Monday, March 4, 2024

The Crimson Canary (1945)

Time for some cool jazz, and a murder mystery.

Danny Brooks (Noah Beery Jr) has a jazz band that are preparing to head onto San Francisco. However, the corpse of singer Anita Lane, who had fractious relationships with most of the band, (Claudia Drake) is discovered in the dressing room. 

The band, not knowing what happened or who killed Anita though Johnny (Danny Morton) was also in the room but discovered out cold and not knowing what happened, decide to run for it. Club owner Vic Miller (Steve Geray) calls on detective Roger Quinn (John Litel), who just so happens to like cool jazz, is on the case and after the band...

This is a decent crime film with a Noir-ish edge. A solid (if not spectacular) piece of police work interspersed with a number of jazz songs.