By Steven Suskin
10 Aug 2008

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If it's great British actors you want, BBC Worldwide has culled its seemingly bottomless archives for The Anton Chekhov Collection [BBC Worldwide]. Here we have Peggy Ashcroft, Eileen Atkins, Zoe Caldwell, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, John Gielgud, Rex Harrison, Ian Holm, Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Clive Revill, Patrick Stewart, and who knows how many others. The "big ticket" items, if you will, include a 1978 "Three Sisters" with Mr. Hopkins and Ms. Atkins; a 1978 "Seagull" with Ms. Caldwell and Mr. Gambon; two "Uncle Vanyas," one with Mr. Hopkins (from 1970) and the other being Greg Mosher's 1991 production starring David Warner; and two "Cherry Orchards," Richard Eyre's 1980 version starring with Ms. Dench as well as a 1962 version starring Ms. Ashcroft and Mr. Gielgud with a younger Ms. Dench playing Anya. These plus five short stories read by Ewan McGregor, three radio plays, a work session with director Oleg Efremov from the Moscow Art Theatre, and more. All this on six DVDs, two of which are double-sided, encompassing 1,095 minutes (which are far too many for me to clock).

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The great Harold Arlen and the great Johnny Mercer joined together in Hollywood in 1941 to write five songs for a relatively inconsequential tale of jazz and gangsters called, initially, "Hot Nocturne." This was Arlen after "Stormy Weather" and "The Wizard of Oz," Mercer after "Lazy Bones," "Too Marvelous for Words," and "Hooray for Hollywood" — which is to say, they were both already at the top of their craft. (They had actually collaborated on a song, in partnership with Yip Harburg, back in 1932. At the time, Mercer was singing with The Rhythm Boys, Paul Whiteman's backup trio, alongside Arlen's younger brother Jerry.)

An early scene in "Hot Nocturne" features the film's central quartet of musicians in a St. Louis jail. From the next cell over — the "colored" cell — comes a wail of the blues. Rather than just plugging in come generic film song, or simply using the standard "St. Louis Blues" (which might have been intended, as they are for no discernible reason in a jail cell in St. Louis), Arlen determined to write a real blues number. He even went so far as to actually do some research on the matter. He came up with "Blues in the Night," Johnny Mercer came up with that imperishable lyric ("my mama done tol' me, when I was in knee-pants. . .") and we had what remains on the short list of great American songs.

And not only that: Arlen and Mercer came up with another instant winner, an especially lovely ballad of love lost called "This Time the Dream's on Me." There are also two nifty if forgotten rhythm numbers, "Says Who? Says You, Says I!" and "Hang on to Your Lids, Kids." The main event, though, is "Blues in the Night," which is introduced a cappella by William Gillespie and is recurrent through the film. A jazz quintet, led by Richard Whorf at the piano and managed by clarinetist Elia Kazan, scrimps and scrapes and rides the rails in order to play their new-style music. They are taken under the sponsorship of small-time gangster Lloyd Nolan, who puts them up in a little joint he has in New Jersey. His partner is Howard da Silva, two years before he came East to play Jud Fry in Oklahoma! Oh, yeah, there are a couple of dames mixed up in it, Priscilla Lane and Betty Field; the latter was an Abbott comedienne in such plays as "Room Service" and "What a Life," which took her to Hollywood. She had her best role as Georgina Allerton in the 1945 play "Dream Girl," which was written and directed by her husband Elmer Rice.

Blues in the Night [Warner], as the film was retitled as soon as the execs heard the song, is somewhat minor but eminently watchable. It is based on what they term "a play by Edwin Gilbert," although this seems to have been an unproduced opus (or perhaps merely a treatment). Kazan is in some places mentioned as an uncredited co-author, and his showy role — that of a bright and eager young law student with music in his veins, tied (by telephone) to his ever-lovin' mama — seems to be self-created. The film holds up well enough, even for those who don't care about those great songs, and the DVD has been outfitted with the usual interesting bonuses. In this case, there is a 1942 Oscar-nominated short about jazz musicians called "Jammin' the Blues," which offers a rare glimpse at authentic blues musicians of the time (Lester Young, Red Callender, Barney Kessell and more, with a vocal by Marie Bryant). Also on tap are three vintage cartoons. Remember Daffy Duck croonin' "my mama done tol' me," with Porky Pig in hot pursuit? Here 'tis.

(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes," and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com.)

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