Just a delightful and still fresh film after sixty plus years, with an all black cast that does a great job with the material. I remember the principal players from TV variety shows of the later 1950's, and who can forget Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson from the Jack Benny Program? I'd only seen Anderson in minor movie roles before (1938's "You Can't Take It With You" and 1939's "You Can't Get Away With Murder"), so to see him in the lead here with Ethel Waters was a nice treat. It was also cool to see him display an all around talent with his singing and dancing, something you rarely got during his association with Benny. Still, the scene where he and Waters sang the title song left me wondering whether he might have been dubbed, as it didn't feature his unique gravelly voice, although his rendition of 'Consequences' later in the story and the duet with Lena Horne surely did.
And Lena Horne - modern day viewers might compare her to Halle Berry in the looks department, but if truth be told, Ms. Horne had it all over Berry in terms of talent. I did more than one double take as well when her character Georgia Brown appeared almost topless from the back and with midriff exposed upon securing that sexy halter top. Then when she got a leg up on Little Joe (Anderson), I had to wonder how he contained himself.
As a musical, the picture really got into high gear during the second half, with virtually number after number showcasing a variety of talent, not the least of which was the legendary Ethel Waters. As the 'terrific prayin' wife of Little Joe, Ms. Waters was a stand-out in every one of her scenes. Throw Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong into the mix, and you have a veritable lock on virtually all the black talent in Hollywood at the time.
As for the comedic interludes, it was great to see some of my all time favorite black actors of the era as part of the Lucifer Jr. bunch - Mantan Morelan and Wille Best, a duo that appeared somewhat regularly in the Monogram run of Charlie Chan films during the late Forties. As Lucifer Jr., Rex Ingram had one of the picture's most telling lines when he remarked that he was stuck with a bunch of 'B' idea men because all of his 'A' men were over in Europe. Released in 1943 during the height of World War II, that reference presumably related to Satan's cultivation of future citizens of Hell, namely Hitler and Mussollini. Considering that type of company, there was just no way that Little Joe Jackson would ever fall victim to any trap set for him by the devil's minions.
And Lena Horne - modern day viewers might compare her to Halle Berry in the looks department, but if truth be told, Ms. Horne had it all over Berry in terms of talent. I did more than one double take as well when her character Georgia Brown appeared almost topless from the back and with midriff exposed upon securing that sexy halter top. Then when she got a leg up on Little Joe (Anderson), I had to wonder how he contained himself.
As a musical, the picture really got into high gear during the second half, with virtually number after number showcasing a variety of talent, not the least of which was the legendary Ethel Waters. As the 'terrific prayin' wife of Little Joe, Ms. Waters was a stand-out in every one of her scenes. Throw Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong into the mix, and you have a veritable lock on virtually all the black talent in Hollywood at the time.
As for the comedic interludes, it was great to see some of my all time favorite black actors of the era as part of the Lucifer Jr. bunch - Mantan Morelan and Wille Best, a duo that appeared somewhat regularly in the Monogram run of Charlie Chan films during the late Forties. As Lucifer Jr., Rex Ingram had one of the picture's most telling lines when he remarked that he was stuck with a bunch of 'B' idea men because all of his 'A' men were over in Europe. Released in 1943 during the height of World War II, that reference presumably related to Satan's cultivation of future citizens of Hell, namely Hitler and Mussollini. Considering that type of company, there was just no way that Little Joe Jackson would ever fall victim to any trap set for him by the devil's minions.