Blues in the Night

Year: 1941

Runtime: 88 mins

Language: English

Director: Anatole Litvak

MusicDramaCrime

Featuring the legendary big‑band leaders Jimmy Lunceford and Will Osborne, the film follows a down‑on‑its‑luck group that becomes entangled with a fugitive. Their involvement drags them into old rivalries and tangled love affairs, forcing the musicians to stay united while chasing musical success.

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Timeline & Setting – Blues in the Night (1941)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Blues in the Night (1941). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Location

St. Louis, New Orleans, The Jungle (New Jersey roadhouse), New York City

The action starts in a St. Louis bar where the band forms, and moves to New Orleans in search of an authentic blues sound. They ride the rails and perform in dive bars and roadhouses across the country, chasing a new musical identity. The Jungle in New Jersey serves as the central hub, with New York City providing the urban stage where romance and ambition collide.

🎷 Jazz 🗺️ Road trip 🏙️ Urban nightlife 💰 Crime & gambling

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:36

Main Characters – Blues in the Night (1941)

Meet the key characters of Blues in the Night (1941), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:36

Major Themes – Blues in the Night (1941)

Explore the central themes of Blues in the Night (1941), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:36

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Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Movies about jazz musicians like Blues in the Night

Stories where the love of music is tested by personal and societal hardships.If you liked the musical journey in Blues in the Night, explore movies that similarly focus on the lives of jazz musicians. These stories often feature found family dynamics within a band, romantic entanglements, and the gritty reality of pursuing art during tough times, capturing a melancholic yet soulful vibe.

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Narrative Summary

Narratives in this thread typically follow an ensemble of musicians bound by their craft. Their journey is one of artistic pursuit intertwined with external pressures like crime, complex relationships, and economic hardship. The central conflict often revolves around staying true to their music while navigating a world that demands compromise, leading to bittersweet resolutions where the music endures but personal costs are high.

Why These Movies?

Movies are grouped here by their shared focus on the musician's life, particularly in jazz or blues settings. They connect through a melancholic, atmospheric tone, the theme of ambition versus compromise, and the portrayal of the band as a found family facing adversity together. The emotional core is the power of music itself as both a salvation and a burden.

Bittersweet found family dramas like Blues in the Night

Groups bound by circumstance face shared tragedies and hard-won hope.For viewers who appreciated the complex relationships in Blues in the Night, this section features movies with similar bittersweet found family dynamics. These films explore how groups of people brought together by chance support each other through crime, loss, and love triangles, resulting in emotionally medium stories with a steady, melancholic pace.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern centers on a core group of characters who become a surrogate family. Their stability is continually challenged by new complications, such as encounters with dangerous individuals or internal romantic conflicts. The plot often involves a spiral of consequences from a single fateful event, testing loyalties and culminating in an ending where the group survives, but not without significant emotional scars and loss.

Why These Movies?

These movies share a specific emotional mix: a melancholic tone balanced with hopeful camaraderie, a steady pacing that builds drama gradually, and a medium emotional weight derived from genuine tragedy and moral quandaries. They are united by the theme of found family resilience in the face of a bleak world, resulting in a consistently bittersweet feeling.

Unlock the Full Story of Blues in the Night

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Blues in the Night Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Blues in the Night, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Blues in the Night Timeline

Track the full timeline of Blues in the Night with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.

Blues in the Night Spoiler-Free Summary

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More About Blues in the Night

Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Blues in the Night: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.

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Discover movies like Blues in the Night that share similar genres, themes, and storytelling elements. Whether you’re drawn to the atmosphere, character arcs, or plot structure, these curated recommendations will help you explore more films you’ll love.