I'm an African American woman who's recently gotten into watching classic old movies. I'm also a big fan of musicals with really great dance sequences, so I thought I'd like this movie. I knew based on other reviews that the movie didn't have much of a plot, so I was prepared for that, but I wasn't prepared for the fact that overall, this just isn't a very good movie. These African American performers were given a script that was stereotypical and embarrassing throughout many scenes. There's a scene with two actors performing in blackface, and there's a scene of female dancers wearing daisy costumes that look like blackface clowns when their back is turned to you. It just made me groan with the realization that these are the types of roles that were available to black actors back then.
I was really looking forward to seeing Bill Robinson show off these awesome dance steps I've been hearing about, but you really don't see him do that much dancing in the movie, even though he's the main star. So that was disappointing. There is a really great dance routine performed by the Nicholas Brothers at the very end, and it's the best scene in the movie.
As for Lena Horne, I had never seen her perform in anything outside of an episode of The Cosby Show, so I was looking forward to seeing her in this. Anytime she's in a scene she's gorgeous, well dressed, and whenever she sings she sounds amazing.
Besides the Nicholas Brothers and Lena Horne's singing, I really didn't enjoy much about this movie. All of the awkwardness and the extremely fake plot just ruined it for me. It's a shame too. There's a lot of talented performers in this movie. They should have had a better script.
I was really looking forward to seeing Bill Robinson show off these awesome dance steps I've been hearing about, but you really don't see him do that much dancing in the movie, even though he's the main star. So that was disappointing. There is a really great dance routine performed by the Nicholas Brothers at the very end, and it's the best scene in the movie.
As for Lena Horne, I had never seen her perform in anything outside of an episode of The Cosby Show, so I was looking forward to seeing her in this. Anytime she's in a scene she's gorgeous, well dressed, and whenever she sings she sounds amazing.
Besides the Nicholas Brothers and Lena Horne's singing, I really didn't enjoy much about this movie. All of the awkwardness and the extremely fake plot just ruined it for me. It's a shame too. There's a lot of talented performers in this movie. They should have had a better script.