Hi De Ho

This was an all black cast platform to showcase the charismatic Cab Calloway. I think the best musical numbers were actually at the beginning, but it ends with a whole series of musical and tap dance numbers.

Thin on plot, this is a surprisingly violent story that even depicts violence against women. It pits two competing night clubs against one another and ends in a shoot out where a woman and the mob club owner are both shot.

"You think you'd be mine at dawn time."

"Every flower loves a few drop...Gumbo has it's New Orleans"

This is a great time piece and worth seeing for Cab Calloway alone.

The plot races by in the first 40 minutes, and after that we get a series of musical numbers. That's pretty much the formula for all early musicals with the only variation being whether the musical extravaganza comes before, after or in the middle of the story. In this case it was at the end, and I actually enjoyed that format. It was as if the filmmakers were telling us, "OK now that the silly plot is out of the way, here's what you really came here for."

Call me crazy, though... I actually liked the plot! And it ended on a very profound & emotional note, where Cab sings "Minnie's a Hepcat Now" a capella.

The second half brings us the musical showcase with the only link to the rest of the film being the appearance of a strange man reading a Variety newspaper. He & his newspaper also appear in almost every other scene without explanation, almost like "find Waldo", lending a surreal comedic flavour to the picture.

The only real downside to this movie, the disturbing part which I mentioned in my title, is the way Cab & others repeatedly smack poor Minnie around. Sure, I realize it's just a movie, but since Cab Calloway plays himself, we can't help but wonder if he may have been violent toward his women in real life. I found myself distracted by that thought.

Otherwise, I thought this was a thoroughly enjoyable flick with some great performances. Also, somebody help me out here... even though this was a "race" film (meaning: racially segregated like all early Hollywood musicals), I swear I saw a white man in Cab's trombone section at the end. If so, could this be one of the earliest instances of an integrated band? Or maybe my vision sucks. Keep your eyes peeled and you be the judge.

The plot is thin and the acting is mostly wooden, but the real point of the movie is Cab Calloway's wonderful band and some specialty numbers, especially the finale that is the last third of the film.

The best additional act is high powered tap dancing by Miller Bros. and Lois. Dusty Fletcher does his famous "Open the Door Richard" sketch in blackface. The Peters Sisters are curious but didn't do anything for me.

As with all the reviews, there's no real storyline, but you MUST watch for all the great performances. One of the reviews mentions Dusty Fletcher's "blackface" performance "Open the Door Richard" is in this film - it's not on my copy. However, there seems to be earlier versions of Hi-De-Ho released with different plots (1934) and (1937) so I'm not certain if my copy is bad copy (although I have 2 copies of 1947) or if that particular act is in one of the earlier releases...whatever the case, if you are into Cab Calloway - the performances are phenomenal! The same goes for the Miller Bros. & Lois. I actually like the Peters Sisters - they had great voices and my favorite numbers were "Rainy Sunday" and "Old Lady From Baltimore"...hope this helps!

Well, you sure don't need to see it on the big screen...Hi De Ho is a slightly above average 'race' film that includes most of the trademarks of the genre: a slight story, a little comedy, and lots and lots of entertainment. Thankfully there's none of the moralising (well, not much) that characterises some of these films, like The Blood of Jesus. Cab Calloway is, of course, riveting, the music excellent, and the tap dancing scenes almost breathtaking --even when shot awkwardly.