From the silent era through the 1940's (though it dwindled markedly during the depression) there were a good number of films made by independent studios with all black casts.  These 'race films' played in urban areas and in churches across the southern US.  At its peak, there were 600-700 'black theaters' by some accounts scattered across the country.  With many theaters being for whites only back in those days of segregation, these independent productions were often the only films people of color had a chance to see.  Unfortunately the race films have been almost forgotten today.  Storyville Films has released a couple of them under their Jazz Legends banner including Cab Calloway's 1947 Hi-De-Ho.  (This is the second time Calloway stared in a film with that name, the first time was 1937.  The pictures are not related.)

The plot to this movie is paper thin.  After all it's copious musical numbers that drive the movie.  Cab is a band leader who gets a job playing in a club.  The night spot across the street is owned by a gangster, and when customers stop visiting his establishment in favor of the one where Calloway is playing, he offers to double Cab's salary.  The band leader refuses, figuring that the mobster is just bluffing.  With the grace of a sea-sick elephant, Calloway disarms the thug who comes to drill him and then goes back to playing Jazz?

Obviously made on a low budget and with untrained actors the film has a couple of interesting and unusual moments.  Cab's character is pretty objectionable in the opening scene.  When his girl friend Minnie saunters up to him in a slinky outfit and asks if he "sees anything" he replies "yeah, I see my drink needs refreshing."  A few moments later (after a song) when Minnie objects to the amount of time Cab's spending with his female agent Nettie, he slaps her face and knocks her off the sofa and onto the floor where she cries, totally ignored.  Calloway certainly comes across as cold-hearted in this movie.  Later when Nettie is mortally wounded while saving Cab's life, the singer seems more bored than upset that his lover has died.

But, as I said, the attraction to this film isn't the plot, it's the music.  Filmed at the height of his career, Cab shows why he was such an in-demand performer and plays some really great music.  The last section of the movie is a stage show that last nearly half an hour.  (The climax of the plot takes place before this, halfway through the movie which is a very unusual way to structure a film.)  It gives today's viewers a good idea of what a Jazz show must have been like 60 years ago and is very enjoyable.  Cab and his orchestra put a lot of energy into their performance and even though the numbers are lip-synched (and rather badly) it's still a fun film.

Audio:

Unfortunately the soundtrack leaves much to be desired.  There is a 5.1 mix as well as the original mono track, but the former was very bad.  The dialog was very muddled and hard to understand and the surround channels didn't help things.  I soon switched to the two-channel mono track and that was an improvement.  At least you could understand what people were saying.  The audio was very limited however.  Even taking into account the age of the film, I was hoping for something better.  The range is very narrow, with both the highs and lows being cut off, and there's background noise, occasional dropout, some slight distortion and other common audio defects.  Being that the movie is centered around the music, it's too bad that the audio quality is so low.

Video:

The full frame image fares about as well as the audio, which is to say not very well.  The picture is washed out and detail is very poor.  Contrast is only fair, whites tend to bloom, and what little detail there is disappears in dark areas.  Cab's black suit is a flat plane with no texture at all.  There are print imperfections too, with scratches and dirt being fairly common.  There are also several splices and missing frames throughout the movie.  This is a below average presentation, even for a film of this age.

Extras:

The only extra is a very short text bio of Cab Calloway.

Final Thoughts:

This was certainly an interesting film.  The music was great and the film showed what it must have been like to see Cab Calloway and his Orchestra back in the Cotton Club when he would headline there.  Unfortunately the image and sound leave a lot to be desired which puts a crimp on enjoying the film.  For jazz aficionados and Calloway fans would make a good rental.