Don Redman & His Orchestra (1934)
*** (out of 4)
This Vitaphone short was clearly made for black audiences but seeing it today shows that the white crowds were missing one of the more entertaining musical shorts from the studio. Don Redman was a jazz musician with a very distinct sound and his energetic nature really makes this film stand out from others made around this period. "You're Blowin' Me No Good, Yeah Man, Nagasaki and Tall Man are the four numbers performed in the 9-minute short and if you're a fan of jazz then this here will be a must see. None of these four songs are very well-known today but that really doesn't matter because Redman just comes across with so much energy that you can't help but wanna get up and dance to the music. He's a short, chubby little guy but the energy coming out of him would be enough for three people his size. These Vitaphone shorts always featured low-budgets but this one here actually looks to be somewhat higher than normal for the series. The main reason to watch this is that there simply weren't too many shorts showing off black entertainers. Paramount had a good number of titles, which have been released by Kino but Vitaphone has many of theirs still in the vault. This one here is thankfully on DVD and shows up on TCM for new fans to view and enjoy.
*** (out of 4)
This Vitaphone short was clearly made for black audiences but seeing it today shows that the white crowds were missing one of the more entertaining musical shorts from the studio. Don Redman was a jazz musician with a very distinct sound and his energetic nature really makes this film stand out from others made around this period. "You're Blowin' Me No Good, Yeah Man, Nagasaki and Tall Man are the four numbers performed in the 9-minute short and if you're a fan of jazz then this here will be a must see. None of these four songs are very well-known today but that really doesn't matter because Redman just comes across with so much energy that you can't help but wanna get up and dance to the music. He's a short, chubby little guy but the energy coming out of him would be enough for three people his size. These Vitaphone shorts always featured low-budgets but this one here actually looks to be somewhat higher than normal for the series. The main reason to watch this is that there simply weren't too many shorts showing off black entertainers. Paramount had a good number of titles, which have been released by Kino but Vitaphone has many of theirs still in the vault. This one here is thankfully on DVD and shows up on TCM for new fans to view and enjoy.