Editorial Review

Given the often inextricable relationship between art and suffering,it's no coincidence that Billie Holiday, popularly acclaimed as jazz's greatest (if not technically best) female singer, was also one of its most tragic figures. While both triumph and tragedy are covered in this hourlong documentary, we are mercifully spared excessive details about the more sordid aspects of Holiday's life (her drug and alcohol addictions, her disastrous relationships with abusive men) in favor of careful consideration of her music. Testimonials are offered by those who played with her (pianist Mal Waldron and trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison), were influenced or inspired by her (singers Carmen McRae and Annie Ross), or worked with her (producer Milt Gabler). Together, they paint a portrait of a woman who was both tough and vulnerable, sad and defiant, an unschooled musician who became a supreme innovator. Read more

Features

• Black & White
• Color
• NTSC

Reviews (7)

Kultur, this time you missed it!
If you are interested in the (ever fashionable) approach to Jazz, via the contemporary interpretation of the social environment in which the Jazz artists created, then there is a good chance you may like this DVD. SO INFLUENTIAL!!!!
This Billie Holiday album was like a ray of light to me when I first listened to it!It's so inspiring!You can see why so many artists of today are influenced by it!The music really took me to the borderline.I thank my lucky star that this album came along.

If Your A Fan......
Billie Holiday is a figure of her time and this movie just about justifies that statment. Although the footage isent anything out of the ordinary...including 'Strange Fruit', the infamous 'Fine annd Mellow' and a personal favorite 'Please Don't Talk About me When I'm gone'. She shows no real emotion during these short performances, but you can tell what she is thinking and feeling, during them. Read more

Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Vocals    5. Music Video    6. Performance    7. Pop    8. Swing   

Editorial Review

This little-seen, 1947 drama is a treat for jazz fans, thanks to an otherwise creaky, if nobly intentioned story built around the music's Crescent City genesis that provides an ample excuse to turn the camera on authentic jazz greats. Nick Duquesne (Arturo De Cordova) is a Bourbon Street charmer whose gambling club provides the mythic stomping grounds for none other than Louis Armstrong, whose vocalizing sweetheart Endie, played by none other than Billie Holiday, proves no slouch herself. A newly arrived debutante, Miralee (Dorothy Patrick), arrives in New Orleans and falls first for the music and then for the roguish but ultimately gallant Nick. The movie follows knee-jerk plot machinations revolving around her family's efforts to excise Nick from her life, her own dream of mingling jazz and classical music, and the gambler's transformation into a jazz promoter.Read more

Features

• Black & White
• NTSC

Reviews (6)

A jazz enthusiast must see
I am so very glad I bought it, as a person who loves great music and provocative movies, with love as a theme, in all vernaculars (except hip-hop), and a jazz enthusiast at heart it's a love story dotted with great musical contributions from the authentic jazz greats, Louie Armstrong and Billie Holiday to name a few.

Forget the story!
The film itself it trite and inconsequential. Buy this for the music alone. It's a delight to see Louis Armstrong in such a casual environment, with so many jazz legends, not to mention one of Billie Holiday's rare movie appearances. This DVD is honestly a treasure.

Great footage of many early jazz legends
I have always found jazz performances much more captivating live rather than recorded, and although I can't travel back in time and see Louis Armstrong play during his prime, this video is the next best thing.Read more

Subjects:  1. Movie    2. Musical Features    3. Musicals    4. Musicals & Cast Recordings    5. Musicals (Theatrical)   

Features

• Black & White
• NTSC

Reviews (2)

The Jazziest Blues.
I think this video is a must have for your blues and jazz collection. The short musical movies, are well put together. I especially like Duke Ellington's Bundle of blues, I didn't know the song stormy weather, was writen and sung before the 1940's. Ivie Anderson sung the song different or as good as Lena Horne. And the dance team right after, was very good. They did dances back then in the 1930's, the way ethnic nightclubs do now. The women were thin, but looked healthy. This video is a must see, some of the vidoes were a little boring, but the rest will make up for it.

Best of the Four Volume Set
If you're not ready to roll out the bucks for the complete fourvolume set of HOLLYWOOD RHYTHM, this is the one to buy first. The mainreason is for the first short in this volume -- "Symphony inBlack." This marvelous short features Duke Ellington at the pianocomposing a new work.Intercut between those scenes are vignettesrepresenting the different movenents of the piece.One of whichfeatures a young (and uncredited) Billie Holiday as the scorned woman.Another features the provocative dancing of (also uncredited) Earl"Snake Hips" Tucker.Contemporary music video directorscould learn a lot from this piece with its stylish use of black &white photography and wonderful art direction.Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie    3. Music Video    4. Musicals & Cast Recordings    5. Musicals (Theatrical)    6. Performance   

Features

• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC

Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Mainstream Jazz    3. Music Video - Pop/Rock    4. Pop    5. Swing