Customer Reviews

That's Black Entertainment [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This two part video series gives you an overview of Blacks in film from the early 1900's through the 1940's with an emphasis on Black entertainers. Part one covers a brief history of Black film. From the outset film portrayed Blacks as buffoons, clowns and cowards. Such stereotypes did not garner a Black film audience in the early days. Many of your Black intellectuals and writers disparaged the portrayal of Blacks in film.

To combat these stereotypes Black independent film makers arose but their limited resources and inability to get their films distributed quickly led to their demise. When film finally had sound then we saw the emergance of Blacks in short film clips as entertainers. It is as singers and musicians that Blacks were seen in film.

Black Entertainment shows you rare footage of independent Black film makers, early clips of Blacks in film and the various clips of Count Basie, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway and other Black entertainers of the 1940's. This set is very rich in presenting us with these various artists but could have done more in giving us more background as to why the emphasis was placed on music rather than dramatic acting. You will enjoy the film clips, music and dancing of some of America's greatest Black entertainers of the 20th century.

I expected this to be more in the form of a documentary but it's really a collection of short films and "soundies", the "music videos" of the day. However, if you are into older type music and singers such as Count Basie and Nat "King" Cole, you might enjoy it.

The video cover says it all, this is black entertainment. This video is of talented black singers, actors and actresses. I especially like the soundies video, they look like their having so much fun singing and dancing. That era sure looked like fun. The only objection to one scene that I've viewed in this film, by me being a woman, is, the smack down from Jimmy in the 1929 film St. Louis Blues. It's not just that, it's just the way Bessie Smith handled it. She made me kinda mad, and I became disappointed in her character. But, I suppose that was the way the script was written.