everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'm not sure and I'm certain to be corrected if I'm wrong, but Minstrel Man might very well be the only PRC film ever to get recognition from the Academy. It received two Oscar nominations for Best Song and for musical scoring. A studio known for its pinch penny budgets for noirs, westerns, and a few horror films producing a musical? It's worth the novelty just to watch the thing.A year before Minstrel Man came out Paramount even used Technicolor in its minstrel film Dixie that starred Bing Crosby. The folks at PRC thought that maybe a minstrel film would work for them. Of course they did not have Crosby or color.The lead here is Benny Fields who was a well known song and dance man and became even better known when he teamed on the stage and in life with Blossom Seeley. Blossom was smart enough to stay away from this.Good song and dance man that he was Fields just couldn't act. When not singing he's wooden and as charming as a wet napkin. The story covers some thirty years of the life of Fields's character Dixie Boy Johnson.The climax involves the revival of minstrel shows. I mean in 1944, really?Seasoned performers like Gladys George and Roscoe Karns are wasted as the surrogate parents to the daughter of Dixie Boy Johnson. And a pretty perky blond like Molly Lamont wants to hide that beauty under cork makeup. Give me a break. It's more than the subject matter that's kept this film under wraps.

Story of a star performer in minstrel shows who loses his wife in childbirth then gives up on his daughter who begins to rise to prominence as a performer in her own right. Okay backstage drama suffers from a leading man who is a cold fish. Its not clear how he would have been a star of any sort since the actor portraying him has such little charisma that you really don't care and he brings everything down. The music is okay with big production numbers that would make you think this wasn't a Poverty Row film. I know the subject matter of minstrel shows will not sit well with some people. Having seen a couple of similar films set in and around a minstrel show I found this film's portrayal more likely to be offensive then others. As an entertainment in its own right I found it just okay with the lead's poor performance and the subject matter diminishing my enjoyment.

This is a very short movie -- a little over one hour. For a movie this short it tries to hard to look at growth, defeat, and recovery. Many of the scenes seem to come from other movies. Many of the actresses seem to be mimicking others also -- a blond Ginger Rodgers type, the child star growing up, an Al Jolson type lead. despite this we enjoyed watching this film. The staging of the minstrel numbers was enjoyable and gave some insight into techniques that are no longer in use. the ubiquitous black face will be a turn off to many. Black face appears in many of the major scenes. The version we saw was on DVD. The transfer was acceptable especially considering the bargain basement price, but many of the blacks were washed out. For those interested in musicals, this clearly second level, film shows what happens when garland, Astaire and the other greats are missing

As cheap musicals go, it's not bad. The subject matter is respectable, avoiding unnecessary comedy that B-musicals of the mid forties boosted. The problem appears to be casting. For Benny Fields this is his only major dramatic lead in films, and one can easily understand, why. He is a relatively unexciting old man with no remarkable talents to showcase. He does sing, but his voice is very soft and definitely not one that would carry in a live theatre. Judy Clark is so perk that it makes your eyes hurt, and as natural as Duracel bunny. How did a quality actress like Gladys George get lost in that vehicle, is a minor mystery. Said all that, the film is quite entertaining, and the music (not meaning some well-known standards that get used but the original score) is better than is usual for a small time musical. Plus it's a reasonably short flick that doesn't let you get bored. It's also very nice to look at a good old fashioned, dignified minstrel show. Makes you wonder what the world would be like if minstrels hadn't paved the way to making black music part of our everyday life.