The Strip

The murder/suspense plot is little more than a convenient set of bookends to showcase the post-adolescent Mickey Rooney, Sally Forest and a gathering of jazz greats (Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Vic Damone) in the setting of a Sunset Strip nightspot. James Craig isn't bad as the mustachioed "heavy" doting on his office foliage (after Dewey's defeat in '48, mustaches became quite unAmerican). This movie is neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring, and only marginally "noir" by virtue of date, setting and plotline, but it's watchable -- the music and dance numbers are pretty good. Like a couple of other films ("The Man I Love;" "Love Me or Leave Me") it gives evidence that a new genre might have been in formation: the musical noir.

If you like jazz, you'll like this one : there's a good part of this movie which takes place in Los Angeles' night-clubs with guest star Louis Armstrong. The story may look classical for a film noir, but the way it shows the story of a drummer penetrating in the underground world is surprising : watch it especially for the drum solos. Enjoyable !

Mickey Rooney as discharged Korean War veteran Stanley Maxton not only gets a chance to act as a grown up out on his own in the big city of L.A the movie "The Strip" also showcases his ability to play the drums which he's very good at.

The story in itself is more or less average with Stan getting in with the wrong crowd. later when he meets pretty Jane Tafford, Sally Forrest, as he was running from the L.A vice squad. Stan falls so madly in love with the "Fluff's" nightclub cigarette girl and part-time dancer that he quits his job working for local mobster Sonny Johnson, James Craig,to work full-time as a drummer with the Louie Armstrong band at the club.

We already know before were even introduced to Stan that Jane is badly injured and dying in the hospital and Sonny is dead from a gunshot wound as the movie started. In a "Dragnet" like introduction we see a police car pull up at Jane's apartment in L.A finding her on the floor bleeding to death. Stan later picked up at his pad is taken to the police station and quizzed about both, Jane & Sonny's, shooting. The film then goes into a long flashback to how this whole tangled and deadly affair began. Stan wasn't too bright in his falling for Jane's obvious attempt to exploit his connections with big time mobster Sonny Johnson.

Sonny promising to get Jane a screen test and a short-cut into the movies as an actress had the star-struck Jane fall for Sonny's line that he knows people in high places in Hollywood, hook line and sinker. Jane then dropped Stan who thought that she was in love with him like a hot potato. Sonny also wasn't that fond of Stan checking out on him to work for Fluff's and sent two of his goons to Stan's place to first talk him into coming back and later work him over for not being too cooperative.

Stans later warning Jane about Sonny's involvement with the mob backfired when she went to have it out with him about his stringing her along and getting her nowhere in the movies which resulted in his being shot and killed and her ending up on life-support. At the police station Stan in another one of his hair brain attempts to get Jane to come back to him confessed to killing Sonny. It's then that he's told later by L.A police Detective Let. Bonnablo, Tom Powers, that she already confessed to the killing in a typed statement and didn't survive her injuries. Even there with him wanting to take the rap for Jane Stan ended up looking like a total jerk.

What I thought was the biggest boner that Stan made in the movie, and he made a lot of them, was him not noticing how Edna, Kay Brown, another girl who worked at "Fluff's" was absolutely crazy about him and how he just shoved her off every time she tried to make the slightest attempt to talk and get friendly with him. Edna who for some reason was called "kid" by everyone in the film, I had to find out what her name was in the IMDb credits, was as pretty, if not more so, then Jane and much nicer and kinder to Stan. But as usual, like with everything else he did in the movie, Stan completely overlooked a good thing when he saw one by being blind to the feelings that she had for him. Even when she was right in front of Stan sweetly asking him for a date!

There are things we can learn from the movies. Like in this movie we learn that if you have a girlfriend, it's probably not a good idea to introduce her to your mob buddy because he'll only steal her away from you. Besides the educational value of "The Strip", it is a true classic if only for all the drum solos it contains. I'm a big advocate of movies having lots of drum solos and Mickey Rooney's drumming is really showcased here. He's very good, and although the film suggests a downer noirish ending, ultimately Mickey's character "Stan" apparently gets to play in Louis Armstrong's band indefinitely, which strikes me as a great gig. It was fun to see William Demarest sit behind the drum kit too. Without the music interludes the story could have been told in about ten minutes, so the main reason to watch "The Strip" is for the music and dance numbers.

Korea vet and aspiring drummer Mickey Rooney ('Quicksand') gets driven off the road by suave racketeer James Craig ('While The City Sleeps'). To compensate, Craig gives Rooney a job in his bookmaker's room. When the police bust in to the business, Rooney manages to escape and hitches a ride with Sally Forrest ('Mystery Street'), who works at a nightclub owned by William Demarest ('Night Has A Thousand Eyes'). Rooney pays the nightclub a visit and before he knows it, he's switched jobs from the bookie room to the drum kit and has fallen hard for Forrest. Forrest wants a movie career however, so Rooney introduces her to Craig, who has some contacts. But Craig isn't interested in helping Forrest, he just sees another pretty girl to add to his list of conquests. When Rooney confronts Craig about this things quickly fall apart, leading to Craig getting killed, and Forrest nearly dead, and Rooney as the prime suspect...

Told in flashback, the movie starts with the discovery of Forrest barely alive on her apartment floor, and during the investigation, the discovery of Craig's body and a gun. Rooney is brought in for interrogation, and he tells his side of the story in flashback. It all sounds like pure noir, until you see the movie, which is also in many ways a musical. Artists and musicians like Louis Armstrong, Vic Damone and Jack Teagarden are given plenty of time to play their music and sing their songs, as a large part of the movie plays out in nightclubs. In fact, one of the songs (sung by hatcheck girl Kay Brown) got the movie an Oscar nomination. Thankfully, unlike some noirs where musical interludes slow down the story, it works rather well here. And seeing Rooney and Forrest showing off their drumming and dancing skills respectively was way more fun than I expected, impressive stuff.

But a noir it still is, trust me. People use people and through the flashback structure, there is always tension under the surface as (part of) the outcome is already known to the viewer. And it has a bleak, downbeat, even ironic, ending that firmly establishes this as a noir. Performances are great across the board, helped by the well- written characters and dialogue. The main negative is that the directing by Laszlo Kardos ('The Tijuana Story') and cinematography by Robert Surtees ('Act Of Violence') is good but not very noir or imaginative. Still, that's only a minor quibble, this movie impressed me with its successful blending of noir and musical, the performances and the story. Recommended! 8/10