Product Details

• Actors: Mack Gordon, Jack Oakie, LeRoy Prinz, Harry Revel, Lyda Roberti
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: March 10, 1998
• Run Time: 10 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304557027
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,279 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Suring the "Dawn of Sound', musical short subjects were the hors d'oeuvre before the main feature, and an effective means for the studio to test their freshly signed talent in front of the cameral. Aggressively pursuing the top singers, songwriters and musicians of Tin Pan Alley, Paramount's roster of contract players was composed of some of the top names in the world of entertainment. This first volume of Kin's four-part tribute to the Paramount musical shorts includes emerging radio stars whose cinematic talents were tested (Bing Crosby in I Surrender Dear; Rudy Vallee in Radio Rhythm), songwriters who could sell their own material (Hoagy Carmichael in a self-titled film and Mack Gordon and Harry Revel plugging an upcoming production in Hollywood Rhythm) and two singers whose stormy off screen lives became the basis for hit movies: Ruth(Love Me or Leave Me) Etting in Favorite Melodies and Lillian (I'll Cry Tomorrow) Roth in Meet the Boyfriend. There's also a two-edge homage to that icon of thirties naughtiness, Betty Boop, with appearances by Betty's Prototype, "Boop-a-Doop Girl" Helen Kane (A Lesson in Love), and Betty's actual voice, Mae Questel (Musical Justice, with a cameo by Ms. Boop herself.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Four Volume Set, January 6, 2001

By 

Ibochild (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Melodies [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you're not ready to roll out the bucks for the complete fourvolume set of HOLLYWOOD RHYTHM, this is the one to buy first. The mainreason is for the first short in this volume -- "Symphony inBlack." This marvelous short features Duke Ellington at the pianocomposing a new work. Intercut between those scenes are vignettesrepresenting the different movenents of the piece. One of whichfeatures a young (and uncredited) Billie Holiday as the scorned woman.Another features the provocative dancing of (also uncredited) Earl"Snake Hips" Tucker. Contemporary music video directorscould learn a lot from this piece with its stylish use of black &white photography and wonderful art direction.

Another reason tobuy this video is to see Bessie Smith's only film appearance in theshort "St. Louis Blues." Her power as a vocalist is evidentin this piece, which is also about a woman abandoned by a lover.Jimmy Morcedai is cold-blooded in another rare film appearance. Hisdancing is not half-bad either.

The other shorts don't quite rise upto the level of these two shorts. Some also feature some verystereotypical images, which were typical of this period. However,don't let that stop you from buying this video. "Symphony inBlack" alone is worth the price. It is an absolute masterpiece

4.0 out of 5 stars The Jazziest Blues., July 12, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blue Melodies [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I think this video is a must have for your blues and jazz collection. The short musical movies, are well put together. I especially like Duke Ellington's Bundle of blues, I didn't know the song stormy weather, was writen and sung before the 1940's. Ivie Anderson sung the song different or as good as Lena Horne. And the dance team right after, was very good. They did dances back then in the 1930's, the way ethnic nightclubs do now. The women were thin, but looked healthy. This video is a must see, some of the vidoes were a little boring, but the rest will make up for it.