Big City Blues
Big City Blues

Movie spotlight

Big City Blues

1962
Movie
20 min
English

Big City Blues is a 1962 English-Dutch language short film written and directed by Charles Huguenot van der Linden. Two drunk men chase a girl and a young boy chases a rabbit, leading to horrific consequences. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Insights

IMDb5.8/10
Director: Arthur DreifussGenres: Crime, Drama

Plot Summary

A small-town girl, Lena, dreams of making it big in the city and believes she can achieve this through singing and dancing. She gets involved with a married nightclub owner, Johnny, who is also a blackmailer and a gambler. Lena becomes entangled in his dangerous world, leading to a series of escalating troubles as she tries to navigate the harsh realities of her aspirations.

Critical Reception

Big City Blues received a generally lukewarm reception, often criticized for its predictable plot and melodramatic tone. While some performances were noted, the film struggled to stand out among other crime dramas of its era, appealing more to genre fans than a mainstream audience.

What Reviewers Say

  • The film is a somewhat predictable melodrama with a cliched narrative.

  • Performances are passable, but do little to elevate the material.

  • Lacks the grit or sophistication to be a truly compelling crime drama.

Google audience: Audience reviews for Big City Blues are scarce, but general sentiment suggests it's a forgettable B-movie crime drama that offers little beyond its genre conventions.

Fun Fact

The film was released in the US as 'Big City Blues' but was known internationally by other titles, including 'City of Night' in some markets.

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My Review

TMDB Reviews

1 reviews
CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

There's a lot of the Lewis Carroll to this silent drama, and though for a few minutes that intrigues for the remainder of this really quite repetitious twenty minutes I struggled to get to grips with what the purpose of this film is/was/mig...