bkoganbing Although Nat King Cole made many guest appearances in various films the only leading role he ever took on was that of W.C. Handy the composer and father of the Blues as he's generally accorded that title. In terms of facts this film is just like Night And Day, Deep In My Heart, and Till The Clouds Roll By just as much factual truth about Cole Porter, Sigmund Romberg, and Jerome Kern as their biographical films have. We don't expect much in the way of truth.For instance Handy did go blind, but that was not until 1943 after a fall off a New York City subway platform, not as is shown here. There was also no cure for it either as Handy spent his last years in the dark.He was in fact the son of a preacher who did not hold with the kind of music is son wanted to make. Juano Hernandez plays Handy's stern father and the motherless child played William Preston has Pearl Bailey as the aunt and maternal influence in his life. The conflict between father and son drives the film as Handy just cannot get his father to accept the Blues as art form.There are two women in Handy's life, his churchgoing sweetheart played by Ruby Dee and the nightclub performer Eartha Kitt who I believe is playing a character based on Bessie Smith. Such other performers as Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Mahalia Jackson have parts in the film that suit their talents.But it's the music performed for which we watch these films and Cole and the cast perform it well. With the names I've mentioned you would expect nothing else. As for Cole in his one and only time as a lead he did a superb job as the talented and troubled W.C. Handy.A really fine film that has not been available on DVD, VHS, whatever. We should remedy that.

tavm After several years of only seeing the last hour of this movie, I finally watched the whole thing on Netflix Streaming. Nat King Cole plays the famous composer W.C. Handy and he's not bad. I especially was touched when his character's blindness caused him to bump into things. And non-musicians Juano Hernandez as his father Reverend Charles Handy and Ruby Dee as girlfriend Elizabeth, respectively, certainly hold their own when sharing scenes with singers Pearl Bailey and Eartha Kitt. Cab Calloway also effectively conveys his role as a hustling businessman though unlike the others, he doesn't do any singing which is too bad. The actual story is probably more colorful than what was presented here but it wasn't bad for what it was. And how enjoyable to see not only Ms. Bailey and Kitt do their thing but also Ella Fitzgerald and Mahalia Jackson, too! And of course, Nat King Cole looks cool every time he's at the piano warbling Handy's tunes. It was also interesting to see Billy Preston as a young boy at the beginning as the child Handy and such musicians like Barney Bigard, Teddy Buckner, George "Red" Callender, Lee Young, and George Washington sitting in the band. Really, all I'll say now is St. Louis Blues is worth seeing for the number of musical icons in one film that are presented here.

Clive T. Miller ST. LOUIS BLUES (1958) starts out fine but markedly tires. The direction is all on one level: restrained. Perhaps it was meant to show that blacks were religious, cultured, "civilized," as opposed to the raucous, carousing, loose-living floozies and crapshooters that Hollywood usually portrayed.The movie cries out for color. But someone probably figured that with a cast that's all black anyway, why waste the more expensive film stock!There are other contradictory elements as well. The film wants to be "progressive" and promote jazz. But it also does not want to alienate its religious audience. In that respect, the best thing it does is insert Mahalia Jackson periodically to pick up the spirit. But to have it both ways, when W.C. Handy goes blind and returns to the church, the filmmakers restore his sight (as if God approves of his giving up jazz) before turning him loose again to find fame and acceptance with a symphony orchestra playing the title tune (as if God, in the end, has come down on the side of jazz, as long as it's played as classical music). In real life, of course, W.C. Handy died blind.Nat Cole is admirable, but I suspect that his too low-keyed performance is the fault of the director holding everyone in check. Toward the end of his life, W.C. Handy frequently made guest appearances on TV variety shows. He was polite and mild mannered, almost to the point that you wondered how he could have written such a wide range of songs. In contrast, Eubie Blake at age 100 displayed a far more open and lively personality.Although the movie is 105 minutes long, a studio power must have misguidedly cut out some musical numbers. Why would Paramount hire Cab Calloway and give him featured billing but no song to sing? His character flimflams Handy out of the rights to "Yellow Dog Blues," so he must have done a lively musical performance of it in his club. And why invent the character of Aunt Hagar for Pearl Bailey if no one is going to play and sing "Aunt Hagar's Blues"?Meanwhile, where was the greatest proponent of Handy's music (as well as its best interpreter), Louis Armstrong? He does have a role in THE FIVE PENNIES, the Technicolor biopic of "Red" Nichols (Danny Kaye) that Paramount released the following year.In October 1954 Columbia Records released one of its biggest selling jazz LPs, "Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy."According to George Avakian's jacket essay, in the Times Square editing studio "a handsome old gentleman (of 75 years) sat listening to the tapes of this record, tears streaming from his sightless eyes."'I never thought I'd hear my blues like this,' W. C. Handy said.... 'Nobody could have done it but my boy Louis!'"At some point, it seems, Paramount decided to studiously avoid truly lively interpretations of the songs. At least they could not completely repress the vivaciousness of Pearl Bailey and Eartha Kitt. Besides Technicolor what this movie needs most is a rousing finale with costumed Katherine Dunham dancers.Nowadays Hollywood should forget about remaking great movies. Instead it should concentrate on movies that could have been great.

muskrat-4 The film's story line has little in common with Handy's actual life, and some Hollywood writers were brought in to "improve" a few of Handy's lyrics. In other words: don't base your term paper on this picture, unless you're demonstrating how Hollywood can't leave history well enough alone. (Would you be surprised to learn that Handy's real story is more colorful than this -- literally -- black and white movie? Didn't think so).On the other hand, the cast is sensational -- Kitt and Bailey, particularly, with a nice early sequence featuring Billy Preston as young Bill -- and the music is well played and sung. Ella Fitzgerald and gospel great Mahalia Jackson are featured briefly, which is another plus.If you ignore the weaknesses in the (at best) hackneyed script and try not to wince at the stereotyped characters, the film is nicely directed.I enjoyed it a lot, almost in spite of itself.