Pete Kelly's Blues [Blu-ray]

Director: Jack Webb Jack Webb

Overview

Pete Kelly's Blues is arguably the most stylish of director/star Jack Webb's theatrical features. Beginning with a brilliantly evocative pre-credits prologue, wherein we see how WWI vet Pete Kelly (Webb) came into possession of his precious trumpet, the film traces Kelly to his 1927 gig at a Kansas City speakeasy. Most of the film concerns Kelly's efforts to keep his "Big Seven" aggregation together, his off-and-on romance with socialite Ivy Conrad (Janet Leigh), and his frequent confrontations with mob boss Fran McCarg (Edmond O'Brien). The Richard L. Breen screenplay is full of the deliciously hyperbolic allusions, similes, and metaphors that characterized Webb's radio version of Pete Kelly's Blues, while the musical score is graced by the jazz artistry of such greats as Ella Fitzgerald and Teddy Buckner. Peggy Lee, cast as a mob mistress who is rendered an imbecile after falling down a flight of stars, deservedly earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance. Likewise superb is Andy Devine, cast against type as a corrupt, brutal Kansas City detective, and Lee Marvin as Kelly's best pal. Disney art director Harper Goff, who'd been performing miracles on Webb's TV series Dragnet, brilliantly sustains the smoky zeitgeist of the Prohibition era. Pete Kelly's Blues was later spun off into a TV series starring William Reynolds as Kelly.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/11/2014
UPC:	0888574055721
Original Release:	1955
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Brothers Publications
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	30,238

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Webb	Pete Kelly
Janet Leigh	Ivy Conrad
Edmond O'Brien	Fran McCarg
Peggy Lee	Rose Hopkins
Andy Devine	George Tenell
Lee Marvin	Al Gannaway
Ella Fitzgerald	Maggie Jackson
Martin Milner	Joey Firestone
Jayne Mansfield	Cigarette Girl
Than Wyenn	Rudy
Herb Ellis	Bedido
John Dennis	Guy Bettenhouser
Mort Marshall	Cootie Jacobs
Nesdon Booth	Squat Henchman
William Lazarus	Dako
Dick Cathcart	Cornetist
Matty Matlock	Clarinetist
Moe Schneider	Trombonist
Eddie Miller	Saxophonist
George Van Eps	Guitarist
Nick Fatool	Drummer
Ray Sherman	Pianist
Jud de Naut	Bass Player
Snub Pollard	Waiter in Rudy's,Walter
Joe Venuti	Featured Members of the Tuxedo Band
Harper Goff	Featured Members of the Tuxedo Band
Perry Bodkin	Featured Members of the Tuxedo Band
John Booth	Guy Bettenhouser
The Marx Brothers	Actor
Sammy Cahn	Composer
Ray Heindorf	Composer
Arthur Hamilton	Composer

Technical Credits

Richard L. Breen

Jack Webb	Director,Producer
Richard L. Breen	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

With another actor in the title role, Pete Kelly's Blues might have been a compelling, memorable little film. Not a classic, mind you, for the Richard Breen screenplay too often gives us the familiar and comfortable rather than the fresh and exciting, but it's good enough to have provided the basis for a small little gem. Jack Webb's direction is actually good; at all times solid, it sometimes moves beyond that to show imagination and creativity, and it's quite successful at creating and maintaining atmosphere throughout. (Credit certainly must be shared with cinematographer Harold Hal Rosson for his role in making the film so evocative.) Director Webb also pulls some fine performances from a believably pushy Janet Leigh, a wary but determined Lee Marvin, and above all from a heartbreaking Peggy Lee. And there's no faulting the musical portions of the film, especially a couple of magical Ella Fitzgerald moments. But, unfortunately, Webb the director can't do anything with Webb the actor. He simply is lacking in the role -- charisma, depth, personality, even an understanding of what the character is all about. This naturally leaves a giant hole in the middle of the film. It's a tribute to the film's other strengths that this major flaw isn't fatal -- but it's unfortunate that it brings down an otherwise fine little film.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler