Hollywood Rhythm: Rhapsodies in Black & Blue

After glowing write-ups in Time and elsewhere, I popped Rhapsodies in Black & Blue in the magic movie machine with great expectations. And I wasn't disappointed...initially. The opening number in this collection of eight musical shorts which were filmed between 1930-1932, the titular "Rhapsody in Black & Blue," was a humorous piece featuring Louis Armstrong smilingly singing "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You" in a dream sequence which takes place in Jazzmania (picture heaven as a celestial juke joint). But the second piece, "Singapore Sue," was a sailor and his gal pre-Production Code number, starring Cary Grant, that was more racist than racy with not-so-oblique references to, among other things, the smell of Asian peoples. The collection gets back on track with a wonderfully funny skit with Eddie Cantor as a man undergoing a doctor's exam to qualify for health insurance, and the closing number with Rudy Vallee as a physician who prescribes musical treatments to heal ailments is pretty good, but in between these two jewels are four clunkers (unless you happen to be a die-hard Ethel Merman fan). Although the hype here is that the musical shorts were often better than the features they preceded, this is definitely not the case for the classic musicals of the period. As film history, Rhapsodies in Black & Blue (along with the three other titles in the series: Jazz Cocktails, Radio Rhythms, and Blue Melodies) is recommended; general viewers, however, may find themselves asking: "that's entertainment?" (R. Pitman)