Bye Bye Blues
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Canada, 1989 (fiction, 110 minutes, colour, English)
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| Photo © National Film Board of Canada |
Film Description:
"In this critically acclaimed feature drama, Daisy returns home to Alberta from India at the start of World War II. There she learns her husband has been captured by the Japanese. To make ends meet, she joins a dance band as a singer, only to be faced with a multitude of personal dilemmas."
-- National Film Board of Canada
(source)
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| Film Credits (partial): |
| Written by: |
Anne Wheeler |
| Produced by: |
Tony Allard, Arvi Liimatainen, Anne Wheeler |
| Principal Cast: |
Rebecca Jenkins, Luke Reilly, Stuart Margolin, Wayne Robson, Robyn
Stevan, Michael Ontkean, Kate Reid, Chad Krowchuk, Kirk Duffee, Vincent
Gale, Leslie Yeo, Sheila Moore |
| Cinematography: |
Vic Sarin |
| Film Editing: |
Christopher Tate |
| Music: |
George Blondheim |
| Production Company: |
Allarcom, True Blue Films,
Artificial Eye, Telefilm Canada |
(sources)
Awards won by Bye Bye Blues
- Genie Award: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role -- awarded to Rebecca Jenkins
- Genie Award: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role -- awarded to Robyn Stevan
- Genie Award: Best Original Song -- awarded to Bill Henderson
Notes about Bye Bye Blues
- Nominated for a Genie Award in the Achievement in Direction category.
(sources)
Quotes about Bye Bye Blues
"The core conflict is within Daisy herself, rooted in her transformation from
pampered, passive doctor's wife to hard-working single mother and
swing-band diva."
-- Kathleen Cummins
(source)
"Bye Bye Blues recovers an element of Canadian women's
history not represented in any other Canadian feature film, the challenges
and temporary opportunities presented to Canadian women by the Second
World War."
-- Christopher E. Gittings
(source)
"Rowley [Alberta] had almost become a ghost town after the closure of the Canadian National Railway line years before. The station still existed, along with three grain elevators and a 1940s-style main street, which then served a population of sixteen. There were many vacant buildings and a service station still equipped with the old-style glass reservoir gasoline pumps. [Bye Bye Blues] production designer John Blackie brought the town back to life with alterations, additions, and paint. [...]."
-- Bill Marsden
(source)
"[Anne] Wheeler mingles bits and pieces of Hollywood with a modern Canadian
sensibility to come up with a film that is steeped in the romantic side of
wartime nostalgia without being pat or predicable. Accented by gorgeous
shots of the roiling Alberta landscape, you can feel Wheeler's love for the
land though the lens."
-- Katherine Monk
(source)
Quote about Bye Bye Blues [in French]
"Il faut savoir gré à l'auteure d'avoir pu
dépeindre avec une telle finesse (jeux de regards, gestes ébauchés) les
déchirements intérieurs de Daisy, sa mélancolie profonde cachée derrière
un sourire, ses désirs amoureux, sa délicatesse dans ses relations avec
ceux qui l'entourent (enfants, parents, collègues, amis) ce qui n'exclut pas de poser à l'occasion des gestes décisifs. Il est indéniable que l'oeuvre est animée par une sensibilité féministe, mais Anne Wheeler est assez intelligente pour ne pas imposer les schèmes des années 80 sur des
personnages des années 40."
-- Robert-Claude Bérubé
(source)
Bibliography for Bye Bye Blues
Brief Sections of Books
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Gittings, Christopher E. Canadian National Cinema: Ideology, Difference and Representation. London: Routledge, 2002.
(pp. 275-276)
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Marsden, Bill. Big Screen Country: Making Movies in Alberta; A Memoir. Calgary: Fifth House, 2004.
(pp. 137-139)
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Monk, Katherine. Weird Sex and Snowshoes: And Other Canadian Film Phenomena. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2001.
(p. 279)
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Therrien, Denyse. "Petit à petit, le cinéma des prairies fait son nid."
In À la recherche d'une identité : renaissance du cinéma d'auteur
canadien-anglais, edited by Pierre Véronneau. Montréal: Cinémathèque québécoise/Musée du cinéma, 1991.
[in French] (pp. 149-154)
Newspaper or Magazine Articles
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Bérubé, Robert-Claude. "Bye Bye Blues." Review of Bye Bye Blues. Séquences, June 1990.
[in French]
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Heung, Marina. "Bye Bye Blues." Review of Bye Bye Blues. New Directions for Women, May-June 1991.
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Laffel, Jeff. "Bye Bye Blues." Review of Bye Bye Blues. Films in Review, December 1990.
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O'Pray, Michael. "Bye Bye Blues." Review of Bye Bye Blues. Monthly Film Bulletin, October 1990.
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Quick, Shelly. "Bye Bye Blues: An entertaining hybrid." Review of Bye Bye Blues. Kinesis, March 1990.
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Variety. "Bye Bye Blues." Review of Bye Bye Blues. Variety, September 6, 1989.
Web Sites about Bye Bye Blues
