New Orleans (film)

New Orleans (film)
source
Name	New Orleans
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Arthur Lubin
Producer	Hal B. Wallis
Starring	Bing Crosby, Ruth Hussey, Louis Armstrong
Music	Harold Arlen
Cinematography	Joseph A. Valentine
Editing	Warren Low
Studio	Paramount Pictures
Distributor	Paramount Pictures
Released	1947
Runtime	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million
Gross	$3.2 million (US rentals)

New Orleans (film) is a 1947 American musical film directed by Arthur Lubin and produced by Hal B. Wallis for Paramount Pictures, featuring performances by Bing Crosby, Ruth Hussey, and jazz musician Louis Armstrong. The film blends elements of musical film, jazz performance, and postwar Hollywood studio production, and includes original songs by Harold Arlen alongside contributions from leading jazz figures. Set against a backdrop of New Orleans music culture, the picture showcases interactions between mainstream popular music performers and established jazz artists of the 1940s.

Plot

The plot follows bandleader Gerry "Gerry" Keane (played by Bing Crosby), whose attempts to marry singer Janet Martin (played by Ruth Hussey) and to manage a nightclub intersect with rivalries involving businessman Louis Prima-type figures and local musicians. As Gerry negotiates contracts and romantic tensions, the storyline weaves through club engagements, recording sessions, and performances featuring characters modeled on real-life figures from the New Orleans jazz scene, such as a club owner inspired by personalities associated with Storyville and musicians linked to Duke Ellington-era arrangements. Subplots involve legal disputes over talent bookings, mentor-mentee dynamics reminiscent of relationships between Louis Armstrong and contemporaries, and show-stopping numbers staged in venues echoing famous houses on Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. The narrative culminates in a big musical finale that resolves the business conflicts and romantic misunderstandings amid a celebration of jazz and swing traditions.

Cast

The film stars Bing Crosby as the lead vocalist and bandleader, with Ruth Hussey as the female lead and dramatic foil. Prominent jazz musicians appear onscreen, including Louis Armstrong (credited as himself), who performs trumpet solos and vocal features, and several members of Armstrong's ensemble who had associations with the Fletcher Henderson repertoire. Supporting cast includes character actors connected to Paramount Pictures stock company players and cameo appearances by contemporary bandleaders linked to Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and other swing-era orchestras. The ensemble casting deliberately mixes studio stars from Hollywood musicals with touring jazz artists tied to recording labels such as Decca Records and Columbia Records.

Production

Production was overseen by producer Hal B. Wallis with direction by Arthur Lubin, both of whom had longstanding ties to studio-era Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures projects. Screenplay development drew on treatment traditions associated with writers who had worked on musicals for MGM and RKO Radio Pictures, incorporating compositions by Harold Arlen and arrangements influenced by orchestrators who collaborated with Count Basie and Artie Shaw. Principal photography took place on sound stages and location sets replicating Bourbon Street and the French Quarter, with cinematography by Joseph A. Valentine employing Technicolor-style lighting techniques used in contemporaneous musicals. Choreography and staging were influenced by musical directors with ties to Broadway revues and radio broadcast standards from NBC and CBS variety programs.

Release and box office

Paramount Pictures released the film domestically in 1947, marketing it to audiences familiar with Bing Crosby's filmography and the rising postwar popularity of jazz recordings. The film's theatrical run included engagements in major markets such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and it earned approximately $3.2 million in US rentals, positioning it among mid-range box office performers for the studio that year. Promotional campaigns tied screenings to radio appearances on programs hosted by Ed Sullivan-type variety shows and to soundtrack tie-ins promoted through Decca Records and theatrical trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Critical reception

Contemporary reviews in periodicals such as The New York Times and Variety offered mixed assessments, praising musical performances—particularly those by Louis Armstrong and ensemble sequences—while critiquing the film's thin plot and formulaic romantic elements reminiscent of previous Bing Crosby musicals. Jazz critics associated with publications influenced by the legacy of DownBeat and commentators sympathetic to Duke Ellington-era sophistication noted the discrepancy between authentic jazz presentation and studio musical conventions. Retrospective appraisals from film historians who study Golden Age of Hollywood musicals and the integration of African American performers into mainstream cinema have reevaluated the film's cultural significance within the contexts of race relations in the United States and the commercialization of jazz.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features original songs by Harold Arlen and performances by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong, alongside jazz numbers arranged in styles associated with swing-era figures such as Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson. Recordings from the film were issued on labels with distribution networks linked to Capitol Records, Decca Records, and Columbia Records, and some tracks found life as radio transcriptions played on NBC and CBS broadcasts. The film's music has been anthologized in later compilations focusing on Louis Armstrong's filmography and the crossover work of Bing Crosby.

Legacy and influence

The film is noted by scholars of film music and jazz history for bringing prominent jazz musicians into a mainstream Hollywood musical, contributing to patterns of crossover visibility later seen in projects involving Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Nat King Cole. It also figures in studies of studio-era representation of African American performers in films distributed by Paramount Pictures and referenced in histories of New Orleans's cultural portrayal in popular media. Archivists and retrospectives at institutions like the Library of Congress and film festivals dedicated to the Golden Age of Hollywood periodically revisit the picture for its performances and as an artifact of postwar musical cinema.

Category:1947 films Category:American musical films Category:Films set in New Orleans