NIGHT SONG (1947)
Posted: November 12th, 2012, 9:00 pm
I wanted to start this thread because Maven and I had an interesting discussion about this film, and I wanted to see how others felt about it, as well as continuing to talk about it here, rather than hogging the Films You've Seen Lately thread.
NIGHT SONG SPOILERS
For those who haven't seen the film, but want a briefish description, the plot is this: Dana is a musician, a pianist and composer who has been blinded in the war, and he's angry. He won't listen to anyone about moving on with his life, not even his buddy Hoagy Carmichael. One night, at a party or nightspot, Merle Oberon hears him playing , and is drawn to the music. She instinctively goes to the piano, she asks if he wrote the music. He berates her, tells her she's just slumming, coming to stare at the blind guy. She is terribly upset, partly because her rich friends ARE slumming, but that's why she left them to come to the piano. She goes to Hoagy to ask who the musician is, and in discussing his problems gets an idea - he won't listen to anyone sighted, so she decides to impersonate a blind girl to show him that he CAN do anything he wants. She sets up a meeting, along with her aunt Ethel Barrymore, and the two young people become close.
Dana relaxes a little, and sure enough, soon he is writing again, and he even wins a competition, thanks to Merle, earning enough money to get an operation to fix his eyes. He leaves blind Merle, who has taken the alias name of Mary, and goes to the city. He is to hear his music played, but first gets the operation. Once sighted, he doesn't want to go back to Mary... too many memories, and well... she's blind. He meets Merle as her own rich self now, and they have an affair. Eventually, he hears his music played by Arthur Rubinstein, but something happens to him when he listens, and he runs home to Mary, who, thankfully hired a jet plane to get her home in time for him to come and see that she is the same woman. After the initial shock on his part, they fall into each other's arms and live happily ever after.
********************************************************
After watching the film, I made some comment about how only in the movies would a guy forgive a woman for tricking him like that, but that Dana Andrews really pulled it off. I really enjoyed the movie even with some of the seemingly less believable plot twists.Somehow, it all worked, probably thanks to the good acting of the leads.
Maven asked me some questions and here's how I answered (I thought the questions quite good, it made me think hard about my reactions to the movie):
Let's see...I'll start by saying I just take it as a given that Dana Andrews was an 'angry blind man' even after seeing all those terribly well adjusted folks on TCM telling us that they moved on fine after becoming challenged. For me, this is just the macguffin of the movie so if you can't believe in it, well give up on classic film then, lol. I bought into it hook line and sinker.
1. * Do you think Dana should have been angry about being manipulated (at the end of the film)?
As for thinking that Dana should have been angry at being manipulated, yeah, in the real world! But we are in movie land now, the world of the imagination. That would have been the standard way to go with this movie and I'm GLAD they didn't go that way.
I think he actually had a moment where it could have gone either way - and that's the GENIUS of Dana Andrews. He actually did register shock, then surprise, then something smoldering underneath, and finally decided he was sitting in the catbird seat, having both girls in one. So no, I didn't miss it that he wasn't angry... I was expecting it, but was pleased with the outcome the way it was.
2. * Do you think Merle should have been happy to have Dana whether he knew she was Mary or Catherine?
Merle did play those emotions you mention - the conflict of feeling hurt that he did not go back to her as the blind helpmeet, but also of just wanting to be herself to him, her full self, which includes the sexy woman he met later. Yeah, maybe I might have been a little more "You a**hole!" if it was me, but that's not the story they were telling. It was interesting that they were both sort of fragmented people. He because of his blindness and the rage that made him feel helpless (even though he was not), and she because she was playing a certain role that wasn't her whole self. They were able through each other to become whole people and that's a message I can get behind. And they appreciated each other so much more when they were whole, the multi layeredness of the other. So I bought it.
3. * Does Hoagy remind you of a Black guy? A cool cat in music who could've been the 'sidekick' in the movie if the world was different? He reads "black" to me. In any case Hoagy was one cool sexy cat.
I never thought of it, but yeah, he sure does give off that vibe. He's kind of in that role of mystic sage that many African Americans fell into, the few who were able to break out of stereotypical maid and butler roles. I think of Juano Hernandez as Art Hazzard in Young Man with a Horn, the older guy whose seen it ALL, the guy who knows before you do where it's all headed. I know Hoagy was a southern guy, but certainly not traditional. He's definitely a cool cat, a musician's musician. I think I find him rather sphinxlike, I'd love to know what he was really like. In the movies, you get a feel for him, a warmth of character, but you never really get to know him. I always think of him as this easy going guy, but then there's that stunning moment in Best Years of Our Lives where he says to Homer, "Give 'em time, kid; they'll catch on. You know your folks'll get used to you, and you'll get used to them. Then everything'll settle down nicely. Unless we have another war. Then none of us have to worry because we'll all be blown to bits the first day. So cheer up, huh?"
That sort of puts everything into perspective.
It would be interesting to line up all those wise visionary sidekicks in a list, the mystic ones, the person who can see the end coming from a mile away.
NIGHT SONG SPOILERS
For those who haven't seen the film, but want a briefish description, the plot is this: Dana is a musician, a pianist and composer who has been blinded in the war, and he's angry. He won't listen to anyone about moving on with his life, not even his buddy Hoagy Carmichael. One night, at a party or nightspot, Merle Oberon hears him playing , and is drawn to the music. She instinctively goes to the piano, she asks if he wrote the music. He berates her, tells her she's just slumming, coming to stare at the blind guy. She is terribly upset, partly because her rich friends ARE slumming, but that's why she left them to come to the piano. She goes to Hoagy to ask who the musician is, and in discussing his problems gets an idea - he won't listen to anyone sighted, so she decides to impersonate a blind girl to show him that he CAN do anything he wants. She sets up a meeting, along with her aunt Ethel Barrymore, and the two young people become close.
Dana relaxes a little, and sure enough, soon he is writing again, and he even wins a competition, thanks to Merle, earning enough money to get an operation to fix his eyes. He leaves blind Merle, who has taken the alias name of Mary, and goes to the city. He is to hear his music played, but first gets the operation. Once sighted, he doesn't want to go back to Mary... too many memories, and well... she's blind. He meets Merle as her own rich self now, and they have an affair. Eventually, he hears his music played by Arthur Rubinstein, but something happens to him when he listens, and he runs home to Mary, who, thankfully hired a jet plane to get her home in time for him to come and see that she is the same woman. After the initial shock on his part, they fall into each other's arms and live happily ever after.
********************************************************
After watching the film, I made some comment about how only in the movies would a guy forgive a woman for tricking him like that, but that Dana Andrews really pulled it off. I really enjoyed the movie even with some of the seemingly less believable plot twists.Somehow, it all worked, probably thanks to the good acting of the leads.
Maven asked me some questions and here's how I answered (I thought the questions quite good, it made me think hard about my reactions to the movie):
Let's see...I'll start by saying I just take it as a given that Dana Andrews was an 'angry blind man' even after seeing all those terribly well adjusted folks on TCM telling us that they moved on fine after becoming challenged. For me, this is just the macguffin of the movie so if you can't believe in it, well give up on classic film then, lol. I bought into it hook line and sinker.
1. * Do you think Dana should have been angry about being manipulated (at the end of the film)?
As for thinking that Dana should have been angry at being manipulated, yeah, in the real world! But we are in movie land now, the world of the imagination. That would have been the standard way to go with this movie and I'm GLAD they didn't go that way.
I think he actually had a moment where it could have gone either way - and that's the GENIUS of Dana Andrews. He actually did register shock, then surprise, then something smoldering underneath, and finally decided he was sitting in the catbird seat, having both girls in one. So no, I didn't miss it that he wasn't angry... I was expecting it, but was pleased with the outcome the way it was.
2. * Do you think Merle should have been happy to have Dana whether he knew she was Mary or Catherine?
Merle did play those emotions you mention - the conflict of feeling hurt that he did not go back to her as the blind helpmeet, but also of just wanting to be herself to him, her full self, which includes the sexy woman he met later. Yeah, maybe I might have been a little more "You a**hole!" if it was me, but that's not the story they were telling. It was interesting that they were both sort of fragmented people. He because of his blindness and the rage that made him feel helpless (even though he was not), and she because she was playing a certain role that wasn't her whole self. They were able through each other to become whole people and that's a message I can get behind. And they appreciated each other so much more when they were whole, the multi layeredness of the other. So I bought it.
3. * Does Hoagy remind you of a Black guy? A cool cat in music who could've been the 'sidekick' in the movie if the world was different? He reads "black" to me. In any case Hoagy was one cool sexy cat.
I never thought of it, but yeah, he sure does give off that vibe. He's kind of in that role of mystic sage that many African Americans fell into, the few who were able to break out of stereotypical maid and butler roles. I think of Juano Hernandez as Art Hazzard in Young Man with a Horn, the older guy whose seen it ALL, the guy who knows before you do where it's all headed. I know Hoagy was a southern guy, but certainly not traditional. He's definitely a cool cat, a musician's musician. I think I find him rather sphinxlike, I'd love to know what he was really like. In the movies, you get a feel for him, a warmth of character, but you never really get to know him. I always think of him as this easy going guy, but then there's that stunning moment in Best Years of Our Lives where he says to Homer, "Give 'em time, kid; they'll catch on. You know your folks'll get used to you, and you'll get used to them. Then everything'll settle down nicely. Unless we have another war. Then none of us have to worry because we'll all be blown to bits the first day. So cheer up, huh?"
That sort of puts everything into perspective.
It would be interesting to line up all those wise visionary sidekicks in a list, the mystic ones, the person who can see the end coming from a mile away.