This was the second of the movies from our New Year's Day 2003 Videofest (theme: 1939). It's one of the all-Black musicals that were produced in the 30s; as the genre goes, it isn't bad, although the production values are really low, almost funny. The cast includes a lot of night-club performers, some of whom are really good, but the story is silly, and kind of dull...but wait! Don't go just yet...

All through the movie, the main character talks about how he wants to perform Othello, and it's pretty obvious that he'll get to do it by the end of the movie...judging from the rest of the movie, I expected it to be slapstick...but it's not.

The scene shown is the one where Othello kills Desdemona, and as they start, the audience is totally not getting it, getting restless, catcalling and making fun of the performers...and then all of a sudden, the people on stage start doing an a capella version, singing the iambic pentameter, and it's TOTALLY GREAT. Then the audience joins in, with a call-and-response involvement...and for five minutes, it's REALLY GREAT SHAKESPEARE.

Take a look at it, but don't just fast-forward to the end; everything that happens during that scene is set up ahead of time, and it's worth the excruciating buildup.