Ballad in Blue
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Ballad in Blue
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This black and white film was made in 1964 starring a very young Ray Charles playing the part of errr! Ray Charles. You'd think there was nobody better to play Ray Charles than Ray Charles himself, but in truth he made rather a bad job of it. Now I know many blind people tend to have stiff jerky movements, but that apart his acting was still wooden. In fairness his script was poor and this only helped turn him into a characature rather than a character. He played the role of a benign superstar who takes a blind English boy under his wing and saves his sight by paying for a private operation. Coincidentally the boy's mother's boyfriend is a very talented, out of work, composer who Ray also gives a job. There are far too many coincidences in the story to make it credible. Ray's portrayal of a squeaky clean fairy godfather is a far cry from the drugs, booze and sex which formed such a large part of his life. The film is so polite and proper that Harry Enfield's 'Chumley Warner' character could have a field day mocking its script. It may be unfair to judge a sixties film by millennium standards so I will concede that it does have a rather pleasant storyline albeit tarnished by incredible coincidences and hammy acting. The real plus of this film however is Ray Charles concert performances which punctuate the plot. Ashe howls 'I got me a Woman' or 'Hit the Road Jack' you are witnessing embryonic Soul, vibrant and exciting. Forget his acting, this guy proves on film what a musical genius he was. The Ikettes don't do such a bad job in a supporting roll either. I don't know how much live concert footage of Ray Charles is around, but believe me it couldn't get any better than this. |
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