Curio piece best remembered for giving acting roles to Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Holiday notoriously plays a maid but she does turn into a singing star. She also marries Armstrong's character which is just too cute.
I'm trying not to be too wise in hindsight here but Holliday does seem a little vague and uncertain in her scenes - Armstrong is a natural. They take back seats to the white characters, inevitably - Arturo de Cordova is a smooth talking impresario who romances singer Dorothy Patrick. Patrick is very lively - I didn't mind this plot line in part because there were good reasons why they shouldn't be together, he's just an obvious rake.
There's heaps of jazz - yes some of it sung by white people - but still a lot. A slice of culture. Flawed, absolutely, but I'm glad it's there.
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