Stormy Weather
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Movie Reviews of Stormy Weather
Movie Review: A Wonderful Record Of Some Great Musical Performances
Summary: 4 Stars
Forget the story line. It's unimportant. Try to ignore the black stereotyping. It's there and it's not going to go away. But pay attention to the musical performances. The liner notes say there are more than 20. I didn't count, but the movie has one great performance after another, starting with the two leads, Bill Robinson and Lena Horne. The movie features a roster of famous black entertainers of the time.
World War I is just over and black troops are parading down Broadway. Among them are Bill Williamson (Robinson) and his best friend, Gabe (Dooley Wilson). Bill is a dancer and is determined to break into the big time. In a club he meets a new singer, Selina Rogers (Lena Horne). They strike sparks, but both are ambitious. Over the next 20-some years they will meet, break apart, create star careers for themselves and finally come together during a stage tribute for black soldiers on their way overseas during WWII. All this is told in flashback as Bill reflects on his career.
We're along for the ride, and a great ride it is. Among the performances to treasure is everything Robinson does. He was a great tap dancer with an infectious, happy disposition and a great smile. Lena Horne was 26 when she made this movie, one of her earliest. You can't get much better than Horne singing Stormy Weather, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Diga Diga Do or There's No Two Ways About Love. What a gorgeous woman. She has charisma, a great voice and she knows exactly how to put across a song.
There's Cab Calloway in padded shoulders and pegged pants doing his zoot routine to Geechy Joe, Ada Brown singing That Ain't Right with some back and forth with Fats Waller on piano, and then Waller doing a funny, coy, eye-batting version of his Ain't Misbehavin'. A singer I couldn't identify does a wonderful job with I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City, and a dancer I couldn't find a credit for does an athletic, fast routine to Your Nobody's Sweetheart Now. And there's more. The numbers just keep coming, from individual songs to all-out musical productions, including one powerful dance to Stormy Weather by Katherine Dunham and her troupe. Even the jazz band behind Waller has star musicians like Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Taps Miller and Zutty Singleton.
Put on your seat belt when Fayard and Harold Nicholas leap out of the audience toward the close of the show and do a startlingly athletic dance to Jumpin' Jive. They start out tapping and jumping into and out of the orchestra...then they speed things up. They leap and tap up a series of very tall steps to a high platform, then do leaps over each other, landing two steps at a time down in full splits, eight leaps in all, each time pulling themselves up only by the strength of their legs. It's an incredible routine, and it's full of style.
The DVD looks just fine. The case has two inserts. One is a set of reproduced lobby cards from Stormy Weather. The other is an informative insert about the major players. The disc commentary by Dr. Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California, gives much background on black performers in Hollywood, the limitations they had to deal with and the stereotyping that was commonplace. Lena Horne, for instance, was most often limited in her movies to doing special material which could be cut out when the films played in southern states.
Movie Review: Stormy Weather? Not with all this Sunshine!
Summary: 4 Stars
"Stormy Weather" is a musical extravaganca that still enthralls today after more than 65 years after its' intial release.This picture also has turned into a valuable musical historical treasure,showcasing some of the best black talents of the 20th Century.It is like an animated museum piece but there's no dust or relics here,brother.This film is still alive and vibrant and each performance still gives out and has as much to say now as it did in 1943.
The plot is a trifle to be sure.The star Bill Robsinson is sitting on his front porch with some young relatives reminiscing about his career,which is told in extended flashbacks.Each flashback is filled with various musical numbers by his co-stars and/or himself.This continues unabated until the pictures' closing moments.
The producer and director give all acts ample time to showcase their talents throughout and in most cases are given at least two numbers each;in Bill Robsinsons'and Lena Hornes' cases it is multiple numbers.Of course we all know the legend of Bill Robinson,his superior terpsichorean abilities and the inspiration he gave(and still gives)to so many dancers throughout the years,both black and white.Lena Horne was just coming into her own and she is showcased beautifully throughout the film with several numbers to her credit.Each song is sung in her intimitable style along with the famous title song.
Several other acts appear here,some well known others not.The vaudeville team of Miller and Lyles puts in a funny appearance doing their broken down car sketch.The background group of dancers are the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe.Katherine herself sings and leads the troupe visibly in every number.Legendary Fats Waller drops by to sing a song with famous songstress Ada Brown and one with his band.After witnessing Bill deck a rival for Lena's hand,Fats utters his famous line"One never knows do one".It's a delight.Cab Calloway is on hand to lend some "jumpin' jive'" to the proceedings in his patented zoot suit and his band is definitely hot.Near the end of the film come the dancers with no peer The Nicholus Brothers.And as usual they absolutely astound with their acrobatics on the dance floor.A phenomenon and a force of nature;when they're on they literally stop the picture.Throughout the film Dooley Wilson, fresh off his high profile appearance singing "As Time Goes By" in Casablanca,is on hand as Bill Robsinsons' old friend.
Technically the print used in this transfer does have its' flaws and in some spots more than others and could have used a bit better clean up.But all in all it's more than adequate.
Included with this is an audio commentary and two things you are not told about elsewhere.First is a folded insert by tv writer Sylvia Stoddard on the film and four 5"X7" repro lobby cards,a nice touch.
In concluding this is a film that will appeal to many,many different people on several differents levels.If you are a dancing fan you will love Katherine Dunham and her troupe along with the Nicholas Brothers and its star Bill Robinson.If you like good music there is Lena Horne,Cab Calloway,Ada Brown and Fats Waller.If you like musicals this has everything you could ever want."Stormy Weather" is 77 minutes of pure dynamite and a lasting testament to the talent involved.Get yourself a copy and bring some real sunshine into your life.
Movie Review: Great Musical and Dance Numbers
Summary: 4 Stars
When STORMY WEATHER was re-released in a new DVD format, I had to add it to my collection. I had never seen the complete film before, only the well known excerpts such as the closing scene where the Nicholas Brothers tap their hearts away and Lena Horne singing her famous ballad "Stormy Weather" from which the film gets its title.
The plot of the film is not all that strikingly different from other Hollywood musicals of the time. It has a straightforward story, loosely based on the story of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The film begins as Robinson returns home a hero from World War I and longs to get into show business. He is in love with his buddy's sister played by the young Lena Horne. Like all Hollywood musicals, the two are destined for each other, go their separate ways, but eventually are reunited. The film is also like other musicals of the era. It is set in 1943 so patriotic fervor is great and there is no hint of the racial tensions or the great divide between white and black that was so true at the time. Viewers in 2006 will wince at some of the blatant stereotypes and caricatures in the film, but it was a daring film for the time.
Though the story may be contrived, for musical lovers this is not a problem. Not thinking too much about the story gives the viewer more time to enjoy the stuff that makes the film great-the phenomenal musical numbers. "Stormy Weather" is but one of the great numbers. We also have Cab Calloway singing "Geechy Joe" Fats Waller performing "Ain't Misbehavin" and Ada Brown singing "That Ain't Right" just to name a few great scenes.
For the musical numbers alone, STORMY WEATHER belongs with the great Hollywood musicals, but one can only wonder. If Hollywood and America had not had such strong color barriers in the days of the great musicals, how much greater would these extravaganzas have been.
Movie Review: Wonderful music, singing and dancing; not much plot
Summary: 4 Stars
What a musical treat Stormy Weather is! One of several "race films" produced by the major studios in the early 1940s (this one by 20th Century Fox), Stormy Weather offers a showcase of black entertainers. It features the incomparable Leana Horne, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Ada Brown, and Emmet 'Babe' Wallace singing. The dancing is also a treat, with headliner Bill Robinson (Mr. Bojangles), the Nicholas Brothers, and the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe. My favorite song is actually sung by the uncredited Babe Wallace--his creamy baritone rendition of "African Dance", a song with lyrics by Langston Hughes (!), is offered as a front for Robinson's wonderful dance across the tom-tom drums, but what a front it is. The stairs dance by the Nicholas Brothers is a marvel--Fred Astaire called it the single best dance routine ever captured on film. The plot is quite thin, even in a day when musical films typically had thin plots, but at least by setting Stormy Weather smack in the middle of the entertainment business, it provided ample opportunity for superb music and dancing. Production values are solid. The DVD offers an excellent version of the film, although the DVD commentary loses sight of the magic of the film and its performers with misplaced social commentary. Story Weather offers top flight entertainers in top flight club settings. If you love music and dance, you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl. (Note that while the thumbnail for the cover notes that the film included Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, it does not; his scenes were left on the cutting room floor. For Anderson along with Ethel Waters and Lena Horne, take a look at the 1943 Cabin in the Sky.)Movie Review: Now that's entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
The story is hokey, the leading man's performance is second rate but "Stormy Weather" is pure fun. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson may not be great shakes as an actor, but who cares? As a dancer he is unmatched and his skills are on full display here. And as they say on TV ads -- "but that's not all." Here too are the fabulous tap dancing duo The Nicholas Brothers for one amazing number and legendary jazz musicians Fats Waller and Cab Calloway and Robinson's co star, Lena Horne.
Horne is simply gorgeous both visually and vocally, whether while singing the film's title song or playing Robinson's love interest. Also look for Dooley Wilson, best known as Bogey's piano-playing pal in "Casablanca."
"Stormy Weather" is one of the best of the all African-American movies from the pre Civil Rights era.
The joy of watching the movie is tempered somewhat by the realization that its stars did not get their due as a consequence of the institutionalized racism of the time.
This edition cried out for some special features other than commentary by a film historian.
The story line is trite but serviceable as a vehicle for the songs and dances.
What a joy!