-- "THE CRIMSON CANARY" - 1945 A group of navy vets form a jazz combo just after the war and hit the road looking for work. We have Noah Beery Jr. on trumpet, Danny Morton on drums, John Kellogg on the ivories, Jimmy Dodd on sax and Steve Brodie playing the clarinet. They are playing a small jazz club owned by Steven Geary. Claudia Drake is the club singer who is making the rounds of the band. The drummer, Morton, falls hard for the tart and wants to marry her. Beery, the leader of the group, warns her off with an "or else" threat. The band ends their set for the night and hit the bar to tip a few. Morton begs off saying he has had enough already. 20 minutes later the band hits the change room to pack up their stuff. What do they find but an unconscious Morton and a very dead Drake. The boys grab up Morton, their instruments, their pay, and make a dash out the door. Morton recalls having an argument with Drake but has no idea how she ended up dead. They all agree to split up and lay low for a while till the heat cools. Beery and Morton hide out in San Fran where Beery's girl, Lois Collier lives. John Litel is the Police detective who draws the case. Litel is a jazz fan who uses a recording of the band to track them down. He hits all the local jazz clubs till he rounds up the band. While this is going on, Collier is doing an investigation of her own. She discovers that Miss Drake had also been stepping out with club owner Geary. Geary was less than amused with the attention she was laying on Morton. Geary had killed Drake and framed Morton for the crime. Collier confronts Geary, which needless to say is not the swiftest thing to do. It is only the timely arrival of Detective Litel and Beery that save Collier from the same fate as Drake.
While not a gem by any means, this Universal Studios low renter passes the time quite well. As a bonus for the jazz fan, there is a set that features tenor sax great, Coleman Hawkins, as well as bass legend, Oscar Pettiford. Josh White even gets in a couple of songs.
John Hoffman directed the film. Hoffman worked mostly as an editor with WHY MUST I DIE and WAR HUNT as examples of the films he worked on. The screenplay was by Henry Blankfort. Blankfort wrote the screenplays for "Underworld Story" and "Open Secret". The D of P was Jerome Ash who was a bottom B and serial cameraman.
John Litel was in THE MADONNA'S SECRET, SMOOTH AS SILK, LIGHTHOUSE, THE GUILTY, KEY LARGO, PITFALL, WOMAN IN HIDING, KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE. Collier was in COBRA WOMAN and OUT OF THE STORM. Claudia Drake was in THE LADY CONFESSES, LADY AT MIDNIGHT and DETOUR. Morton had roles in MONEY MADNESS, SMOOTH AS SILK and CRIME INC. Kellogg was in SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT, THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS, JOHNNY O'CLOCK, PORT OF NEW YORK and THE ENFORCER. We all know Brodie's noir pedigree and some of us will remember Jimmy Dodd from THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB.
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