Undescribable Perfection

As Good As It Gets

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

This short subject made right at the beginning of the talkie era is the only film featuring the legendary blues singer Bessie Smith. The skimpy plot of this film has Bessie's no good gambling man being caught by Bessie in the arms of Isabel Washington. As this slick crapshooting man leaves Bessie she breaks into her lament, the St. Louis Blues.After which there's a large production number where the Hall Johnson Choir is used in a large production number which while not done with the kind of values that Busby Berkeley had still was quite good. I'm sure the black cinema people who made this film at RKO didn't have a tenth of what Berkeley spent in 42nd Street.Thank God this treasure was preserved.

There's a legend around the sad lives of some of the early black performers who are looked back on in reverence at the sadness of their lives but the joy of their talents. One of the unsung legends now is Bessie Smith, somewhat overshadowed by Billie Holliday. But thanks to the Broadway musical revue "Me and Bessie" and a recent TV movie, those who might not have heard of her have gotten to discover the artist behind the sad woman. This short is a rare glimpse into the talents of the real deal, playing a long- suffering lady who discovers her no good man with another woman. After beating the floozie up, she pleads with the bum of a boyfriend not to leave her, and ends up singin' the blues when he tosses her aside. Smith is accompanied by the Hall Johnson choir in what seems like her personal prayer. The short ends on a truly downbeat note that had my jaw dropping in horror.

In continuing to review the film accomplishments of African-Americans on film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at the start of the talkies. St. Louis Blues is the only film appearance of the legendary singer Bessie Smith. As an excuse to warble the classic W. C. Handy-composed song that's the title of this short, Ms. Smith gets two-timed and then rejected by Jimmy Mordecai. The other woman is the light-skinned Isabel Washington, sister of Fredi Washington who's in the next short I'm reviewing, Black and Tan. Anyway, when she sings, Bessie is in a class by herself though I wish the recording on the soundtrack (which was presumably live) had sounded sharper. Mordecai later returns for some tap-dancing before coming back to Ms. Smith only to reject her again when he gets her money from her leg garter. Then she reprises before "The End" flashes on the screen. This interesting curio also had the Hall Johnson Choir doing the chorus with James P. Johnson playing the piano. One more interesting fact: The distributor was Sack Amusement Enterprises which later handled later race movies like Spencer Williams' The Blood of Jesus and Go Down Death.

See why Bessie Smith was called the "Empress of the Blues" in this early sound short. An actress she was not, but the power and expression conveyed in her singing voice as she belts out the W.C. Handy composition of the title track is incredible. This film also gives you a rare glimpse of the talent of Jimmy Mordecai. One could only imagine what they could have accomplished had they been given the opportunity afforded other actors of their time.