Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Develiker terrible... so disappointed.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "St. Louis Blues" is not only the name of a famous hockey team, it is also the name of a not-so-famous black-and-white short film from soon 90 years ago. This one here has sound (thank God!) and stars Bessie Smith in her 30, sadly less than 10 years before her untimely death already. In this 16-minute movie, she is in danger of losing her boyfriend/husband and thus gets the blues. Good for us because we get some pretty great singing to listen to as a consequence. I must say in terms of the story it is fairly generic and nothing special, but it was obviously writer and director Dudley Murphy's intention here only to create a miserable situation for the protagonist so she gets a chance to sing. And she does so greatly. I enjoyed the watch, and even more so, the listen. Check it out if you can. Recommended.

Michael_Elliott St. Louis Blues (1929)*** 1/2 (out of 4) This early race Musical is without question one of the strongest I've seen for a number of reasons. The plot is fairly simple as legend Bessie Smith walks into a gambling hall and catches her husband with a younger, prettier woman. She begs for him to come back with her but the husband knocks her to the ground and walks out, which causes Bessie to pour herself a drink and sing the title song. This film works on a number of levels but as a race movie I think it's perhaps the best I've seen from the 20s or 30s. We've seen a black gambling house in house white films made by white folks so it was very interesting seeing the difference here and I'm going to go out on a limb and say this here is a lot more authentic than what the major studios were showing. The film is also interesting because it shows how women were looked at during this era because we see Bessie get knocked down and kicked yet she begs for the man to keep her. Even before this happens Bessie storms into the room and beats the fire out of the other woman, which is certainly something that didn't show up in those MGM shorts. Finally, I've read that this is the only known video footage of Bessie Smith and man what a voice she had. Her singing the blues would make anyone a fan of the genre and she certainly gives it her all and delivers a strong vocal performance. Her acting ability wasn't the greatest but I thought she did OK with it. The film is extremely raw and authentic and part of this is probably due to the obvious low-budget. This film works on just about every level and is highly recommended.

tavm In continuing to review the film accomplishments of African-Americans on film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at the start of the talkies. St. Louis Blues is the only film appearance of the legendary singer Bessie Smith. As an excuse to warble the classic W. C. Handy-composed song that's the title of this short, Ms. Smith gets two-timed and then rejected by Jimmy Mordecai. The other woman is the light-skinned Isabel Washington, sister of Fredi Washington who's in the next short I'm reviewing, Black and Tan. Anyway, when she sings, Bessie is in a class by herself though I wish the recording on the soundtrack (which was presumably live) had sounded sharper. Mordecai later returns for some tap-dancing before coming back to Ms. Smith only to reject her again when he gets her money from her leg garter. Then she reprises before "The End" flashes on the screen. This interesting curio also had the Hall Johnson Choir doing the chorus with James P. Johnson playing the piano. One more interesting fact: The distributor was Sack Amusement Enterprises which later handled later race movies like Spencer Williams' The Blood of Jesus and Go Down Death.

Jay Phelps If you've ever wanted to see the great Bessie Smith perform, this is your one chance--her only film appearance is in this short.For an early talkie, a lot of things were done right. The wrap-around plot involving the 'no-good boyfriend who done her wrong' is really quite effective, and unnerving, in it's violence. The camerawork in the big bar scene is generally well done, with people passing in front of the camera going about their business. It's obviously a one-take deal, with several cameras recording the action at the same time as three-camera sitcoms do.But you're left wondering about the stupidity of the director who obviously hid Bessie's mic on the bar, but failed to set up a camera behind the bar! Yes she sings, but we're treated to her backside mostly, with only an occasional glimpse of her profile. You can't really blame that poor thinking on early sound technology.