St. Louis Blues

The life of legendary bluesman W.C. Handy is highly dramatized in this tuneful biopic. The story opens as his father, a minister chastises his son for playing "the devil's music." Despite his father's admonitions, Handy is drawn to the blues. He is encouraged by two disparate women, one an earthy ...more

Those interested in knowing anything about W.C. Handy, the father of the blues, won't find it in St. Louis Blues. As with most Hollywood biopics, especially those concerned with musical figures, Blues plays extremely fast and loose with the truth. Why Hollywood rarely bothered to come up with an interesting story to replace the real ones it tossed aside in these pictures is a mystery; suffice it to say that Blues at least has racial issues to address (even if it does so fairly gingerly), even if ...more