Bye Bye Blues is another one of those cheap videos that I purchased a number of weeks ago. The last one I viewed, Lena’s Holiday, was a mild B-movie, and this film, Bye Bye Blues, is also fairly mild. Perhaps I shouldn’t have bought these videos........

Bye Bye Blues is a Canadian film from the late 1980’s, that deals with a woman who needs to assert her financial independence when her husband has to go off and fight in World War II. The movie begins in India, where the family is stationed. The husband gets a call to go to Indonesia, so the wife, Daisy, and her very young child have to go back home to the Canadian Prairies, to Daisy’s parents.

Daisy wants to be able to do something other than stay at home. She would like to at least make a few bucks so she can be more financially independent, rather than fully depend on her parents. She tries to find jobs around town, but .... no luck. But one day she talks to a leader of a local band, and tries to convince him that she could play one of their shows at the local dance hall. (at the beginning of the film, we see her play piano for the Indian servants, and she takes her piano back to Canada) The man is the sort who seems to object to women playing in his band, but soon he gives in, and gives her a chance.

On her first night, she finds herself in a competition of sorts with another new person, a somewhat mysterious fellow who shows up with his trombone and decides to play, just for the hell of it. This guy is obviously more skilled -- and confident -- than Daisy, who’s incredibly awkward trying to play the band’s tunes (but it’s a local dance hall, so nobody, except the band leader, seems to mind too much). The trombone player tries to get the woman to sing instead, although her lack of confidence results in a weak voice.

All this is surrounded by the news that Daisy’s husband and his troop have been captured by the Japanese in Indonesia. Daisy tries sending letters and packages, all of which get returned. Months, then years, pass, and Daisy seems far more focused on the success of the band, and on the attentions of the trombone player. We expect that these two will have an affair -- after all, it’s happened in many another movie -- and we could sort of understand if Daisy were to suddenly have an affair. After all, she’s not had any contact with her husband in a few years, and in one very good scene, Daisy cries to her sister about how she has practically forgotten what her husband looks like. Surely, loneliness would creep in, and perhaps something ought to be done about it........

But despite all this talk about illicit wartime romance and swinging music, Bye Bye Blues is a dry, quaint affair. Yes, there’s a little talk about sex (Daisy and her sister are in the bathtub (!), and basically agree that women need sex too ), a little hint of adultery (although not nearly as much as I’ve made it out to be), and one very brief flash of nudity (at the beginning Daisy bolts out of the bath after seeing a snake underneath the tub), overall this is a pretty safe film, meant to be inoffensive. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being inoffensive, but in this case, the film also suffers from a lack of depth, as if that depth could accidentally result in something becoming offensive. Daisy’s relationships with the men in her life are sketchy. We don’t really feel for Daisy and her husband, and we don’t really feel too much for Daisy and the musician either. Certainly there isn’t any sexiness, which is ironic, considering that the director, Anne Wheeler, directed the NC-17 rated lesbian love-fest Better Than Chocolate twelve-odd years later.

There are a few good issues raised -- especially the odd situation of women during the war. Since most of the men were away from the country, somebody had to make the money for the household, so, of course, women filled many of these positions. At the same time, even as many women had to get jobs to make ends meet, stuffy old guys (and gals) objected, saying that such activity was unfit for women. Although in this film, the objection (in the form of Daisy’s parents) doesn’t last too long, since, as I’ve already said, this film doesn’t try too hard.

The film just seems to plod along, showing us little bits of her life during war time but not giving us any urgent drama. And the film’s soundtrack is so sappy and tinkly that I thought I was watching some low-budget TV drama from the 80’s .... which in a sense I probably was, since this movie used to get a lot of rotation on the CBC back in my younger days, and I always naturally assumed that this film was, in fact, a CBC telefilm rather than a theatrical release.

In any case, it’s all too bad, because I was hoping that Bye Bye Blues would be a cute wartime romance, but the film didn’t live up to its potential. The last scenes should have been emotional, but since the movie doesn’t involve you, the scenes are only evidence of what could have been. But perhaps I was just having a weird day... immediately after this film, I watched... wait for it!... Luis Bunuel’s Phantom of Liberty. So perhaps I’d never would have connected with Bye Bye Blues no matter how emotional it might have been. Oh well......






Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above