Birth Of The Blues/Blue Skies

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It's a flimsy excuse to romp through more than two dozen Irving Berlin songs, but Blue Skies is good fun nonetheless (and one of the top-grossing films of 1946). Bing Crosby is a restless nightclub entrepreneur, Fred Astaire his Broadway buddy, Joan Caulfield the woman they both want. Ignore the plot and enjoy the numbers, especially Astaire's marvelous "Puttin' on the Ritz," which is breathtaking even before multiple images of Fred are introduced dancing in a row (who needs CGI, anyway?). Bing and Fred flash great showbiz chutzpah in "A Couple of Song and Dance Men," which wonderfully captures the appeal of both stars: Fred's heavenly precision, and Bing's "can-you-believe-they're-payin'-me-for-this?" sense of play.

Bing Crosby founds the first white Dixieland band in Birth of the Blues, a tuneful turn-of-the-century tale--if highly suspect as musical history. Borrowing hot licks from black musicians (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comments, "Our music sure has gone highbrow"), Bing and his players struggle to invade the straight-laced clubs, succeeding only after songbird Mary Martin joins the band. Martin, in one of her infrequent movie appearances, has fun with Der Bingle jazzing up "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie," a highlight of this breezily enjoyable nonsense. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

A movie from my past.......2007-06-12

i was looking for a comedic sketch by Billy DeWolfe and the movie Blue Skies contained just what I was looking for.

So-So Pair of Bing Crosby Musicals.......2006-02-15

These two Bing Crosby musicals are enjoyable, but none of them is particularly memorable or stand multiple viewings. The most amusing aspect of "Birth of the Blues" is its distortion of musical history and the Hollywood studio lot version of New Orleans. Mary Martin and Bing Crosby are in good voice and Brian Donlevy is serviceable as Crosby's friend and rival, but there's an annoying little girl rounding up the cast of leads and the stereotypes of the black community can make you cringe.
As for "Blue Skies", I think this is one of the (if not the) worst films showcasing Irving Berlin songs. It is also far inferior to "Holiday Inn" (the previous teaming of Astaire and Crosby). Watching this movie makes you really appreciative of the far superior "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and especially "Easter Parade" (both available on excellent DVD editions, and much better options to purchase). Despite the big budget, the staging of the numbers is generally uninspired. The main highlight is Fred Astaire's "Puttin' on the Ritz", but even that number pales in comparison to his numbers on RKO and MGM films. His duet with Bing Crosby is a huge disappointment. Oddly, even though plot-wise Joan Caulfield is the leading lady, musically the real leading lady is Olga San Juan (however, she really doesn't have anything to do in the plot). She actually gets to duet with both Crosby and Astaire (in my estimation, the film's two best numbers after "Puttin' on the Ritz"). The film also has a dreadful comedy skit performed in drag by Billy DeWolfe. Its quite painful to watch nowadays, but I guess that was considered funny back in the 1940s.
The best thing about this DVD is the low price and that the two films are included on a single-sided DVD. They're not painfully bad films, but they're just average musicals, and Astaire, Berlin and Crosby have been much better served in other films.

Blue Skies OK, but not as good as you might think........2004-08-21

BLUE SKIES: It wasn't absolutely horrible, but there are other ways to waste your time. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire are some of the greatest performers we've ever had; they lead you through the musical singing and dancing to the wonderful Irving Berlin scores. The plot, however, was a soap-opery, over long story, frought with tragedy and sentimental moments, that somehow failed to touch me, because, let's face it, the characters weren't terribly likeable.

THE BEST AT THEIR BEST!.......2003-10-31

BLUE SKIES: Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire at their musical and "glorious technicolor" best, singing and dancing to a plethora of Irving Berlin classics. What could be better? Certainly not the insipid copycat F. Sinatra and G. Kelly MGM musicals made a few years later! The "originals" are usually better, and this is surely true in this case. Astaire's dancing to "Puttin On the Ritz" is sublime, and Bing's crooning of "All By Myself" and "You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" to Joan Caufield has, if you look closely, an added debt of feeling for a usual more stoic Bing. Why? It has recently been revealed that Bing and Joan Caufield were having an affair when the movie was made! A must for and any movie musical fan's collection.
BIRTH OF THE BLUES: Although a somewhat standard black & white movie musical typical of the late 1930s, the movie contains a bevy of standard songs and jazz numbers performed by a top notch cast. Moreover, the movie is "spiced" by a young Mary Martin. Bing and Mary's duet to "Wait Til The Sun Shines Nelly" is the highlight of the movie.
IN CONCLUSION, A GREAT AND A BONUS GOOD MOVIE FOR A LOW BARGAIN PRICE. A GREAT AND MUST BUY!

LACK LUSTER MOVIES IN GLORIOUS TRANSFERS.......2003-10-30

"Birth of the Blues" is the rather unispiring tale of a New Orleans musician who 'discovers' jazz. "Blue Skies" is the completely uninspired musical that mixes low melodrama with some incredibly awful tunes from Irving Berlin. Neither film can lay claim to any sort of greatness, although "Blue Skies" does contain three very dynamic performances. The first of these is Fred Astaire's brilliantly staged rendition of "Puttin' On The Ritz" in which he nimbly dances with 10 copies of himself, using the split screen process. The second musical number of merit is the Astaire/Crosby duet, "A Couple of Song And Dance Men" in which both performers lampoon the other's artistry through a series of skits. The final spark of greatness is "Running Around In Circles", a tender poignant ballad that is wholly wasted on the tripe of this movie's dead end plot.
TRANSFER: "Blue Skies" was shot in Technicolor, and although the original camera negative is nearly 70 years old, there is little in the way of age related artifacts to suggest that much time has passed. Colors are exceptionally bold, vibrant and well balanced. Black levels are...well, black and contrast and shadows are gorgeously rendered. There are no digital artifacts to worry about, although a bit of video noise is present. "Birth of the Blues" is somewhat more problematic. A B&W production, there is a visible grain structure evident throughout the film, as well as scratches and other age related artifacts. In a few scenes there is slight shimmering and edge enhancement. The audio for both movies is MONO but very nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: NONE! What were you expecting?
BOTTOM LINE: If you're a Bing Crosby or Fred Astaire fan than you might want to consider adding this DVD to your collection. While the film's are nothing to write home about, their transfer quality - particularly "Blue Skies" is worth taking a second look!

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