage about the success of jazz.

Donlevy's fun presence enlivens things to an extent, but while I'm a Crosby fan, his performance in this isn't especially effervescent, and he and Martin prove to be a rather bland team.

I'll add that while child actors are a particular interest of mine, Carolyn Lee as Martin's little "aunt" was unnecessary to the plot and a bit grating.

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson has a nice supporting role, and some other great movie faces, including Lillian Randolph, Sam McDaniel, Mantan Moreland, Charles Lane, Warren Hymer, Horace MacMahon, Barbara Pepper, and Cecil Kellaway, can be spotted in roles of varied sizes.

The movie was directed by Victor Schertzinger and filmed in black and white by William C. Mellor. It was written by Harry Tugend and Walter DeLeon, based on Tugend's story, with uncredited work by Erwin Gelsey and Wilkie C. Mahoney.

The Blu-ray print is nice-looking, with good sound. There are no extras, but optional English-langage captions are an appreciated addition.

All in all, this is a so-so 87 minutes; I'd class it as worth a look for the cast and musical highlights, but nothing particularly special. That said, kudos to Universal for making this slice of movie musical history available for home viewing on Blu-ray.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Universal for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. It may be purchased from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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