Big City Blues

"Big City Blues" is a well written story of a naïve young man who travels to NYC, innocently becomes involved in a murder while falling in love, and then returns home vowing to go back to the city to be with the woman he loves. As played by Eric Linden, he is not an idiot or moron as he is repeatedly called by one reviewer and the film is not a waste of an hour of your life as this reviewer claims. It is very entertaining and fun to view.

Humphrey Bogart's first appearance in Warner Brothers picture was in a small featured role in Big City Blues which starred Eric Linden and Joan Blondell. It's the story of a young kid from Hoopersville, Indiana who comes to the New York City to seek fame and fortune and gets a great deal less than he bargained for.

Linden plays our young man fresh off the farm and the first Linden does is look up cousin Walter Catlett who is playing the usual Walter Catlett sharpie. I do love the way Catlett keeps opening his wallet and to his amazement can't seem to find any money there. He latches on to Linden the way a political 'consultant' latches on to a spendthrift candidate.

Of course Linden's arrival in the Big Apple is cause for a party which means bootleg booze, chorus girls, and some dance music. Catlett takes the liberty and Linden's money and room to throw a party so Eric can presumably meet some of the 'important' people Catlett knows. Among the guests are Joan Blondell and a bevy of her chorus girl friends.

But things go terribly wrong and one of the girls, Josephine Dunn, winds up dead. When that happens the guests scatter with Catlett the first out the door and Blondell the last, leaving poor Linden holding the bag. Of course Linden panics and spends the next day a fugitive looking for Blondell.

Mervyn LeRoy directs Big City Blues at a sprightly pace and when you've got players like Blondell, Bogey, Catlett, and most of all Guy Kibbee playing an oaf of a house detective you know the film will be entertaining. In fact down the cast list you've got Herman Bing as a waiter, Lyle Talbot as another party guest, J. Carrol Naish as the supplying bootlegger, and Dennis O'Keefe in a small bit in a crap game and more besides, you're in for a real treat if you're like me, a big fan of the days when all these faces ruled films. Dick Powell is heard only as a radio announcer.

Kibbee by the way turns out to be the hero of the film, but you have to see it to see how he accomplishes that. And of course you have to see what happens to naive young Eric Linden.

Some nice blue cracks in this before the Code film pepper Big City Blues throughout the running time. Although one very big screen legend was in the cast, the film is actually a real salute to some of the great character players the movies ever had.

Some nice pre code sexiness courtesy of a saucy, racy screenplay by Lily Hayward and the always sassy Joan Blondell. But at this early stage in his long, mostly good directorial career Mervyn Le Roy did not have the skill or desire to tone down Eric Linden's way too broad rube and he, along with an equally over the top Walter Catlett as his sleazy cousin, tends to drag down the proceedings into a pit of noisy, exaggerated boredom. C plus. PS...Bogie's first WB feature features a role he thankfully soon jettisoned...the cynical roue.

Big City Blues is a marvelous reminder of the vibrancy of American cinema in the early sound days. Directed by the always reliable Mervyn LeRoy, the film features uncredited performances by a wonderful cast, including Humphrey Bogart, Lyle Talbot, Dennis O'Keefe, Dick Powell (hilarious as the voice of a radio ad-man expounding on the virtues of Yum Yum brand popcorn), and Clarence Muse (who delivers some terrific singing in a speakeasy scene), as well as Joan Blondell as the brassy showgirl with a heart of gold, Eric Linden as a smalltown rube, and especially Walter Catlett as Linden's Cousin Gibby, who's responsible for most of the trouble that takes place. Written by Lillie Hayward, the script is hilarious, intelligent, and insightful, especially when it pokes fun at the peccadilloes of big city life. Bogart has a particularly juicy line when, reading from a newspaper, he informs partygoers that the police have recently picked up a criminal with "a handgun in one pocket and a lipstick and powderpuff in the other"! The same party sequence also features the sight of a nervous young lady reading from the infamous (and much censored) lesbian novel "The Well of Loneliness" by Radclyffe Hall. In short, this is a fine example of pre-Code filmmaking and should be of interest to all fans of 30s cinema.

Eric Linden is "Bud", going to the big city NYC! Linden was only about 24, and would only be in hollywood about ten years. Some heavy hitters for co-stars: the awesome Ned Sparks, Guy Kibbee, Grant Mitchell.. and Walter Catlett is his cousin Gibby, who claims to know Constance Bennett. and Bud meets the young beautiful Vida (Joan Blondell ), and he falls for her. Gibby is always jabbering away, like a fast talking con man. keeps the pace moving. and it's still during prohibition, so part of the plot involves dealing with bootleggers. and an early, uncredited role for Bogart. about halfway through, there's a huge, drunken brawl, and when it hits the fan, here come the cops! the big city is a more dangerous place than Bud bargained for. good stuff, in the shortie from Warner Brothers. the resolution to the who-dunnit and the ending itself are a bit odd, but no biggie. directed by Mervyn LeRoy, nominated for Random Harvest. and directed so many other great films. check em out. Linden kind of disappeared after 1941. there's more info on him at wikipedia.