Little Joe (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson) is a warehouseman in a small African-American town, married to Petunia (Ethel Waters), who falls ill and dreams the Lord and the Devil are testing him by allowing him to win the Irish Sweepstakes and sending him a tempting visitor in the form and person (what form, what person!) of Sweet Georgia Brown (Lena Horne). He more or less proves himself, pulls through, and he and Petunia carry on with their poor but happy lives.
It's directed by Vincente Minelli and produced by Arthur Fried, without a white person in the cast. Some of the songs have become familiar standards -- "Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe," "Shine," "Takin' a Chance on Love," and snatch of Duke Ellington's orchestra playing "Things Ain't What They Used to Be." The plot and dialog are folksy, unsophisticated, and without pretense. Eddie Anderson and his gravelly voice are amusing in themselves. Ethel Waters has a brilliant smile that changes her features into something benign, although she was apparently not easy to get along with. She disliked Lena Horne intensely here, and later developed a fully blown hatred between herself and director John Ford in "Pinky." Lena Horne is exquisitely feminine, singing, "There's honey in the honeycomb. There's jelly in the jelly roll," as she caresses her bare arms and shoulders.
I suppose it's possible to read racism into a film like this but it got past me entirely. The actors and musicians were probably overjoyed at the chance to appear in a major film. (There was a kind of parallel cinematic universe of all-black films at the time, but they rarely had the budget or skill of mainstream movies.) Further, it's difficult to imagine a cast of any color giving better musical performances. Louis Armstrong has a few minutes on screen as a devil's assistant and is given a chance to toot out one or two choice phrases. And Ellington's orchestra was one of the best in the business.
It's all very rural and cornball, of course, just as "Young Mister Lincoln" is, and "State Fair," in which a love song is sung to a hog.
Relax and spend an enjoyable hour and a half with the simple, but not simple-minded, folk of this neighborhood. It's a pleasant diversion.
It's directed by Vincente Minelli and produced by Arthur Fried, without a white person in the cast. Some of the songs have become familiar standards -- "Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe," "Shine," "Takin' a Chance on Love," and snatch of Duke Ellington's orchestra playing "Things Ain't What They Used to Be." The plot and dialog are folksy, unsophisticated, and without pretense. Eddie Anderson and his gravelly voice are amusing in themselves. Ethel Waters has a brilliant smile that changes her features into something benign, although she was apparently not easy to get along with. She disliked Lena Horne intensely here, and later developed a fully blown hatred between herself and director John Ford in "Pinky." Lena Horne is exquisitely feminine, singing, "There's honey in the honeycomb. There's jelly in the jelly roll," as she caresses her bare arms and shoulders.
I suppose it's possible to read racism into a film like this but it got past me entirely. The actors and musicians were probably overjoyed at the chance to appear in a major film. (There was a kind of parallel cinematic universe of all-black films at the time, but they rarely had the budget or skill of mainstream movies.) Further, it's difficult to imagine a cast of any color giving better musical performances. Louis Armstrong has a few minutes on screen as a devil's assistant and is given a chance to toot out one or two choice phrases. And Ellington's orchestra was one of the best in the business.
It's all very rural and cornball, of course, just as "Young Mister Lincoln" is, and "State Fair," in which a love song is sung to a hog.
Relax and spend an enjoyable hour and a half with the simple, but not simple-minded, folk of this neighborhood. It's a pleasant diversion.