Juke Joint

Juke Joint (1947)

** (out of 4)

An all black cast feature from director Spencer Williams. Two con men (one played by Williams) travel to a small town where they get mixed up in a beauty contest. This film plays out a lot more like a sitcom than an actual feature but it never really takes off. This is probably the lowest budgeted black flick I've seen from this period but Williams is still able to get the story across and his performance is right on the mark as usual. The supporting cast, no shock, give pretty bad performances and this really hurts the main storyline since we're suppose to believe that one of the girls in the contest really does have acting talent. There's some great jazz music at the end of the film and a hilarious moment where grandma, armed with a broom, shows up at the music joint to beat some sense into her family.

Resembling a family-oriented sitcom more than a musical, this film is not as interesting as other Afro-Am flicks of the time. Spencer Williams's talent as a director was in his depiction of religion (barely touched upon in this film), not humor, and the major interest of this film is in review of his career. The scene where Mom arrives at the Joint to find various members of the family misbehaving is the high-point.