Duke Ellington in a jazz musical short with a tragic plotline.Duke Ellington in a jazz musical short with a tragic plotline.Duke Ellington in a jazz musical short with a tragic plotline.
- Awards
- 1 win
Photos
Duke Ellington Orchestra
- Cotton Club Orchestra
- (as The Cotton Club Orchestra)
Barney Bigard
- Band Member - Clarinet Player
- (uncredited)
Wellman Braud
- Band Member - Bass Player
- (uncredited)
Hall Johnson
- Choir Leader
- (uncredited)
Arthur Whetsol
- Trumpet Player
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAn advertising poster for this film is pictured on one stamp of a set of five 42¢ USA commemorative postage stamps honoring Vintage Black Cinema, issued 16 July 2008. Other films honored in this set are The Sport of the Gods (1921), Princesse Tam-Tam (1935), Caldonia (1945), and Hallelujah (1929).
- Quotes
Fredi - Duke's Girlfriend: Duke, I've got some wonderful news! I've just landed a job in a nightclub. And I'm going to dance and you're going to play. Isn't that wonderful?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Black Shadows on the Silver Screen (1975)
Featured review
Worth a look for historical value if nothing else...
Duke Ellington's film debut is quite an interesting introduction to the Duke on screen. The film isn't very long - a couple of reels - and the storyline is incidental to the music numbers, but the music and dance routines are certainly memorable. Although the film features an all-black cast, as others have pointed out, there is some fairly blatant racial stereotyping in the early scenes.
Duke acquits himself pretty well, although he isn't really called upon to do too much acting. Fredi Washington is great on the dance floor, but lousy as an actress. She does look fine though. The music's great and the dance routines are good, although one of them is repeated when viewed through the multi-sighted vision of the sick dancer - a sequence that perhaps goes on too long.
Definitely worth a look for historical value if nothing else.
Duke acquits himself pretty well, although he isn't really called upon to do too much acting. Fredi Washington is great on the dance floor, but lousy as an actress. She does look fine though. The music's great and the dance routines are good, although one of them is repeated when viewed through the multi-sighted vision of the sick dancer - a sequence that perhaps goes on too long.
Definitely worth a look for historical value if nothing else.
helpful•12
- JoeytheBrit
- Jun 26, 2009
Details
- Runtime19 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.20 : 1
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