Movielogr

Rating: 4.5 stars

Tags

poverty row blackface daughter performance singer

All movies seen on 02/19/2023

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Minstrel Man (1944)

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, Joseph H. Lewis

Musical | Drama

Overview

Unusually elaborate for a PRC film, Minstrel Man is a lively musical drama built around the talents of veteran vaudevillian Benny Fields. The star is cast as Dixie Boy Johnson, who rises from the ranks of minstrel shows to become a top Broadway attraction. On the opening night of his greatest stage triumph, Dixie Boy’s wife dies in childbirth. Profoundly shaken, he walks out of the show, leaving the baby to be raised by his showbiz pals Mae and Lasses White (Gladys George, Roscoe Karns). The kid grows up to be an attractive young woman named Caroline (Judy Clark), who follows in her dad’s footsteps by billing herself as-that’s right-Dixie Girl Johnson. This leads to a tearful reunion between Caroline and the father she’d long assumed to be dead. If Minstrel Man seems at times to be a dress rehearsal for Columbia’s The Jolson Story (1946), it shouldn’t surprising: the PRC film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who went on to helm Jolson Story’s musical highlights.

Length 70 minutes

Actors

Benny Fields | Gladys George | Alan Dinehart | Roscoe Karns | Jerome Cowan | Judy Clark | Molly Lamont | John Raitt

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Just from the title one can easily guess what to expect here. The overly long description gives the entire premise. The blackface is so central to story that it’s hard to look past even given the period.

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