Shoe Shine Boy

Shoe Shine Boy (1943)

*** (out of 4)

MGM short about a black kid (Mel Bryant) who goes around town trying to find enough shoes to shine so that he can raise an extra $2 to buy a horn from a pawn shop. The boy meets a couple music agents and they let him blow a horn where they see how great he is. The offer the kid a big contract but he doesn't want it and instead just wants the $2. This short is certain another WW2 propaganda piece but it's harmless enough and moves well enough to make it worth viewing. I think it's pretty obvious as to why the kid wants the money but the final shot is still a good one and especially when you consider what was going on in this country at the time. I thought Bryant was extremely effective as the kid and the music stuff was very good as well. Another major plus is getting to see a black character that isn't some sort of stereotype or some negative image. Looking at the title you might be expecting something bad but it's actually a very well-meaning story.

Harmless short subject from the '40s has a bugle boy story as inspiration when a black boy wants to buy a horn from a pawn shop but needs an extra $2 to cement the deal.

When WALTER CATLETT and SAM LEVENE hear him actually play the horn, they think they've discovered a goldmine and offer the kid a lucrative contract. But it turns out, he only wants to get the two dollars so he can play the horn before joining the army the next day.

As the end credits say: "He only loved two things--his horn and his country!" Film ends on a flag-waving note as the boy plays the bugle while we see a montage of soldiers training and in battle. This is the sort of cornball exercise in propaganda that audiences probably accepted in the early '40s but today's viewers will be a bit baffled by it.

I was disappointed to discover that IMDb had no information as to the identity of the excellent trumpeter who performed on the soundtrack. Any way to retrieve this information at this late date? The silliness of this plot was that if this kid was such an expert performer on a valve trumpet (which he was) then why was he so interested in getting a simple bugle with no keys? Well, you could say that army bugles are keyless and that this was his ambition. But still, where had he ever learned to play so well, anyway? As to the racial prejudice in putting down black males as noted by another reviewer, the best answer to that was a comment I heard on another TV network about the famous Polish artist Arthur Szyk, who specialized in anti-fascist propaganda pictures during WWII. In one of his pictures (drawn about the same time this movie was made) a white soldier and a black soldier are walking side by side and the white soldier asks the black soldier what he would do about Hitler? The black soldier replies, "I would turn him into a Negro and put him down anywhere in the United States." That about sums up race relations in the US when this movie was made.

I noticed on reviewer completely hated the film and talked about racism in America. Well, I could understand some of their feelings though to only dismiss the film for racism would also ignore the nice performance by its star, Mel Bryant (who I assume also played the trumpet in the film...and amazingly well).

The film is set during WWII and a young man (Bryant) is trying to guy a bugle...though he doesn't have enough money. So, he sets out begging folks to let him shine their shoes so he can earn the needed $4 before the business closes. He isn't very successful until he gets a chance to play trumpet with a band...and he is amazing. So why does he need a bugle and why now?

Okay...the film does have some offensive content. Calling this man 'boy' throughout the film (as well as in the title) is not right, nor is some of the patronizing style of the film. But, it's a product of its times...and the conclusion especially so. Worth seeing...just understand that in 2017 it is bound to offend, though the film is well made and the trumpet solo is amazing.

A black boy, obsessed with buying a horn at a local pawn shop, tries to earn the final $2 he needs by shining the shoes of rich white men. They are musical scouts, and when they find out that he wants the $2 to buy a horn, they ask him to demonstrate his abilities. He does so in a wonderful musical number. When they offer him a million dollar contract, he becomes upset and says he can't possibly do that. His family would be devastated. The white men are perplexed, but the black boy reveals that he wants to horn so that he can be the bugle boy in the U.S. Army. One of the white men then gladly hands him $2 and delivers the amusing line: "Blow one right in Hitler's face for me, kid!" I saw this between movies on TCM tonight.