Cinema
Bye Bye Blues
Anne Wheeler · 1989
Synopsis
In the early forties, Daisy Cooper lives in India with her husband, Teddy, an army doctor. When he is posted to Singapore, she returns to Canada with their son, pregnant, and settles with her parents on a farm in Alberta. After the fall of Singapore, Teddy is a prisoner of the Japanese, his letters come back and no pay arrives. To support her family, Daisy becomes the pianist and then the singer of a dance band that plays for soldiers, and grows close to Max, an American trombonist.
Context
The film is inspired by the war memories of the director's mother, a pianist in a Canadian dance band while her husband, a doctor in the Indian Medical Service captured at Singapore, remained in captivity; she left her daughter free to embellish the story. Some years earlier, the filmmaker had made a docudrama from the notebooks that this father had kept in captivity. Rebecca Jenkins plays Daisy; the song When I Sing is by Bill Henderson.
Who it is for
Nearly two hours, in English, with a great deal of wartime dance music, played and sung on screen.
Prizes and reception
Thirteen Genie Award nominations and three awards: best actress for Rebecca Jenkins, supporting actress for Robyn Stevan, and original song.
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