If there's one thing on IMDb that gets tiresome,is people who call films "dated". As if it is some sort of crime that a film was made in the era that it came from.
Yes,Stormy Weather has some racial stereotypes like putting on "black-face",saying things like "I's and "we is",and the "Dixie" number where not only is there black face,the female dancers have black-faces painted on the back of their flower hats.
We wish these things were not there at all but,being set first in the 19 teens,most or all of these things were very much a part of society. 100 years ago things were just very different and African-American's were still very much under the thumb of prejudice.
The factual past cannot be revised to make everyone happy and it shouldn't be because past mistakes are how we learn to grow away from them later.
On with the review: In the opening scene we see Bill Robinson outside his Hollywood home (an in studio facimile) telling tales to the neighborhood kids about how he got to be famous. This scene is great because it shows a successful African-American male standing on his own and being very literate. He's also setting a great example for the kids in the film and any kids who saw the film.
Lena Horne,Cab Calloway and his band,The Nicholas Brothedrs and Bill Robinson all deliver when it comes to the song and dance and Lena as Selina (as if she needed to be a separate character)is electric in her delivery of the title song and other songs as well.
Calloway and band are as fun as fun and funky (Jivin' for that era)as ever. Bill Robinson was always great to watch and never disappoints.
Speaking of storms and lightning. The super-tap dancing Nicholas Brothers are double-electric in their well crafted dance numbers. Especially when they leap over one-another in a descending stair-case style (literally!) that has to be seen to be believed! Dancing and joining in on Cab Calloway's classic,"Jumpin' Jive" (I own a copy of that song) and couples with Robinson & Horne's duet,the movie comes to an exciting climactic finish
Given the era in which this film debuted,it's a wonder it could have been made,released and even seen at all. The talent of the cast is how the movie was able to push it's way beyond the usual racial blockades of the time and how it's still a wonder to behold (nearly) 65 years later.
I'm about to watch the film again and I know like last time,it's going to be as cool as summer rain itself! (END)
Yes,Stormy Weather has some racial stereotypes like putting on "black-face",saying things like "I's and "we is",and the "Dixie" number where not only is there black face,the female dancers have black-faces painted on the back of their flower hats.
We wish these things were not there at all but,being set first in the 19 teens,most or all of these things were very much a part of society. 100 years ago things were just very different and African-American's were still very much under the thumb of prejudice.
The factual past cannot be revised to make everyone happy and it shouldn't be because past mistakes are how we learn to grow away from them later.
On with the review: In the opening scene we see Bill Robinson outside his Hollywood home (an in studio facimile) telling tales to the neighborhood kids about how he got to be famous. This scene is great because it shows a successful African-American male standing on his own and being very literate. He's also setting a great example for the kids in the film and any kids who saw the film.
Lena Horne,Cab Calloway and his band,The Nicholas Brothedrs and Bill Robinson all deliver when it comes to the song and dance and Lena as Selina (as if she needed to be a separate character)is electric in her delivery of the title song and other songs as well.
Calloway and band are as fun as fun and funky (Jivin' for that era)as ever. Bill Robinson was always great to watch and never disappoints.
Speaking of storms and lightning. The super-tap dancing Nicholas Brothers are double-electric in their well crafted dance numbers. Especially when they leap over one-another in a descending stair-case style (literally!) that has to be seen to be believed! Dancing and joining in on Cab Calloway's classic,"Jumpin' Jive" (I own a copy of that song) and couples with Robinson & Horne's duet,the movie comes to an exciting climactic finish
Given the era in which this film debuted,it's a wonder it could have been made,released and even seen at all. The talent of the cast is how the movie was able to push it's way beyond the usual racial blockades of the time and how it's still a wonder to behold (nearly) 65 years later.
I'm about to watch the film again and I know like last time,it's going to be as cool as summer rain itself! (END)