HARLEM DOUBLE FEATURE - DVD
Juke Joint / Reet, Petite, And Gone
JUKE JOINT
Two small-time con men, Bad News Johnson & Cornbread Jones, are down
to their last quarter when they breeze into town. Sweet-talking Johnson
finds them a room at the home of Mama Lou Holiday by posing as a Hollywood
big shot and promising to give acting lessons to Mama's beautiful daughter,
Honey Dew. The fiery matriarch is determined to keep her young girl from
following in the trampy footsteps of her older sister, Florida, and hopes
that the acting lessons will help her "good" daughter win the
local beauty contest. Amazingly, Johnson's guidance pays off with a victory
for Honey Dew. To celebrate, the girl's shiftless father, Sam, takes her
to the seedy Juke Joint, the same dive where floozy Florida hangs out, drinking,
dancing, & planning her getaway to the big city with shady bar owner
Johnny. When Jones and Johnson tell Mama Lou what's going on, she decides
to go down and take care of business herself, packing a mean umbrella. Multitalented
Spencer Williams wrote, directed and appeared in dozens of films, most of
them all-black productions, from 1928 until 1947. Retiring shortly after
starring & directing Juke Joint, Williams was lured out of retirement
in 1951 to play Andrew H. Brown in the beloved Amos 'N' Andy TV series.
This film also stars July Jones, Leonard Duncan, & Red Calhoun.
REET, PETITE & GONE
On his death bed, wealthy musical star Schyler Jarvis wills the estate
to his bandleader son, Louis, on one condition: that the young musician
settle down and marry the daughter of one of Schyler's old flames. Unfortunately,
the old man's shady lawyer, Henry Talbot, has altered the will to make it
almost impossible for Louis to find the girl. Knowing that Talbot will gain
control of the estate if he fails, and desperate for cash to finance his
Broadway revue, Louis and his agent, Sam, set up auditions to find the intended
bride, but unbeknownst to all, the girl is right under their noses. This
all-black musical is overflowing with great musical numbers by Louis Jordan
& his swing band, The Tympani Five. In 1987, Jordan was posthumously
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the "Early Influences"
category, and 11 years later was inducted into the Big Band & Jazz Hall
of Fame. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him as the 59th Greatest Rock 'n'
Roll Artist of all time, and the raw musical talent and confident smoothness
that earned him that status is well documented in this rare treat from early
black cinema history. Also starring Milton Woods, Lorenzo Tucker, Bea Griffith.
Directed by William Forest Crouch.
(Both features from 1947 B&W - 128 Minutes Total) This DVD is Mint!
