Soundie - A Jazz Etude (1941)

★★★★ · Surreal · Robot Mike · 2006-05-09

This soundie has some odd staging, and takes place on a very dark set. The first thing I thought when the tap dancer came out was: "Whoa--where's his body?" It's that dark. The lighting is pretty creative though; it makes the performers' hands, faces, and instruments stand out. Add that to a fast paced unpredictable bit of piano jazz, and you've got one surreal soundie. Apparently this flick came before Jiveroo, another soundie on the archive--which, by the way, is just as creepy. You can see Jiveroo's titlecard at the end.

★★★★ · Jazz Etude-entertaining · ERD · 2008-06-09

I found this 1941 Soundie entertaining. The jazz arrangement of "Flight of the Bumble Bee" was well done. The musicians and dancer were very talented.

★★★ · All that for.. · Spuzz · 2005-03-19

Although at first, it LOOKS like some creative staging, and it somewhat is, you soon 'get' the staging and wonder why on earth it's staged like some Bunuel nightmare when all the guy is doing is tapdancing. Mind you, the set IS sort of neat... I guess the director wanted to show himself off.. Who knew that the fruit of his labour would be a Castle film?