Lost In Alaska

Universal, 1952

Starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Tom Ewell, and Mitzi Green

Directed by Jean Yarbourgh 

Music and Lyrics by Henry Mancini

Let's take a winter trip to Alaska and celebrate the last weeks of the season in this Abbott and Costello Yukon comedy. This was, in fact, Bud and Lou's second winter-themed musical after the comic thriller Hit the Ice. By this point, Bud and Lou had tangled with almost every monster in Universal's roster, gone to war, and had dealt with fairy-tale giants in pastel Cinecolor. This time, they go back in history to San Francisco in the 1890's, when a well-meaning fireman helps a seemingly down-on-his-luck man jumping off a pier...and get into a load of trouble for doing so...

The Story: Genial George Bell (Costello) and his best friend Tom Watson (Abbott) take the man home after they save him from drowning. Turns out the man is "Nugget" Joe McDermott (Ewell), the former sheriff of Skagway, Alaska. He was just turned down by his girl Rosette (Green) and thinks he has nothing to live for. Tom and George are quick to point out that the 2 million in gold he's hauling around is certainly something to live for. After getting a telegram claiming Rosette wants to marry him after all, Joe is so grateful to Tom and George for saving him, he gives them a gold nugget. Turn's out to be some very foolish gold when the duo discover at the bank next day that the local police think they killed Joe instead of helping him. They hit the boat to get him to clear their names, but end up going to Alaska with him instead.

Turns out Rosette isn't really that interested in him, but everyone else in Skagway sure is. Tom, George, and Joe are shot at almost the minute they arrive. Joe left money to his "old timer" friends in his will, and now they're more interested in gold than in their friendship. They're not the only ones. Rosette's boss Jake Stillman (Bruce Cabot) wants her to marry him, so he can kill Joe and get the gold. She warns the trio instead, joining them as they flee into Alaska and Eskimo territory, all the while pursued by Jake and his men and Joe's so-called, gold-crazed "friends."

The Song and Dance: Surprisingly long on plot for one of Bud and Lou's films. There are some very funny moments, especially when they actually do make it to Alaska. I love them having to track across the frozen wastes and get literally frozen. There's also a few good jokes with them dealing with the Eskimo tribe, one of the few Alaskan/Yukon cliches Bing Crosby and Bob Hope missed in the similar Road to Utopia. Mitzi Green has a few good moments of her own, and Ewell's casual acceptance of everyone in town being after him is good for a few chuckles. 

The Numbers: Rosette claims "I'm Just a Country Gal" when we first meet her at the saloon in Skagway. She even imitates another famous barroom song from a warmer western, Marlene Dietrich performing "See What the Boys In the Back Room Will Have" from Destry Rides Again. She claims it's "A Hot Time in the Igloo Tonight" when she dances with the Eskimos. 

Trivia: First movie for Henry Mancini. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, this is far from Mancini's best work. His two numbers are hardly distinguished in any way. Second, yes, northern Native stereotypes abound, including the Natives being called "Eskimo" instead of "Inuit." Third, this isn't Abbot and Costello's best work, either. It's basically an imitation Road to Utopia with more of an accent on comedy and few of the routines they're famous for. Rosette jumps back and forth so much in her interest in Tom, it seems like almost an afterthought when they do end up together in the end. Fourth, what happened to Tom and George being on the lam? Did they ever clear their names in San Francisco?

The Big Finale: Mainly of interest to major fans of Abbott and Costello. 

Home Media: Can be found on solo on streaming and on disc as part of two Abbott and Costello collections.

DVD - The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello: Vol 3

Blu Ray - Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Collection

Amazon Prime

Honoring Chinese New Year - Step Up: Year of the Dance (Step Up China)

Yuehua Entertainment/Lionsgate Films, 2019

Starring SuperDino, Meiqui Meng, Bobo, and Kim Sung-joo

Directed by Ron Yuan

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's head to modern-day China to celebrate the Year of the Horse and one of the most internationally popular musical franchises. The original Step Up debuted in 2006. It wasn't popular with critics who found its class war story to be too formulaic, but the incredible dancing made it a hit with teens and young adults who loved the moves and the rebellious characters. It was such a success, it led to four more unrelated Step Up movies that were all hits in their own right and a TV show that lasted for three seasons. 

One of the reasons it continued to do well was its enormous popularity in international markets, especially Asia. Even when the fifth film, Step Up: All In, didn't do well in North America, it still made money elsewhere. China took notice and made a Step Up film exclusively for their country in 2019. It came over here as a streaming exclusive in 2020. Is it as good as the other titles in this franchise, or should it be left on the streets? Let's begin with a young Chinese man (SuperDino) right before a big dance battle and find out...

The Story: Tie Hou (SuperDino) landed in prison after a bar brawl two years before, right as he was about to tell his crush Xiao Fe (Meng) he loved her. He's able to reunite with his old dance group the Iron Crew, but she hasn't forgiven him. Wealthy young He Chaun (Bobo) is trying to audition for a major international dance competition with the Black Tigers, but fellow dancer Dai (Sun-joo) kicks Chaun off the stage and injures him. They both get the trophies, but Dai isn't happy when it turns out the judges were paid off. 

Meanwhile, Tie Hou has tried to get a job working with everyone from strippers to kids, but his tougher style of street dance doesn't work with poles or children's classes. He even dances when he works at a construction site. Chaun sees him and tries to get him to join his new dance crew. Hou refuses at first, until he sees Chaun's elegant dance battle with the Black Tigers that even works the cane in. Fe is impressed and flirts with him. She's out of place at Chaun's birthday party, until she shows up the snobs there with a few great dance moves of her own.

Chaun has started a dance team of his own, Sky Crew. Even with Chaun pushing them hard to practice everywhere, they still lose in their first dance battle with the Black Tigers. They come up with the idea of filming their combination dance and Kung Fu moves. That gets them the dance battle invitation, but it also gets them recognized. Hou loses his best friend Tie She when the gang he fought in the bar tries to get him back. Now they really have a reason to beat the Black Tigers, and then take on the American team the Phantoms.

The Song and Dance: And the dance, along with some decent cinematography that makes the best of this film's low-budget origins, is the lone saving grace here. It really is exceptional. Director Yuan was normally a stunt man and martial artist, so he at least had the right instinct about how to shoot the choreography, both for the fight scenes and the dance scenes. Some of the dance scenes, especially the dance battles, are excitingly choreographed and not badly edited for something this cheap. I also appreciate that there's no hard feelings at the end. None of the dance teams indulge in bad sportsmanship or put down the others. Even the Phantoms, who were built up as the villains, bow for their fellow competitors. 

The Numbers: We open with Tie Hou, Tie She, and Xiao Fe doing their own robot moves at the bar before the gang war breaks out. Tie Hou has his solo number as he interprets the fight through dance. There's a chorus routine at a club when he gets out that includes some pretty sweet breakdancing. Hou tries to explain his feelings to Fe during their robot dance duet to "Honey Honey." They even dance with metal poles that he uses to play drums on trash cans at one point. The Black Tiger's slick number in white suits is going great, until Dai gives Chaun that fatal kick.

Next up is our first montage, as Tie Hou first tries to teach dance to strippers, then fan dancers, then children. None of them are there to learn the street dancing he favors. He even dances briefly at a construction site. Tie Hou starts dancing at an outdoor ring, until the same toughs who attacked him at the bar make nasty prison jokes. Chaun out-dances them even with a cane. Fe gets her big solo at the party when some of the snottier girls call her a "street bum," and she dances to show what a street bum can do. Chaun joins her, to the consternation of Tie Hou. Chaun and Hou have a stiff-kneeded dance off to rap music later that night at the party. 

The Sky Crew start off briefly "dance battling" each other before Chaun reminds them that they have their own unique style. The next montage shows the Sky Crew training everywhere - even over a grill and while bench-pressing a fire extinguisher. They're still arguing during rehearsals, until they realize that they do better when they come together as a team. The next montage shows different dance groups - even a black group and an all-kid team - competing at a club. When the Black Tigers are the winners, the Sky Crew film their moves - dance and Kung-Fu - and post them online. The Phantoms rise to the occasion at the competition with their genuinely excellent hip-hop dance. The Black Tigers are more athletic, often dancing on their knees. The Sky Crew start out with traditional Chinese music before getting into their own rap dance.

What I Don't Like: First of all, the dubbing on the copy of this at Tubi is lousy. Lips don't match, voices often don't sound like they belong to the characters. Second, whether this franchise takes place in Baltimore or Beijing, the cliches are the same. There's a reason the Step Up films (this one included) were never popular with critics. No amount of terrific dancing can cover the fact that the story is the same overcoming the odds parable we've seen hundreds of times. Admittedly, Tie Hou having been in prison and his difficulty finding jobs does give it a slightly more realistic edge, but Tie She's death is played for melodrama, and the class war drama isn't nearly as exciting as the movie wants to think it is. There's also this being a low-budget film. It does show at times, especially in the dull sets.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of the other Step Up films or of Asian musical cinema, this is worth checking out once for the dance routines alone.

Home Media: Streaming only in North America. Tubi currently has it for free with commercials. 

Tubi

Amazon Prime

YouTube

Valentine's Short Subject Special - The Valentine's Day That Almost Wasn't

Showtime, 1982

Voices of Lisa Buckley, Richard J. Schellbach, Paul Fusco, and Bob Fappiano

Directed by Paul Fusco

Music and Lyrics by Ed Bruder and Jeff Cannata

From 1981 through 1983 Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF, made a series of six holiday specials for cable featuring his unique comic puppets. We've already seen his Easter and Thanksgiving stories over the past year. For Valentine's Day, we get a mystery and action spoof that turns cupids into Bogart-style investigators and gives us a little more action than in the more character-based early specials. In fact, we begin with our first real villain from these specials, Rubella Slime (Buckley) and her brothers, as they create a brew to spread hate in the world and end Valentine's Day as we know it.

The Story: Rubella hates Valentine's Day so much, she and her brothers Bugsy (Fusco) and Weasel (Fappiano) create a hate potion to put into the Cupids' Pot of Love. They first spray it on innocent Cosmo Cupid (Schellbach) when he's giving away puppies at the pound to create a distraction. While Sam Cupid (Fusco) and his boys are dealing with Cosmo, Bugsy and Weasell are able to sneak in and put the potion in the pot. When the cupids shoot their arrows, they turn everyone mean instead of loving. Sam has to find the antidote and stops Rubella, before she and her brothers ruin Valentine's Day for everyone.

The Song and Dance: Well, you can't say this one isn't unique. You don't often see a holiday special, especially for Valentine's Day, framed as a film noir spoof. The city and above the clouds setting gives this one a different vibe from the other specials, and it's a bit more action-packed, as per the mystery thriller vibe. Buckley pretty much steals the show as the hilariously evil Rubella, who wants everyone to hate Valentine's Day because she's never gotten a real Valentine in her life.

The Numbers: "Poison Brew" is Rubella's big song and dance with her brothers early-on. We get their explanation as to why they're doing this, how they plan on doing it, and what it will do to the people on earth.

What I Don't Like: This might be the strangest thing Fusco ever did. Humphrey Bogart-imitating Cupids? Villains who act like a cross between Maleficent and Morticia Addams? A Valentine's Day story framed as a mystery? Yeah, this is pretty weird, and more action than musical. Like Fusco's other work for Showtime, it's also incredibly cheap. Some of the sets are a little bit more interesting than the ones for Easter and Thanksgiving, especially when Cosmo and Sam are in their hot air balloon, using a laser (that is obviously a spotlight) to spread love, but it still looks like something made for cable in the early 80's.

The Big Finale: If you're looking for something different (and maybe a little less romantic) this Valentine's Day, take a trip to the big city with Sam and help him stop Rubella from destroying the holiday forever.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, including free on Tubi with commercials.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Tubi

Miles Ahead

Sony Pictures Classics (Columbia), 2015

Starring Don Cheadle, Ewan MacGregor, Emayatzy Corinealdi, and Michael Stuhlbarg

Directed by Don Cheadle

Music by Miles Davis and others

We jump ahead from the 1910's to the 1970's, and from ragtime to a very modern form of jazz. Miles Davis was one of the major jazz greats of the mid-20th century, a tempestuous giant whose experiments in cool jazz and be-bop from the late 50's through the early 80's revolutionized jazz and music in general, pushing the boundaries of what jazz could be and do. He was also said to have been notoriously difficult, his life plagued with drug and alcohol addiction and physical illnesses. His addictions led him to drop out of music entirely between 1975 and 1980. In fact, let's begin in 1979, as he was preparing to make a comeback, and find out just how hard that was for him to start over again...

The Story: Davis (Cheadle) is living alone, painting and dealing with debilitating hip pain, when a young Scottish reporter named Dave Braden (MacGregor) forces his way into his home to get an interview. Instead, he ends up following Davis as he pursues tapes of his most recent compositions stolen by local thugs. As he and Braden pursue the thieves, Davis recalls the creations of his most famous compositions, and his troubled relationship with his first wife, dancer Frances Taylor (Corinealdi). She was his muse and his inspiration in the late 50's and 60's, but their marriage ended with her fleeing for her own safety in 1968. 

The Song and Dance: Cheadle directed and wrote this project along with starring in it, claiming no one else could do it better. Maybe he was right. He's an electric Davis, capturing the musician's early spirit and drive, even as he dove head-first into his own addictions. MacGregor almost matches him as the Rolling Stones reporter who is determined to get a story at all cost, even breaking the law or pushing his way into Davis' house. The music is so fabulous, the soundtrack won Grammy. We get Davis' compositions in all their raw, eclectic glory, from the title song to "So What?" to "Prelude Pt. 2."

The Numbers: In fact, we open with "Prelude No. 2" from the live album Agartha, the last album Davis made before his self-imposed exile. Among those we see him working on are "Duran," "So What," "Frelon Brun," the title song, "Back Seat Betty," "Seven Steps to Heaven," "Gone," "Blue In Green," "Black Satin," "Sanctuary," "Teo, "He Loved Him Madly," "East of Rockford," and "Solea."

What I Don't Like: First of all, this is all fictional. While Davis really did take time off between 1975 and 1980 and really did make a comeback in 1981, Dave Braden was created as someone Davis could argue with and drag around to find the tapes - and the story with the tapes going missing was created to add drama. Second, this is for adult jazz fans only. This is rated R for a reason. There's tons of heavy swearing, fisticuffs, abuse, and drug and alcohol use. Start the kids on Davis' best-known albums first. It's also pretty obviously a low-budget indie movie, with cheap sets and costumes. No one besides MacGregor and Cheadle remotely register, especially Corinealdi in a thankless love interest role. There's also all the jumping around. The editing is confusing, and the movie isn't always clear where we're going or what time period or part of Davis' life we're in.

The Big Finale: If you're an adult fan of Davis or jazz like me, you'll want to check out this exploration of something that might have happened during one of the most difficult periods of his life. 

Home Media: Easily found on all major formats. Can currently be found for free on Pluto TV with commercials.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Pluto TV On Demand

Cult Flops - Scott Joplin

Universal, 1977

Starring Billy Dee Williams, Clifton Davies, Art Carney, and Margaret Avery

Directed by Jeremy Kagan

Music and Lyrics by Scott Joplin and others

This week, we dive into Black History Month with biographies of two popular composers, one who would be unjustly forgotten for sixty years, the other who vanished to avoid the spotlight. We're going to start with the long-forgotten one. "King of Ragtime" Scott Joplin was brought back into the spotlight when his music was featured on the soundtrack to the hit 1973 comedy The Sting, and his "The Entertainer" leaped to the top of the charts. This biography was originally intended to be a TV movie, but Universal was so impressed with the results, they rushed it into theaters. Were they right to do this, or should this have been left on the piano roll? Let's begin with Joplin's (Williams) departure in the late 19th century over "The Entertainer" and find out...

The Story: Joplin's father wanted him to work on the railroads, but he had his heart set on music. He ran away from Texarkana, Texas to become a piano teacher in Missouri. It's here that he befriended Louis Chauvelin (Davies), a fellow pianist who worked in a brothel. They join a piano-cutting contest on a lark. Chauvelin wins, but it's Joplin's playing and original music that impresses music publisher John Stark (Carney). He publishes Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" in St. Louis, allowing Joplin to share the profits. 

Joplin's music is wildly popular, and he becomes a wealthy man. He even marries lovely widow Belle (Avery), and they buy a lavish home and plan a family. His hands, however, are starting to disobey him. They'll frequently shake when he wants them to play. It turns out to be more than nerves. Joplin has contracted syphilis. So has Chauvelin, and it kills him. Belle too passes shortly after her marriage to Joplin. He throws himself into his magnum opus, a folk opera on African-American themes, with more accessible American music. He's never able to fully stage it in his lifetime, but his music eventually outlives him.

The Song and Dance: The performances are what makes this worth watching. Williams is excellent as the mercurial musician who was determined to make something he could be proud of, before he couldn't do anything at all. Davies nearly matches him as his equally talented but less ambitious best friend, and Carney also does well as the older man who is determined to prove to the world that "ragtime" is more than music for one race. Some of the costumes aren't bad, either, at least well representing the late 19th-early 20th century setting. 

The Numbers: In fact, we open over the credits with "The Entertainer." We first get "Hangover Blues" at the brothel. There's some pretty wild pianists at the piano cutting contest, including a Civil War vet who plays one-armed. Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" is what puts him and Chauvelin over, topping even a wild guy who plays while jumping around. We get "Solace" and the duo writes "Heliotrope Bouquet" together. "Courtship," as Scott dates and weds Belle, is based on "Elite Syncopation." We get "Peacharine Rag" and "Pleasant Moments" as well. "Weeping Willow" from Joplin's opera Treemonisha is performed by a very serious choir...but Joplin is so frustrated with their performance, he ends up singing everything himself for the backers. He switches to "The Entertainer" when they aren't interested, giving him a montage of memories and segments from the movie as his hands fail him.

Trivia: This was originally made for TV, but Universal was so impressed with the results, they released it theatrically. 

Look for another famous early Black composer, Eubie Blake, as one of the judges at the piano cutting contest, and R&B group the Commodores (including Lionel Richie) as The Minstrel Singers. 

Treemonisha finally had first complete performance in 1972. It was so well-received, Joplin got a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1976. 

What I Don't Like: I'm afraid this looks and sounds like a TV movie from 1977. Nice costumes aside, the sets are cramped, and there's those stills montages. Normally, most Hollywood musical biopics go on for much too long...but this one is too short to really include all of the facts about Joplin's short but eventful life. He had two wives, one of which did die young, but not from heartbreak after a baby's death. He not only played in brothels early-on and taught piano, guitar, and mandolin, but also sang with boys' groups. He wrote an earlier opera, A Guest of Honor, that was so badly received, it's now lost.  I wish they'd expanded it when they moved it to theaters! As it is, what's here is standard biopic cliches with a very dark ending (something a lot of critics complained about in 1977).

The Big Finale: Worth seeing at least once if you're a fan of Williams, Davies, or Joplin and ragtime. 

Home Media: Available in all formats; DVD is from the made-to-order Universal Vault.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - Frosty's Winter Wonderland

Rankin-Bass/ABC, 1976

Voices of Jackie Vernon, Shelley Winters, Andy Griffith, and Dennis Day

Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass

Music and Lyrics by various

For the next three Saturdays, we'll be looking at vintage winter and Valentine's Day specials from the 70's, 80's, and 90's, starting with this lesser-known sequel from Rankin-Bass. The original Frosty the Snowman was one of their bigger hits in the late 60's, so it was likely inevitable that they would want to follow that up. They got the folksy Griffith to replace original narrator Jimmy Durante, who had a stroke a few years before and had retired, and concocted a story that gave Frosty a wife and a slightly more likely villain than an annoying and rather silly magician. How does all of this look today? Let's begin with Griffith and the kids as they try to build a snowman who'll come to life like Frosty and find out...

The Story: Frosty (Vernon) is glad to be back with the kids, but he's lonely when they're not playing with him. Since he can't go inside with them, they make him a wife to be his friend and partner. Trouble is, they can't figure out what will make her "all livin'" at first. Meanwhile, Jack Frost (Paul Frees) is jealous that the kids associate Frosty with winter more than they do him. He tries to blow Frosty's magic hat away, but gets a substitute. Frosty is the one who finally figures out what will bring Crystal (Winters) to life...and she saves him in turn after Frost returns and does get his hat. Frosty and Crystal want to be married, but they end up needing a snow priest (Day) to do the job. 

The Animation: As a later Rankin-Bass special, this absolutely shows the hand of Paul Coker Jr. It's much more rounded and anime-like than the original special (as per its Japanese origins), and definitely looks like it was designed by the man who would later do artwork for MAD Magazine. 

The Song and Dance: Vernon and Winters make an adorable couple in one of the better Rankin-Bass specials of the 70's. This is one of the few times the weirdness that marks their later efforts really works. Winters' crusty demeanor compliments Vernon's innocent cheerfulness well, and Frees makes a perfect impish Jack. I also like that this may be the only Rankin-Bass special that doesn't needlessly attempt to tie a holiday in. It doesn't mention Christmas, Valentine's Day, or even Groundhog's Day. It's just about the wonders of winter, making it perfect to watch during the colder months when other Rankin-Bass specials are sitting on the shelf. 

The Numbers: Griffith performs "Frosty the Snowman" in the opening as the kids build their new wintry friend and wish for Frosty's return. They sing it again when they're out skating and sledding with Frosty and realize that Frosty really isn't very good at counting. Day and Griffith share "Winter Wonderland" later on, during Frosty and Crystal's wedding. It really is very sweet, with the animals carrying Crystal's train and the snowman that no one has to pretend is Parson Brown.

What I Don't Like: Er, what is this a sequel to again? There's no mention of Karen, the little girl from the first special, though they do continue the running gag with the kid wrapped in that huge scarf and his weird snow people names and the cop who swallows his whistle at the sight of the snow people. While this does make more sense than such late 70's and 80's Rankin-Bass specials as The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold or Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July, it's still a little strange. The kids make Frosty a wife, and Jack Frost is jealous because they aren't paying attention? Sometimes I wonder what the writers at Rankin-Bass were on in the 70's and early 80's. 

The Big Finale: One of the better Rankin-Bass specials from the mid-late 70's deserves a look during the winter months for its unique story and charming performances.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

DVD - Frosty the Snowman/Frosty's Winter Wonderland

Amazon Prime

Jivin' In Be-Bop

Alexander Distributing Company, 1946

Starring Dizzy Gillespie, Freddy Carter, James Moody, and Helen Humes

Directed by Leonard Anderson and Spencer Williams

Music and Lyrics by various

Some race films bypassed flimsy plots entirely to document the popular black singers and orchestras of the time. Gillespie's career began in the mid-30's. He played on several big band orchestras and did arrangements for others before he struck out on his own in a small combo in 1944. He was riding the rise of both small combos and be-bop, then considered to be a jazz sub-genre, when he and his combo appeared in this film. How well do these numbers come off today? Let's let our master of ceremonies, Mr. Freddy Carter, tell us what we're about to see and find out...

The Story: There isn't one. Carter introduces Gillespie and his orchestra and a variety of dancers, from a modern dancer swinging scarves barefoot (Sahji) to a laid-back tapper (Ralph Brown). He does gags trades quips with the musicians between numbers.

The Song and Dance: And obviously, with no plot to discuss, song and dance are the only things of interest here. If you love Gillespie, you're going to have a great time here. We get some of his biggest early hits, including "Salt Peanuts," "Things to Come," and "I Waited for You." Some of the dancing is pretty incredible, too. Sahji can do some amazing moves barefoot, on the floor, and in a skimpy costume, while the jiggerbugging chorus mid-way through has to be seen to be believed. 

The Numbers: And we open with Carter introducing "Salt Peanuts," as played by Gillespie and his orchestra. Singer Helen Humes wrote, performs, and helps to introduce the rollicking "E-Baba-Le-Ba." Gillespie and his boys perform "Oop-Bop She-Bam" and an original instrumental, the latter of which provides the backdrop for comic soft-shoe duo Johnny and Henny. Johnny comes out later for an even more dynamic solo routine. "Shaw 'Nuff" is Sahji's modern dance routine, with her spending more time dancing on the floor than on her bare feet. 

"I Waited for You" gets into more romantic turf, as a handsome young gentleman performs the longing ballad to his sweetheart. Pianists Dan Burley and Johnny Taylor, aka the Burley-Taylor Duo, play their own "Hubba Hubba Blues" for a group of appreciative young ladies. We get a taste of African dance as a leggy duo in a low-budget idea of scanty native costume dance "A Night In Tunsia." Humes returns for another one of her compositions, the slower and sadder "Crazy About a Man." Gillespie's next number with the orchestra is the more jivin' "One Bass Hit." 

Burley and Taylor come back for "Boogie In C," wigged to by a lovely, slender dancer in a scanty white fringed costume with some amazingly high kicks. "Dynamo A" is accurately titled as the chorus takes the floor for some outstanding jitterbugging. "Ornithology" is the first of two tap numbers from Ralph Brown, this one done in top hat, tie, and tails. Gillespie himself performs "He Beeped When He Should Have Bopped" with his orchestra. The slinky "Boogie In C" returns for a faster-pasted number in a slightly more lavish black dress to "Droppin' a Square." 

"You ain't heard nothin' yet!" Gillespie tells Carter as we move on to "Things to Come" with Gillespie's orchestra. A less well-dressed Brown returns with a more laid-back tap routine to "Ray's Idea." The "dance creation" turns out to be "Bag's Boogie," as the "Tunsia" male dancer gives us a more polished and airy performance on a literal pedestal. We end back with Burley, Taylor, and the slinky female dancer, this time in scanty black and silver for "Hubba Hubba Boogie."

Trivia: There's a version of the film on DVD called Things to Come that cuts Carter's prattle with the musicians between the numbers. 

What I Don't Like: Obviously, this isn't for you if you're looking for an actual plot with your musical numbers. It's also not for those who don't love Gillespie or the jazz, be-bop, or dance styles of the mid-late 40's. This is another one that could use some restoration, too, especially given how much it relies on audio. The film is scratchy here too, the audio distorted in places.

The Big Finale: Mainly for huge fans of Gillespie or the be-bop, jazz, and dance from this era.

Home Media: This is another one in the public domain, making it easily found everywhere and in all formats.

DVD

Tubi