Stormy Weather Details

Little more than an excuse to feature some of the finest black American performers of all time, this expertly made extravaganza may well seem tasteless today. Try to ignore the parade of grinning racial stereotypes, and concentrate instead on the star turns. Here's the great Bill Robinson, and a zoot-suited Cab Calloway, with Coleman Hawkins in his line-up. Here's the flamboyant Fats Waller performing Ain't Misbehavin', the sensational Nicholas Brothers, and, best of all, lovely Lena Horne performing the title number and a wondrous I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby, among others. But the sight of black comedians “blacking up” with burnt cork is hard to watch, and the virtually non-existent plot is trite, with the Horne-Robinson sudden and clinchless romance particularly unbelievable. However, it remains particularly entertaining a record of wonderful talents preserved on celluloid.

Virtually a high-speed revue with all-black talent, and what talent! The production is pretty slick too.