The Crimson Canary

I first saw "The Crimson Canary" in the early 1970's when I was getting really interested in 1930's and 1940's jazz and swing, and contrary to dadoun-1's review, the sequence featuring the Coleman Hawkins-Oscar Pettiford band on screen DOES include Hawkins, Pettiford and the other musicians in the group (trumpeter Howard McGhee, pianist Sir Charles Thompson and drummer Denzil DaCosta Best) on the soundtrack as well. The musicians dadoun-1 mentions were actually the off-screen doubles for the white actors playing the members of the band at the heart of the film's story. (These are the only recordings I know of by tenor saxophonist King Guion, whom critic George T. Simon predicted would become a star. Too bad he didn't, as he's quite good even if not at Hawkins' level.) I've been in love with this movie ever since and I only wish Universal Home Video would do a proper DVD or Blu-Ray version instead of the lousy splice-ridden copy I just got from a grey-label source that omitted the opening song, "I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody." And I'm amused that the original ads promised a sleazy exploitation movie - "Rhythm Cults Exposed!" - when the film actually treats the jazz world of 1945 with unusual respect and even love.