Reviews (22)

Excellent!
First thing...If this is what Harlem was like in the 40's it was jammin. First of all Lena Horne has to be the classiest woman alive (then and now). Bill "Bojangles" Robinson is great, giving just the right amount of humor and entertainment. And of course, nobody I mean NOBODY, was as bad as Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers (who Fred Astaire by the way fancied some of his tap dancing moves from - I saw it on numerous PBS specials that he was a major fan of theirs). Although it may have some stereotypical parts in it, it is wonderful to see a movie where black people were respectful to one another, classy dressers and had good times with one another.

The best part of this film? In a way it is very hard for me to pinpoint...I love when Fats Waller and Ida Wells start signing "Having yourself a Ball". My grandparents used to sing it and lord knows Fats and Ida are singing the hell out if it! But the absolute BEST part has to be the finale when Cab is signing "Jumpin Jive" and the Nicholas Brothers dance on that staircase. This was a fantastic all-black hollywood musical. Thank God for video and DVD!

You will enjoy the singing, you won't BELIEVE the dancing!
Directed by Andrew Stone, this 1943 musical is one of the few musicals by a major studio to feature an all-black cast. The storyline is merely an excuse for all the musical numbers (and there are a LOT of them). Bill "Bojangles" Robinson plays Bill Williamson who meets lovely Selina Rogers, played by Lena Horne, just after he gets back from the First World War. Unfortunately their careers get in the way of their ever settling down together. "Stormy Weather" ends with a big all-star show hosted by Cab Calloway. Along the way Bill Robinson dances to "Rang Tang Tang" and several other songs, while Lena Horne sings "There's No Two Ways About Love," "Diga Diga Do" and the show piece title song, "Stormy Weather." Bill and Lena also do "I Can't Give you Anything But Love, Baby." Fats Waller does "Ain't Misbehavin'" and sings "That Ain't Right" (a Nat "King" Cole song) with Ada Brown. Cab Colloway conducts his "Rhythm Cocktail" and "Geechy Joe" and there is also the incredible Nichols Brothers (Fayard and Harold) dancing to "The Jumpin' Jive." "Stormy Weather" is a wonderful compilation of song and dance.

A fine musical

Format: Black & White
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Video Release Date: May 20, 2003

Director: Andrew L. Stone

Cast:

Lena Horne
Bill Robinson
Cab Calloway
Fats Waller
Dooley Wilson
Katherine Dunmam and her troope
Nicholas Brothers
Ada Brown
and others

This is an old Black and White, originally copyrighted in 1943, copyright renewed in 1971 by Twentieth Century Fox from a screenplay by Frederick Jackson and Ted Koehler.

Lena Horne was young and beautiful, playing a singing star who met a soldier returning from the First World War (Robinson), and they fell in love, but she doesn't want to give up her singing career to get married and settle down. They go their own ways. The story continues through the beginning of the Second World War, when they finally finalize their dreams.

No one ever sang Stormy Weather like Lena Horne.

This film is great for the music and dancing, and because of the energy the cast puts into it. It is an out-and-out musical, with an all black cast. Fine entertainment. If the film were made today political correctness would prevent some of the language, because of "ebonics" rather than epithets or bad language, and the minstrel scenes with colored people using blackface in their acts would never be tolerated today, although they, too, were innocent.

Too bad we've gone so far that we've lost our sense of humor in our attempt to placate the super-sensitivity of a few.

Lena Horne has to be one of the great singers of the last century.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

Black & White never looked so good.
The 1943 Fox classic Stormy Weather introduced Lena Horne to the world and gave a wide range of delightful talent a chance to 'strut their stuff'. The all-black cast delivers an incredible number of great numbers: highlights include Cab Callaway's terrific orchestral jive, the amazing Nicholas Brothers, and of course the title song in a remarkable ballet dream sequence. The climactic Zoot Suit number blows me away every time I see it.

The only lowlight is the minstrel jalopy routine, which is an an emabarrassment in this day and age.

I would take this movie a desert island.

Top that!!!
Put together one of the most beautiful women of the 20th century, the two most stunning dancers ever seen on film, the wild, crazy antics of Cab Calloway, add some great jazz, a flimsy plot....and you end up with one of the most undervalued musicals of all time.It just oozes class, style and sophistication -but don't bother reading any more of this, just BUY IT!!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

There weren't many African American faces when MGM trotted out thepastiche of its own musical glory, 1974's That's Entertainment! That factis redressed in dazzling fashion in this compilation video, originally broadcaston Showtime. Hosted by Vanessa Williams, the retrospective is broken up intoseveral categories: dancers, divas, rock and soul, jazz and swing, male singers, and hip-hop. With an 80-minute running time, it's hardly comprehensive, but whatit includes is choice. Most dazzling is a section on tap dancers, with amazingfootage of relatively unknown (at least in the mainstream) performers like Stump& Stumpy and Earl "Snakehips" Tucker. It's easy to quibble about people who areincluded (Diana Ross over Etta James?) or excluded (Ray Charles? Chuck Berry?),but it's hard to ignore the terrific old footage or the cogent commentary byobservers such as Jamie Foxx, Quincy Jones, and Debbie Allen. --MarshallFine ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Way, Way Too Short!
The 3 stars are for the brevity of the disc itself. The content gets 5 stars. The problem we have here is that this should have been a 6 hour (at least) program instead of 80 minutes. Magnificent black artists are only touched upon and many, many are left out all together. The dvd has 6 chapters: THE DANCERS, THE DIVAS, MALE SINGERS, JAZZ & SWING, ROCK & SOUL and HIP HOP. So you have about 10 minutes on the history of black jazz and swing music...yeah, right! And think of the wealth of information disclosed when we are treated to 10 minutes on the history of rock and soul music. RIDICULOUS! It's like getting a smell of the bar-b-q and not being able to taste it. Don't get me wrong....what there is is fantastic. It's just that there is so little! It's so brief that it almost seems to cut off mid-sentance. The rich legacy of entertainment left to us by Sammy Davis Jr is wrapped up in about 2 minutes. The Nicholas Brothers get a little more time but still not nearly enough. It IS probably worth the money but don't expect more than an 80 minute overview of wonderful black entertainers who should have been given a helluva lot more time out of respect for their magnificent efforts. This doesn't apply to the boring Rap & Hip Hop segment. That's all mouth and attitude...not entertainment, and self-confessed players and hustlers of limited talent like Ice T (see "Pimps Up, Ho's Down) should have stayed at home. ... Read more