Night Song (1947) User Reviews (31)

Despite implausibility, bittersweet romance proves intoxicating hokum

[bmacv · 7/10 · 24 October 2002]

Unabashedly sentimental and a little silly (and all the more winning for it), John Cromwell's Night Song is about love, music and blindness. After a night at the San Francisco Symphony, Merle Oberon goes slumming with her high-hat companions to a joint called Chez Mamie. Promptly she falls for the blind piano player, Dana Andrews, who hews to the unbreakable Hollywood code of the vital male with a disability: he takes it out on everybody around him, including her.

With the help of his band-mate and companion Hoagy Carmichael, she comes up with the sort of plan that would better be left to Lucy Ricardo - she pretends to be blind, too! And not only blind but living on slender means, so of course the proud Andrews comes to reciprocate her love. Meanwhile, she uses her secret wealth to fund a composition prize, which goes to Andrews for the piano concerto he's been bitterly working on. He wins, and with the money flies to New York not only to have his sight restored but to hear his work played by Artur Rubinstein under Eugene Ormandy's baton (both appear as themselves; the concerto, alas, by Leith Stevens, dispels no memories of Brahms' 2nd).

In New York, the newly sighted Andrews meets up with Oberon - not as the poor blind girl but as his society benefactress (he's never seen her, remember, but you'd think he'd remember her voice - he is, after all, a musician). He falls in love with her, too, or again, or something, but then starts to think that he's a heel for throwing over the woman he left in San Francisco....

Night Song is one of those late-40s/early-50s movies that takes classical music seriously, and hurray for that. It also features that wise old crone Ethel Barrymore as Oberon's aunt, all knowing smirks and wry aphorisms (it's exactly the performance she gave in A Portrait of Jennie that same year). Best of all is Lucien Ballard's inspired photography: in the digs that Andrews and Carmichael share, he overlays a shadowy scrim from the tracery in the lace curtains and the gingerbread that festoons the archways. All in all, Night Song is a bittersweet romance of that potent post-war vintage; it's intoxicating, and puts your good judgement quite to sleep.

Silly but somehow resonates

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 11 May 2010]

Thanks to a lovely cast and good direction by John Cromwell, "Night Song," pure hokum from 1947, manages to hold one's interest and be an entertaining film. It's the story of Dan (Dana Andrews), a composer who was blinded after the war and has now given up on life. He plays with his friend's (Hoagy Carmichael) group, and one night, a socialite (Merle Oberon) hears Dan play one of his own compositions and wants to talk with him. She discovers that he's a bitter, unhappy man. She wants to help, so she, too, pretends she's blind and meets him on the beach. She asks him to help her with her piano-playing and urges him to write.

There is some wonderful music in this film, played by Artur Rubinstein, and Eugene Ormandy conducts the orchestra. The "Piano Concerto in C Minor" is actually composed by Leith Stevens, and it's quite good. Carmichael shines, singing "Who Killed 'Er" and "One for My Baby."

Ethel Barrymore provides fine support as the sarcastic Miss Willey. It's an unusual role for her. Normally, she's a dowager without much sense of humor. Here, she still comes off like a dowager, but her wisecracks are effective nevertheless.

There are some major holes in this film - I find Merle Oberon's speaking voice and accent very unique, and I don't know why Dan didn't recognize it immediately when she is introduced as her real self. I also didn't totally buy Dan's reactions at the end; I would have expected him to become quite angry.

Still, there's something about "Night Song" that you can't help liking. If you're a fan of Merle Oberon's and/or Dana Andrews, don't miss it. Lucky for me, I love Hoagy Carmichael as well.

The movie plays like the bittersweet concerto that is a part of its climax.

[Ramesseum · 7/10 · 8 February 2009]

For those who did not live in the 40s, this film may appear to be soap-operish. However, one must remember that 60 years of Real and TV soap opera have drastically diminished its impact, leaving us with a feeling that we have seen it all before - forgetting that it was the "first". A blind musician, a wealthy socialite, an "all-knowing" aunt, a musical friend, Rubinstein and Ormandy - what a confection! And the "glue" that holds it all together is the music. After all, it IS "Night Song". Other reviewers have been rather harsh in their criticism of Leith Stevens' concerto. It should be noted that it has been recorded along with other film piano concertos on ELAN CD (Piano in Hollywood)and represents - along with the output of so many others - the greatest "American" symphonic music of the 20th century. Film music never gets its proper due. Whatever "romanticism" in this movie appears far fetched, it's no less plausible than the current crop of "action" films. For those who prefer clanging and banging, this "song" is not for you!

Dana Andrews and Hoagy Carmichael a third time

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 29 May 2019]

The third of three films featuring Dana Andrews and musician Hoagy Carmichael, and this time, Andrews, instead of being a frontiersman/entrepreneur or a war veteran bombardier to Carmichael's mandolin and then piano playing, progressively-minded moral conscious... like in CANYON PASSAGE and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES... Dana's a musician too: a blind pianist and ticked off about it, working for and living with Carmichael's jazz club manager, Chick, who winds up in cahoots with lovely rich girl Merle Oberon...

The best scenes happen early when she first meets Andrews at the nightclub with her stuffy friends in tow and he, between jazz sets, is playing a smoky classical composition only she seems to hear, and then pretends to "run into him" first at the beach, and then meeting up for lessons: all the while pretending to be blind. And she's got her own insightful advise-giving friend in Ethel Barrymore.

As for Dana Andrews, the performance is realistic enough throughout the first half that the happy-sappy second part, leading to what would now be considered a Hallmark Channel conclusion, is actually quite welcomed: Being such a genuinely grouchy, hateful jerk without sight, you'll hope he's cured just to give the poor little rich, smitten girl a break...

Who's painted herself into more corners by pretending to be someone else, again: After which NIGHT SONG plays out like a biopic of a famous composer, which it's not. And in one scene, when Dana tells Hoagy's he's a mediocre musician, well... that took some good acting on Dana's part, who, just the year before, was getting "stinking at Butches" (Hoagy's joint) along with Frederic March and Harold Russell.

Now I understand the old saying "Love Is Blind"

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 16 August 2023]

I intended to watch this 1947 romantic drama to see the talented and most beautiful Jacqueline White in a starring role, but I had to settle seeing Ms. White in a short cameo appearance. The three (3) main stars were Dana Andrews, Hoagy Carmichael, and Merle Oberon and although I wanted to see more of Jacqueline White I was not disappointed with the on screen presence of the aforementioned three stars.

Dan Andrews plays Dan, a blind lyricist and talented pianist who lost his eyesight later on in life, so he does remember how beautiful the world and women were when he had his vision. His best friend is the actor Hoagy Carmichael who plays Chick, a fella who can set his blind buddy straight when he gets into one of his stubborn moods, which seems to occur more often than not.

Dan does not feel sorry for himself since losing his eyesight. Quite to the contrary he despises people who look down upon his blindness as a handicap which is why Dan and Chick are best friends. Into the picture comes a wealthy and beautiful Cathy played by Merle Oberon, who realizes with the assistance of Dan's best friend Chick that having any level of pity on Dan is like putting grease onto a hot fire, so Cathy decides to pretend to be blind so that they appear to have something in common.

I won't spoil the ending for anyone but suffice to say that although sometimes love is blind as they say, love can also conquer peoples fear of the unknown and in this case, love is like a Night Song which makes this film a pleasure to see.

I give the film a satisfying 7 out of 10 IMDb rating having watched the film twice, even if I only got a glimpse of the beautiful Jacqueline White. Well worth seeing, no pun intended.

Love Is Blind

[writers_reign · 6/10 · 20 August 2016]

In a brief triumph of hope over knowledge I entertained fleetingly the notion that this just might be a movie version of Cliff Odets' Night Music, his 1940 play whose failure in 1940 led to the demise of the charismatic Group Theatre out of which emerged so many lustrous talents both behind - Odets himself, Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan - and in front of the camera - Kazan again, Lee J. Cobb, Franchot Tone, John Garfield. In the event, of course, Night Song is a totally different affair improbably cast and with more holes than a Swiss cheese - for example Hoagy Carmichael leads a 'swing' band with a residency in a night club in San Francisco in which Dana Andrews is the blind pianist; we never hear the band playing anything remotely resembling swing and after the first reel we never see the band or the club again concentrating instead on the unlikely quartet comprising the two men plus Merle Oberon and Ethel Barrymore. Having fallen for Andrews on sight (sorry about that) whilst 'slumming', society dame Oberon affects blindness of her own to win Andrews love. His condition can, of course, be cured in a heartbeat but it will take major bucks and a surgeon in New York. He thinks that Oberon hasn't got change of a match and wouldn't take her money even if he knew she was really Miss Gotrocks but love of course will find a way. Oberon 'creates' a music competition with five K (this is 1947) for the best classical competition and arranges for Andrews to win it. Do I really need to go on? If you can get past this hoke and more - and yes, there IS more, I kid you not, then chances are you'll enjoy it.

Succeeds on many levels

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 12 December 2014]

If you ask me, this film seems undervalued or under-appreciated. I don't know why. RKO's NIGHT SONG stars Dana Andrews as a blind pianist and Merle Oberon as the woman who loves him. The music is wonderful, and while the plot is full of melodramatic complications and a liberal amount of hokum, it still manages to entertain and engage the audience because the characters are well-drawn and well played. The film boasts the added bonus of having Ethel Barrymore and Hoagy Carmichael in the supporting roles.

In some ways, NIGHT SONG reminds me of MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, where Irene Dunne (or Jane Wyman, take your pick) experiences blindness and manages to find love in an unlikely source.

While not considered an 'essential' (in the TCM sense of the word), NIGHT SONG is a studio film that is very well put together and succeeds on many levels.

Formula Romance that Triumphantly Transcends its Material

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 9 September 2016]

NIGHT SONG might only appear to be a routine example of the kind of postwar romance that most of the major studios produced. A blind bar pianist (Dana Andrews) is taken up by a wealthy socialite (Merle Oberon), who pretends to be blind herself in order to secure his confidence. After a courtship in San Francisco, the pianist is given sufficient financial backing to have an operation to restore his sight, and receive a concert premiere of his new concerto at Carnegie Hall, New York. He returns to San Francisco, where he meets his beloved, and the two them vow eternal love.

Frank Renton and Dick Irving Hyland's screenplay contains its fair share of intertexts. The idea of a concert performance dates back to Brian Desmond Hurst's huge British wartime hit DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT (1941), that contained the premiere of Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto," while Andrews's predicament as a war-scarred survivor cross- references Goldwyn's THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946), in which the actor had given an equally memorable characterization in a similar role.

Yet nonetheless NIGHT SONG possesses a certain integrity. Director John Cromwell establishes a close bond between Andrews and his boon companion Chick (Hoagy Carmichael, who even gets a solo number), and by doing so suggests the importance of male bonding in an often uncertain world. No one, it seems, knows really what to do with the peace, after having won the war; the only outlet both men can find is playing bands in some cheap SF dive bars.

This relationship is contrasted with the more spiky friendship between Oberon and her boon companion Miss Willey (Ethel Barrymore). The grande dame of the American theater gives one of her more commanding characterizations as a supposed cynic with a heart of gold, who readily understands the agonies her younger friend experiences as she tries to woo the pianist without hurting his feelings. In an environment where people seldom gave vent to their emotions in public, emotional expression is put at a premium.

The end of the movie is enlivened by a live performance from Leopold Stokowski and Eugeme Ormandy playing themselves with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. They do not have to do much, but they set about delivering the concerto (with music by Leith Stevens) with a conviction and gusto that is truly refreshing.

Night Song is my favorite film

[pinchinnat · 10/10 · 25 January 2007]

They used to show it on Turner Classic Movies on Ethel Barrymore's birthday (when they would show all of her movies). It contains a wonderful original mini-concerto by film composer, Leith Stevens, written just for this film. I think this movie is wonderful, in part, because it really exemplifies the best sort of films that glamorize classical music and not only give the film-goer a glimpse into the life and excitement of being a musician, but a peak into the collaborative creative process, itself. Many of these films were made in the '30s, '40s and '50s. They are rarely made now; usually films about musicians, especially about classical musicians, alienate the audience from the artists rather than inspiring empathy and a desire to emulate the stars on screen. Also, such clever and moving plots in love stories are fairly rare now. Ironically, it has wonderful scenes where Hoagy Carmichael takes dictation for the blind composer but in real life, Hoagy Carmichael, one of the great jazz musicians of the 20th Century, could not read music. I wonder if the plot was inspired at all by the fate of the '20s Jazz Great, Bix Beiderbeck, who drank himself to death at a young age because he found it increasingly hard to get work in the Paul Whiteman-inspired era of big bands who played from written parts. It also has some wonderful quotable one-liners and great, even profound dialogue, I wish it were available. That a film with such a star-studded line-up should be completely out of print is astounding: Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon, Hoagy Carmichael, Ethel Barrymore, the great pianist, Arthur Rubenstein (who even has a couple of lines), the great Conductor, Eugene Ormandy, and the New York Philharmonic, as it was at its peak at the end of the '40s. There is a lot that is original in this film. For example, The scene in which Dana Andrews gives Merle Oberon a piano lesson is an amazing look at what brilliant interpretation based on musical maturity and advanced education can accomplish. Merle Oberon plays Chopin perfectly but mechanically, and then Dana Andrews plays it perfectly but brings it to life. We hear it from the kitchen along with Carmichael and Barrymore. She tells him archly that she doubts there is much he could teach her, as we hear it the first time together with them, and the second time, he tells her, matching her archness, exactly, "looks like she is improving already." One can neither rent nor buy Night Song. I wonder if it was issued on VHS. I just saw that a 16 mm copy went at auction for several hundred dollars on E-Bay. Pity.

The bind leading the blind

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 6 May 2010]

***SPOILERS*** Somewhat on the corny side film about a blind pianist Dan Evens, Dana Andrews, who's guided back to a life of seeing things, in full and living colors, by lovely millionaires classical music lover Chritstine or Kathy Mallory, Merle Oberon. It's at the "City by the Bay" that Kathy fell in love with both Dan and his music.

It was back at San Francisco's trendy "Chez Mami" nightclub that Kathy first lied eyes and ears on Dan who was the star attraction there as the nightclub's both blind and temperamental pianist. Falling madly in love with both Dan and his music Kathy was determined to, by having Dan practice practice practice, make possible his musical debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Kathy planned to have Dan's unfinished piano concerto, that he swore he'd never finish, played to an adoring public of classical music lovers, besides herself, by her good friend the legendary Artur "Ruby" Rubinstein backed up by a full orchestra conducted by fellow musical legend Euegne Ormandy.

Dan who lost his eyesight about a year ago is bitter about the hand that life dealt him and doesn't want any sympathy from anyone much less Kathy whom he had never laid eyes on in his life! It's with the help of Dan's good friend and roommate fellow musician Chick Morgan, Hoagy Carmichael,that Kathy tricks him into thinking that she's blind like himself to gain Dan's confidence. Calling herself Mary Willie Kathy slowly brings Dan out of his depression in giving him confidence in his piano playing ability as well as his musical composition that she has accepted, by being a member of the board, by a board of musical experts back in New York City. In winning the contest in best musical score Dan ends up getting a $5,000.00 prize that Kathy plans to pay for an eye operation that would bring Dan back his sight.

It's then that the movie "Night Song" starts to really get corny in Dan at first wanting Kathy, whom he thinks is blind, to get the sight restoring operation instead of himself in noble Dan feeling that she deserves, after laying on him this line of BS bout her sad and sorry life, it far more then he does. Despite all his efforts against it Dan does get operated on and finally is able to see but Kathy, or Mary as he knows her as, is nowhere to be found. Kathy feels that if Dan finds out that she, or Mary Willie, pulled the wool over his eyes in making him think that she was as blind as a bat, like he was, he being the proud and sensitive person that he his would drop her like a handful of hot coals. Dan himself in meeting Kathy after his successful eye operation has completely forgotten about her other self as Mary Willie which distresses Kathy in her feeling everything that she did for him was completely in vain.

It's only after a spellbinding and bravado of a performance of Dan's now finished unfinished piano concerto with the amazing "Ruby" Rubinstein tickling the piano keys at Carnegie Hall that Dan finally realized what a real jerk he was. That's in him ignoring the very person who made that great event for him possible Mary Willie; Kathy Mallory's other self!

***SPOILERS*** Flying back to his old stomping grounds in San Francisco to see Mary and tell her how much he both loves and appreciates what she did for him Dan finally finds out what everyone watching the movie knew all along! That Mary and Kathy are one and the same person! It's then that Dan and Kathy, who's also an excellent pianist, sit down in her shabby San Francisco pad and play on her antique piano, worth thousands of dollars, beautiful classical music together as the movie finally, after 102 excruciating minutes, comes to an end.

Symphony for the Devil

[SFTeamNoir · 4/10 · 2 December 2020]

Classy San Francisco socialite Merle Oberon falls in love with blind pianist Dana Andrews, even though he is bitter, cruel, and demeaning, especially to her. But his unpublished concerto piece is overwhelming to her ears, so she creates a strange and unlikely plot to both get his talents out into the world and seduce him. Quality support roles by Hoagie Carmichael and Ethel Barrymore make this watchable, and Oberon and Andrews do their best, but like the grandiose and overwrought concerto, the film can't find any real street cred. The Hoagie songs are far better!

Night Song is worthy of a DVD!

[simonson024 · 10/10 · 5 May 2010]

The job of a movie is to give the audience members a bigger slice of life than they would normally experience. Night Song, a classic movie of the post-war 1940's, gives that slice of life with rare grace, elegance and style. Critics have panned it because of the "bad" far-fetched plot, the "bad" music, and "bad" acting.

I like this movie because, quite coincidentally, I personally have digested many of the slices of life in the "far-fetched" plot. The movie is about a piano player/composer who is struck on the head in the prime of his life. I am a piano player/composer who was struck on the head in the prime of my life. We both made it through a war era untouched, he WWII, and I Vietnam, well almost. He is living hand to mouth with his best friend. I am also living hand to mouth with my best friend, my wife. For those who love far-fetched coincidences: The composer's last name is Evans—my grandfather's name before he changed it. The movie was probably shot in 1946, the year I was born. Exactly 20 years later I saw Artur Rubenstein, who acted and performed in this movie, in a concert at the Music Center in Los Angeles--the only time I ever went to such a concert. It opened in Sweden on my birthday. What could be more far-fetched?. The not so far-fetched plot twists were not lost on me. As I watched, I was saying to myself, "What is possible for me? Miracles happen every day! Every success story was improbable before it happened!" After watching the film, I went over to the piano and played my own unfinished concerto once again!

As for the Leith Stevens music, if you didn't like it, say so. If it didn't touch you, say so. I liked it, immensely. It touched me immensely! If you want a thrill, type in Leith Stevens on IMDb. You'll find page after page of musical credits—right up to 2005! The man is a modern master composer played by the greatest performers of that time in this movie! Not bad for "bad" music! The job of film critics is to say what they like and dislike about films and why. They should leave all categorical good and bad thoughts completely out of the conversation.

One measure of the talent of an actor, and some say the only measure of a film, is the ability to transport the mind and the spirit of the viewer to another time and place. I was completely transported by this movie. I was perfectly comfortable with ALL the performances, by some of the most distinguished actors of the era, because I was ready, willing and able to be transfixed; and this film is transfixing! Let's get it on DVD!

The Blind Piano Player

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 10 January 2022]

Dana Andrews and Merle Oberon (the latter playing George Sand in skirts to Andrews' moody Chopin) spend this slick soap opera (set mostly in San Francisco but almost entirely reliant upon back projection) awash with name-dropping and purple prose hunched over a piano with a faraway look in their eyes; but only Andrews is actually supposed to be blind.

Atmospherically shot by Lucien Ballard, with classy comic relief by Ethel Barrymore and Hoagy Carmichael; at the finale (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) Rubinstein plays Andrews' own composition at Carnegie Hall. The End.

Curiosity Value?

[JohnHowardReid · 4/10 · 20 March 2016]

I gather from Paramount's Press Book that the purpose of this movie was to introduce a new piano concerto by Leith Stevens. Alas, if Paramount Publicity is to be believed, that aim fails dismally. Despite being rendered here by Arthur Rubenstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eugene Normandy, the concerto is as dull as the surrounding story is silly. True, our star, Merle Oberon, is beautifully photographed and gorgeously gowned. Also true that director John Cromwell and actors Hoagy Carmichael and Ethel Barrymore try their best to work up an audience's interest in the proceedings. The problem is that the script is so absurd, it would have made a really great spoof if only the actors and the director had decided NOT to play it straight! (I gave this movie 2/10 in my original review, but maybe that's being too hard even though it does force audiences to sit still for 102 minutes.)

A voice in the dark

[dbdumonteil · 21 February 2012]

Bearing more than a distant resemblance with "magnificent obsession" ,Stahl's tear jerker of the thirties (remade by Douglas Sirk in the fifties )"Night Song " is less melodramatic ,but ,mainly in its second part ,drags on a little bit;the movie features two real life musicians :Arthur Rubinstein in the flesh ,and Hoagy Carmichael whose songs were covered even by Beatle George Harrison ("Baltimore Oriole"," Hong Hong Blues) and his influence shows in McCartney's song "baby's request" .

Dana Andrews is reliable as ever ,and Madame Barrymore provides good support (dig the line when she tells her niece that all she wants is peace);Merle Oberon's playing is a bit emotionally remote ;the music is omnipresent ,classical stuff or Carmichael's "monkey song" .But the story itself is a bit derivative.

Blind Woman's Bluff

[Lejink · 6/10 · 12 June 2021]

I sought out this movie on the recommendation of Hollywood history podcaster Karina Longworth whose latest in-depth series focuses on the rivalry between those powerful Golden Age gossip-columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. This movie was produced by Parsons' daughter Harriet which is why it came into her orbit.

I have found director John Cromwell's work to be interesting, likewise his victimisation and later exile from Hollywood as a result of the Blacklist in the 50's. On the face of it though, this feature plays like a straightforward lush, romantic melodrama, centring much on classical music and if it has any leftist leanings, I certainly couldn't see any sign of them.

Merle Oberon is the rich, bored and single New York society girl who loves classical music and who concert-goes with her tough-on-the-outside maiden aunt, played by Ethel Barrymore. After another concert where she's being squired by an empty-headed toff, she ends up in a restaurant where the popular house-band is led by pianist and songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Also in the band slumming it is Dana Andrews blind pianist, a cynical sourpuss by nature but in fact a talented player and indeed composer of music. Since he lost his sight, however, he's stopped work on his first concerto even though everyone tells him it's good.

Intrigued by both his talent and his truculence, Oberon decides that the only way to get past Andrews' blind spot is to pretend she's blind herself, which unlikely trick she manages to pull off with the initially reluctant assistance of Barrymore and Carmichael's connivance. Will Oberon's masquerade win Andrews' heart and can she turn him back to composing.

The fantastical plot stretches credibility just too far, but I enjoyed the acting. I've always liked Andrews and he doesn't disappoint here as the troubled piano-tinkler while Oberon is fine too as his millionairess girl-friend who leads him on. Good as they both are, it's Barrymore and Carmichael, who also gets one very funny number of his own, with their numerous witty asides, who frequently steal their scenes.

The movie at times can't seem to wait to get to its big ending where wonders never cease and we have to sit through a full-orchestra concerto-piece along the way to the climax. Cromwell directs with some style and I especially liked the device he used to obscure Oberon's features as Andrews obviously recollects his happiest meetings with her but of course can't put a face to her.

A pleasant, easy-to-watch movie, especially if you're into classical music but in the end I'd say that the plotting betrayed a little too much of the fanciful all the way to its rather predictable outcome.

"I call it A Concerto For Sweeney and I'm never going to end it."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 16 September 2016]

Getting lucky in catching the charming 1951 movie Two Tickets to Broadway,I decided to keep a look out for other similar titles appearing on the BBC. Finding the only DVD around to be a Warner Archives edition that would cost £15 to import (!) I was happy to spot that the BBC iPlayer had an obscure gem,which led to me getting ready to perform a morning song.

The plot:

Becoming blind from an accident, classical musician Dan Evans sinks into dark seedy clubs where Evans is paid in beer and burgers. Catching some of his act at a slightly more up-market club, socialite Cathy Mallory asks Evans if she can become his benefactor.Still bitter about his blindness,Evans rejects the offer.Shortly after his exchange with Mallory,Evans quits the club. Keen to track him down,Mallory gets bandleader Chick Morgan to arrange a secret encounter between them. Wanting Evans to feel that she understands where he is coming from,Mallory changes her name to Mary Willey,and pretends to be blind.

View on the film:

Learning to play the piano for the film, Dana Andrews gives an excellent performance as Evans,whose joy behind a piano Andrews makes sing,which masks the blind bitterness that Andrews covers Evans eyes with off-stage. Trying to stop Evans from catching her real sight, Merle Oberon gives a terrific performance as Mallory,with Oberon lapping up Mallory's Melodrama glamour with a breezy,loved up atmosphere.

Taking some big leaps in the credibility of Evans and Mallory's romance,the screenplay by Frank Fenton/Dick Irving Hyland & DeWitt Bodeen shade some of the gaps in by allowing Evans to open up about the darkness around him,which never becomes bitterly melodramatic,thanks to the writers retaining a playfulness between Evans and Mallory. Crisply showing Andrews play Evans music,director John Cromwell and cinematographer Lucien Ballard looks into his eyes by engulfing the nightclubs in striking low- lighting which reflect Evans view. Stepping on the beach,Cromwell gives the romance a stylish elegance of overlapping images opening the love between Evans and Mallory,as the night song sings.

Great old melodrama

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 27 February 2023]

Dana Andrews is famous for his film noirs, but he had more of a range than looking good in a tilted hat while solving a murder mystery. In Night Song, he plays a blind piano player who's angry at the world. He plays in a nightclub, and when poor little rich girl Merle Oberon takes notice of him, he doesn't take kindly to her. He thinks she's just taking an interest in a "charity of the week" and he doesn't want pity. What's Merle to do? Dana's a handsome man, and he's talented, too!

Unfortunately, she does something really bad. This is a drama, folks, and sometimes in dramas, characters make decisions that make the audience cringe. Merle leaves Dana alone for a bit, long enough for him to forget about her, then gets friend Hoagy Carmichael to arrange a new introduction. This time, she isn't a wealthy woman looking to support him: she's a poor, recently blinded woman trying to adjust to her new dark world. Do you think anything might go wrong with that situation?

I would definitely recommend this movie if you like Dana or Merle, old romances, or good music. Leith Stevens earned a Hot Toasty Rag nomination for his lovely and unusual piano score. This is a great melodrama to watch on a rainy afternoon.

Cheesy Romantic Movie--If you like that kind of thing, go for it!

[joncheskin · 7/10 · 18 October 2022]

My journey to seeing the movie Night Song is a bit unusual. I was driving down the road one day listening to the local classical music station and they played this piano concerto by some guy I never heard of before, Leith Stevens. Since I am a classical musician and I was rather favorably struck by the piece, a sort of combo in style between Ravel and Rachmaninoff, I was curious when I found out that the piece was featured in a romantic Hollywood flick, Night Song. I then looked up the film on YouTube and was flabbergasted to find a high-quality video of Artur Rubenstein, Eugene Ormandy and the NY Phil playing the piece--pure gold! Still, what kind of movie was this?

I soon found out that schlock was a reasonable one word assessment. Apparently the movie was about a pianist/composer who was blinded in an accident. A rich socialite hears him playing piano in a club one night, and falls in love at first sight. Problem is, he is embittered, and the only way that she can crack his hard exterior is to pretend that she is also blind. Gradually she thaws the exterior and convinces him to get back to composing to enter a contest to make enough money for an eye operation, etc.

I watched the movie out of some morbid curiousity, and am happy to report that it is A) completely ridiculous and melodramatic in its plotting and B) really very likable in terms of its execution, especially if you are into cheesy romantic movies. Good performances all around from Dana Andrews, Merle Oberon and their support actors Hoagy Charmichael and Ethel Barrymore. Great art it ain't (except for the spectacular performance of the concerto) but anyone into this sort of old-fashioned romantic stuff will love it. So dive in if you are so inclined.

The plot is silly...yet the film is too good not to like.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 5 May 2010]

One of the most striking things about this film when it first began is that I noticed some very strange casting. While Dana Andrews is cast as a blind piano player, I was surprised to see Hoagy Carmichael (a very famous pianist) cast as a clarinet player! Talk about odd. Now Hoagy did play the piano as well in the film AND Andrews either faked it VERY well or he actually knew how to play the piano--so it all worked out fine.

The film begins with Merle Oberon and some other rich friends "slumming it". Instead of their usual high-class evening, they drop in at a lower-rent club where Dana Andrews is performing. When Oberon and Andrews meet, there is a bit of a spark--though Andrews is so bitter from his recently becoming blind that he pushes everyone away--including her. However, to get past this wall, Oberon tells him that she, too, is blind and has been all her life. They hit it off and soon fall in love. BUT, she is NOT blind--just a kind lady with a strange idea how to help!! One of the big issues in Andrews' life, other than his coping with blindness, is his desire to be a composer. Oberon encourages him and eventually he wins a major prize for his music--and can now afford the surgery to possibly restore his sight. However, when the surgery IS a success, he gets on with his life and seems to forget about Oberon. As for Oberon, she decides to introduce herself to Andrews without telling him who she really is--and they hit it off. Oddly, he doesn't realize who she really is--and that it was her family that sponsored the prize he won. All of which, when you think about it, makes little sense. You'd assume that with exact same voice, he'd quickly know who she is! But, again, being a film, you are expected to believe this little ruse--or at least not question it. Oberon is hoping that in time, Andrews will come back to her--the blind girl. Or, if he doesn't, that he'll at least not feel obligated to her out of a sense of loyalty or pity. Will the two sort all this out and find love or will they forever be pathetic and lonely idiots? See for yourself and find out how all this unfolds.

This is an odd film. While so much about the plot is contrived and even a bit silly, the romance is handled so well that the deficiencies in the plot somehow aren't all that important. While you normally would not expect to love seeing Andrews and Oberon together (it is an unlikely pairing), the two actors manage to make it work--mostly because they were terrific at their craft. And, incidentally, the director had a particularly deft hand with setting the mood--with great lighting, scenes and music. It's a film I really DIDN'T want to like much because of the silly plot, but it still manages to work and is well worth seeing...just be sure to turn off that nagging voice that tells you to question all the plot difficulties! If you can do that, then this film is for you.

By the way, at the 89 minute mark (or so), there are brief cameos by the great pianist Arthur Rubenstein and director Eugene Ormandy. Rubenstein even does a solo--of the piece Andrews' character wrote in the film.

Gets better as you get into it; and a challenge to you

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 15 July 2023]

There were some parts of the film early on that I found boring. In fact, I had started watching this film once before and drupped it. This time I saw it through and I was glad I did. It had enough good points to make up for the early slowness, and, overall it's a pretty decent film. Not great, but "pretty good".

Among the things the film has going for it:

You can't go wrong with Ethyl Barrymore. She's a wonderful addition to most any film, and she certainly was here.

I've never seen a film before where I was impressed by Hoagy Carmichael. Well, here I was impressed. He was perfect for the 'best friend'. Don't think I'm slighing Carmichael. I personally count "Stardust" as, perhaps, the best song ever written. And interestingly, in this film he sings "Who Killed the Black Widder".

Dana Andrews was very good here, and the special contact lenses he wore surely helped him portray a blind man. I almost always enjoyed Dana Andrews, but I guess alcoholism dimmed his career.

I was not particularly impressed when Dana Andrews was supposedly playing the piano, but the music sounded really great when the real Arthur Rubinstein and the real Eugene Ormandy were performing.

Merle Oberon is very good here.

Ther eare part of this film that seem pretty cliche, but it's a decent movie, particularly as you get further into it.

As I was getting toward the end of the film, it occurred to me how much differently this film might end if the script was being written today. So that's my challenge to you: how would a similar story be more likely to end in today's cinema?

Finding that muse

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 24 June 2005]

Merle Oberson, rich San Francisco socialite, goes out for a nightcap at a jazz joint after a classical concert and flips over pianist Dana Andrews in Hoagy Carmichael's combo. Being a rich gal, she usually gets what she wants, but Andrews gives her the air. He's blind so the beautiful Ms. Oberson's charms don't impress him a mite.

She talks it over with Carmichael and our boy Dana is a musical genius, but the blindness has left him bitter. So in order to help him find his muse, she pretends she's blind.

Now if that don't sound like the silliest romantic plot you ever heard, you haven't seen too many old Hollywood classics. Andrews and Oberon looked downright embarrassed as did Ethel Barrymore playing Oberon's aunt.

But the film has the saving grace of the abundantly talented Hoagy Carmichael. The highlight of the film is him singing and playing his song, Who Killed the Black Widow. Now that was muse well worth finding.

A Great Classic Film in 1948

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 28 January 2005]

This was a very outstanding film for viewers who loved Merle Oberon, Dana Andrews, Ethel Barrymore and Hoagy Carmichael during the height of their careers in 1948. In this film, Cathy,(Merle Oberon),"The Broken Melody",'34, a rich woman who falls deeply in love with Dana Andrews,(Dan),"The Best Years of Our Lives",'46, who is blind and is a down and out piano player and composer. Dan has a great pal who is also a musician and they work and live together in a Jazz club and try to make ends meet. Dan's buddy is Hoagy Carmichael,(Chick),"To Have & Have Not",'44 who gives a great supporting role and is quite funny through out the entire picture. There is plenty of Classical music and a great appearance of a famous conductor and pianist. The is lots of romance, drama and comedy and a very unusual ending.

hard to accept

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 6 July 2022]

Socialite Cathy Mallory (Merle Oberon) falls for blind piano player Dan Evans (Dana Andrews). She is dissatisfied and he's bitter. She pretends to be blind to get close to him and help him finish his music.

The premise is a bit convoluted. I don't exactly buy it. It may be a case of show it, not tell it. In the movie, Chick tells Cathy the premise. In the end, I don't think I could ever buy into it. It's not simply about being realistic. It's a moral dilemma. She is lying to him after all. There is an uncomfortableness to it. Also he needs to choose Mary right away. It seems unromantic for him to not. The heart is mostly in the right place but the details don't work.

Implausible? Definitey! But highly underrated classic soaper

[bobvend · 8/10 · 7 March 2013]

This film predates my birth by ten years, but after just seeing it on TCM, I had to weigh in. Overlong? ...well probably, and certainly contrived, given the plot. But somehow, it works, and does so beautifully.

Both Andrews and Oberon do the best they can with their characters: he, a blind pianist playing in dives; she, a wealthy socialite who likes to go slumming. Enamoured by him, she feigns blindness in order to insinuate her way into his bitter existence. Both Hoagy Charmichael and stalwart Ethel Barrymore add comic bite and the requisite amount of wisdom as they lend their support to the ruse. And there are some cleaver twists which keep the game running just when one would think they would otherwise send it careening off the tracks. And it's hard for me to think of another film in which Merle Oberon was more beautiful.

Set your reality check to its lowest setting and enjoy this classic sudser. And, if you're not a fan of classical music, this film just might change that!