Soundies The Ultimate Collection 08/05/23

‘Are they enhanced short subjects, or proto-music videos?’  The 1940s phenomenon of ‘Soundies’– musical juke boxes that played movies, too — captured a wide range of overlooked talent, including a lot of underexposed black performers. A fantastic job of film research by committed experts like curator Susan Delson is behind this impressive aggregation of rare performances caught on film. Reviewer Charlie Largent wades into the 200 shorts that encompass jazz, country-western, folk, and the boogie woogie roots of rock ‘n’ roll, all newly restored from 35mm and 16mm materials preserved by the Library of Congress and other archives. For music fans, it’s a full ten hours of undiluted joy. On Blu-rayfrom Kino Classics.
08/05/23