a5c7b9f00b In and around some great blues, swing and jazz music, a very unpopular band-leader. Prince Ellis, is killed in a Harlem nightclub, and, in and around some more great music, a detective finds the lists of suspects is very long,Prince Ellis was indeed very unpopular with many citizens. Pretty crazy whodunit featuring an all black cast trying to figure out who murdered the philandering trumpet player who was just about to go to Hollywood to Make It Big. Was it his wife? His Girlfriend? His Would-Be-Girlfriend? Her Father? His Butler? The newspaper guy? Who knows? And who cares? The result of this is just a little underwhelming, and the actors here don&#39;t really get me in a mood to care one way or another finding out. Why snake venoma weapon? Who knows? Who cares? The music in this is alright, but there&#39;s little of it, and most of it is pretty &quot;let&#39;s get this over with&quot; This isn&#39;t worthy of your time. There are better all-black casted movies out there. This all-black &quot;race&quot; movie intended for black audiences is worth seeing because of the wonderful jazz music and songs written and mostly performed by The Four Tones and Ceepee Johnson, and played by Johnson&#39;s orchestra throughout the film. The setting is mostly in a nightclub, so it is not out of place. The songs dominate the second half of the film, with the murder mystery, while it is fun to watch unfold, taking a back seat. Johnson&#39;s performance of his &quot;Beat My Blues Away&quot; is spectacular - a performance not to be missed. If you like jazz, this movie is for you.<br/><br/>John Lester Johnson&#39;s character is billed on screen&quot;Himself,&quot; because he was a well-known ex-fighter who once broke some ribs of Jack Dempsey (see his mini-biography in this data base). His name is never mentioned, but he is called &quot;Champ&quot; and plays the nightclub owner.
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