STORMY WEATHER (1943)
Special Features: 80th Anniversary
Along with MGM's CABIN IN THE SKY, released just a few months prior in 1943, 20th Century Fox's STORMY WEATHER represents a landmark film: an A picture-budgeted musical from a major Hollywood studio featuring an African American cast, something the studios had collectively failed to produce since MGM's HALLELUJAH in 1929. Legendary dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson plays "Mr. Bill" Williamson, who recounts stories from his past, loosely based on Robinson's own life experiences, to a group of neighborhood children. The film features a bevy of dazzlingly talented Black performers, including Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Dooley Wilson, Katherine Dunham and the amazing Nicholas Brothers, whose famous tap dance finale set to Calloway and his Orchestra's "Jumpin' Jive" was described by none other than Fred Astaire as the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen. DIR Andrew Stone; SCR Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler, from a story by Jerry Horwin and Seymour B. Robinson; PROD William LeBaron. U.S., 1943, b&w, 77 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 77 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, February 10, 2023
Genre: Musical romance