This is also by Joseph Kohn! I just watched Rock ‘n’ Roll Revue, which was totally brilliant — every performance perfect.

So I guess this is… part II? It’s even got some of the same performers. But it’s twice as long?

I’m excited! But worried? Perhaps there’s gonna be fillers since it’s longer?

OK, it starts with a longish skit… which is pretty amusing…

Yeah, this DVD transfer is… it’s really really bad. But it’s bad in ways I’ve never seen before! Artefacts are kinda constant? It’s like if someone projected the movie onto a really badly painted, very textured wall… and then somebody filmed that? It’s got more texture than seems possible, is what I’m saying.

Huh:

Rhythm and Blues Revue is a plotless variety show, one of several compiled for theatrical exhibition from the made-for-television short films produced by Snader and Studio Telescriptions, with newly filmed host segments by Willie Bryant.

So perhaps all those artefacts are from the television-to-film transfer?

Anyway, the audio track isn’t bad.

Faye Adams! What a voice.

This one isn’t as tautly edited as Rock’n’Roll Revue, but the performances are really good. They’re hamming it up for the camera, of course, but the music’s fine. Really fine.

So it’s kinda cheesy, and it’s not as good as Rock’n’Roll Revue — it’s got more novelty acts. But the good bits are great.

I missed this woman’s name, but she’s fabulous. And very funny.

Nat King Cole!

I haven’t got any of his albums. I have to fix that. This is amazing.

Rhythm and Blues Revue. Joseph Kohn. 1955. ⚄

OK, this is just a music programme thing?

I’m fine with that. We start off with Duke Ellington?

Yup.

It’s really nice!

I like all these tunes.

“Your cash ain’t nothing but trash / but I’m sure gonna get me some more”

And there’s skits!

Dinah Washington!

Gorgeous song.

Nat King Cole.

By Emacs! He’s amazeballs!

This is brilliant.

Heh. Kohn did ten music pics over a two year period? And then nothing? I wonder what the story there was, because there’s nothing here I don’t like: The performances are fantastic (especially that Nat King Cole thing), and the cinematography is fun and bouncy, and it’s tautly edited (no boring bits), and it’s… just a joy to watch.

If you’re not into watching live performances, you might not find this fascinating, but for me it’s:

Rock’n’Roll Revue. Joseph Kohn. 1956. ⚅

Hm… Oh, this is a bunch of featurettes strung together? So it’s basically a Bing Crosby video hour.

I mean, film hour.

This guy does the introductions.

imdb sums it up:

Film director Bud Pollard appears on screen to tell us of Bing Crosby’s rise to fame, using scenes from four early Crosby shorts to illustrate his fictional biography.

As you’d expect from this sort of thing, the technical quality is pretty bad. I mean, these are shorts from the early 30s that have been transferred onto new film in 1947, and then this is an unrestored DVD copy of that.

So you can barely see what’s going on, and there’s more hiss than sound on the audio track.

Bing Crosby sure had a nice voice. And these shorts look like they’re really fun! But they’ve been edited down to just a scene or two, so they don’t really… make much sense?

But I’m kinda enjoying myself?

Accidental blackface.

I love how no lions were hurt during that special effects scene.

“I may act gay / that’s just a pose / I’m not that way”

By any sensible scoring system, this should be a ⚀. But nobody has ever accused me of being sensible! I really enjoyed watching this: The tunes are great, Bing sounds great (between all the crackles), and the gags are really silly. The racist bits aren’t even that racist!

So:

The Road to Hollywood. Del Lord, Leslie Pearce, Bud Pollard, Mack Sennett. 1952. ⚂