Killer Diller

Don't be fooled by the other reviewers. Although this film contains an impressive array of talent, the material they present leaves a great deal to be desired. Nat King Cole's 3 numbers are pretty lame and not even close to his later efforts, though he does impress with his piano playing. 'Moms' Mabley is not a bit funny, though I remember her as a very entertaining talk show guest from my youth. Actually, the best performances are from a couple of fat guys who impress with a lively tap dance and a Four Tops takeoff, and the jazz band itself, especially in the number featuring the bass player. The print itself is pretty poor quality, and the wonderful Butterfly McQueen is totally wasted in the wraparound plot.

There are about ten acts from the 1940's that are well filmed. It was a pleasure seeing Nat King Cole and Moms Mabley so young. The rotund Patterson and Jackson steal the show with their crooning, dancing and imitation of the Four Inkspots. The Clark Brothers, a terrific tap dancing team, also bring the applause meter to a ten. The other acts aren't great, but the music is pleasant and nicely represents the Swing sound in the late 1940's. The beat occasionally sounds like early rock and roll. The line of dancing girls at the end is amusing to watch.

About ten minutes of the hour is taken up with a poorly photographed story of a magician chased by the police for making a girl disappear. Butterfly McQueen appears in this This is on a 20 pack of musicals from Mill Creek which I picked up for $2.50. So far I've watched three: "Killer Diller," "All American Coed" and "Hi Diddle Diddle" and each is worth the price of admission.

The plot doesn't matter much, although it is fairly important to understanding the ending (which I failed to pay attention to.) But it isn't necessary in order to enjoy the classic performances from some of the 1940s biggest acts, my favorite being Nat King Cole's silky melodies with his early King Cole Trio. But the Clark Brothers are showstoppers, and their tap routine here is no less entertaining than the Nicholas Brothers in Stormy Weather, another personal favorite. Some of the comedy material may be extremely dated, but I couldn't help but think if "Moms" Mabley's set was performed by my Grandmother...now THAT is what killed me. What surprised me most amidst all the notable performances was that any of the humor survived these 57 years, making it a barely hour-long curiosity for the brave jazz, dance, or history buff.

Even a z grade DVD from a battered 16mm print full of joins can NOT dampen my enthusiasm for this jaw dropping roster of vaudeville talent captured on film from the front row of The Lincoln Theatre Somewheres-ville 1947. Like Boardinghouse Blues the previous year, this film is basically a camera in the front row capturing an all black talent show...but God Almighty! what astonishing talent! The swing music and the orchestrations will keep this on play for days only to pause and gawp at The Clark Bros..two handsome slick young tappers who almost out-tap the Nicholas Bros in two high speed routines I needed to watch 77 times just to stop applauding in the privacy of my own lounge room. See 25 year old Nat King Cole and his trio and a hilarious Flip Wilson style deadpan comedian called Moms Maberly as a dry witted housewife, droll in the extreme (I almost expected her to exclaim "The Devil made Me Do It!") delivering a hilarious and well timed song called "Don't Sit On My Bed". More talent on show than any MGM musical costing a zillion dollars more, KILLER DILLER lives right up to it's name. There is a story there somewhere about a rascally invisible comedian or is that a magician who keeps disappearing with someone's girlfriend....almost like THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S but gloriously all Negro and wall to wall talent! a real wow!

Continuing to review movies featuring African-Americans in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1948 with a revue presented on film by the All-American News company. What plot there is concerns Dusty "Open the Door, Richard" Fletcher being chased by some bumbling cops because of some ridiculous situation I don't feel like discussing here. The only funny parts of these segments were when one of those policemen said he knows where Dusty went because "I saw this picture before!" not to mention when another of them said "Let's do that again", the film went backward before the same running action ran as before. There was an amusing appearance by Jackie "Moms" Mabley on stage when discussing Old Mother Hubbard's gin or scatting to the song "Don't Sit on My Bed". Otherwise, it was mostly great musical acts like the Big Band-flavored Andy Kirk and His Orchestra, vocalist Beverly White, and The King Cole Trio with Nat himself playing great piano while singing "Ooh, Kickeroonie" and "Now He Tells Me" and then member Johnny Miller doing great bass on the instrumental "Breezy and the Bass". Also, Patterson and Jackson entertainingly impersonate The Ink Spots on "If I Didn't Care" before one of them does a tap dancing routine. Another duo of that sort are The Clark Brothers doing the kind of stuff The Nicholas Brothers had already done in several major shorts and features. And then there's the jitterbugging Four Congaroos which feature a couple of male-female pairs energetically doing what was the dance style of the day. Many of these acts, other than The King Cole Trio, aren't very well known today and appeared in few other films. The same could be said of many of the supporting actors though an exception would be Ken Renard, who plays the The Great Voodoo here, who subsequently appeared in many features and TV shows. In fact, I just watched him in the 1969 True Grit in which he was Yarnell Pointdexter, Mattie Ross's guardian during the hanging sequence when she was played by Kim Darby. Oh, and one more player here who had done many major features but would soon quit since she didn't like the stereotyping she endured was Butterfly McQueen who wasn't funny here. She would appear in Ms. Mabley's last film appearance of Amazing Grace in 1974. Okay, so on that note, I highly recommend Killer Diller if you're a curious enough film buff. P.S. Another player, Augustus Smith, was a native of Jacksonville, FL, which was where I once lived at from 1987-2003.