Product: Stormy Weather [VHS] (1980)
Rating: 5.0
A Historical Treasure! A Larger than Life collection of Black Entertainment!!!,
Stormy Weather is a larger than life collection of an all-singing, all-dancing biographical showcase of the very best of black entertainment in 1943- promoting music & dance & how the related importance & contribution is significant to the American Culture at large. It is classified as a historical treasure, & undeniable agreed to be within the top 5 of all-time best Black Films. Filmed & produced during World War II when segregation was pretty much legal in most cases- the movie represents a "time capsule", emblematic as a historical archetype with its problematic stereotypical racism indicative of the society of the time with its dehumanizing representation of Black People as an accepted tradition. The comical representation (of people) , conniving personalities, minstrel entertainment "Miller & Lyles (i.e.-"Amos 'n' Andy type mentality), hyper obese (jolly) individuals, "forced Africanism", & vaudeville entertainment, were strictly addressed (& denoted) only to Black Folks.Stormy Weather is an All Star Cast showcasing quality black performers. The narrative of the film is to set up the performances of the stars. The scene set-up is only secondary to the performance showcases themselves, so instead of only snippets of great Black music & dance- the movie offers a plethora of excellent Black art. It may be understood that Stormy Weather perhaps may be viewed as a "music video within a video", thus the narrative is the vehicle to aid in the music videos only, & thus the plot is essentially unimportant. Accordingly then, the story is a bit illogical whereas the film set-up is from the perspective of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson looking back & sharing his life, career & accolades on his porch with the neighbor children, or perhaps (it might be) a love story between the characters on screen played by actors Bojangles & Lena Horne.There were more than 20 musical numbers in the film, undoubtedly a "gem of a musical" offering such a wonderful range of performers of different genre. Notably- the divine Lena Horne, Mr. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (Fred Astaire called Mr. Robinson the greatest dancer of all time {additionally in four minutes eight seconds Robinson tapped 1,984 taps- that's eight per second a noted record breaker}), Cab Calloway & his Band is a major contributor to the quality of this movie (Mr. Calloway {IMHO} has more charisma than Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, & Armando Desante TOGETHER {some of Cab's most brilliant archival footage is right in this film!!!!!}), The Nicholas Brothers did an incomparable stereo & synchronized tap dance # to Cab's "The Jumpin; Jive" including "leap-frog" full splits (almost raggedy-Ann like) & returns (across dining tables, throughout the bands tables, down a staircase) in a brilliant artistic fashion (smiling nonstop), right into a chorus finale of 55 men & women dancers/singers doing "My My, Ain't that Somethin'" (Reprise). Other notables are Thomas "fats" Waller "Ain't Misbehavin'," (he's got real cool {and exaggerated} facial expressions on film), Ada Brown singing "That Ain't Right" to Fats Waller Bluesy Piano Band. Katherine Dunham's dance troupe of 10 doing "Stormy Weather Ballet" (Katherine Dunham led a world-famous dance troupe) was graceful & spectacular. Of Course Lena Horne doing "Stormy Weather", is a hit, but she did 3 other numbers that included some smooth & beautiful dance steps.Stormy Weather is just what it was intended to be- diverting entertainment in a wartime world. Perhaps the stereotypes are bothersome, the story a bit illogical, but the talent and passion of the performers and the caliber of the music make it all worthwhile- then & now. So much of quality is lost in today's world. It was a pleasure to view this movie 10 times this week. :-)