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Stormy Weather |  | Actors: Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Ada Brown, Cab Calloway, Benny Carter
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $11.99
as of 3/14/2010 10:54 CDT details
You Save: $2.99 (20%)
New (28) from $8.09
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 7736
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 78 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: FOXD2232184D
UPC: 024543221838
EAN: 0024543221838
ASIN: B000BOH922
Theatrical Release Date: 1943
Release Date: January 10, 2006
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/08/2008 Run time: 78 minutes Rating: Nr
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 Wonderful Storm January 26, 2010
Bronson E. Woods (Las Vegas)
By far- i must say, this must be one of the best movies during its time with an all black cast. The enterntain was great, but it had a creative storyline that went right along with what was going on in the film.
 An uneven classic August 9, 2009
Jon Hunt (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA)
Remembering this as a true period piece in film, "Stormy Weather", nonetheless is both delightful and difficult to view. It's standard black stereotyping does nothing to enhance a miserable plot and bad acting. Yet, performances by Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and the impressive Nicholas brothers are wonderful. Lena Horne, sings her signature piece, "Stormy Weather", of course. If one can get past the dialogue, there is much merit in the film.
A Historical Treasure! A Larger than Life collection of Black Entertainment!!!, May 29, 2009
Steven Mashin (Portland Oregon Lindy Hopper)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Stormy Weather is a larger than life collection of an all-singing, all-dancing biographical showcase of the very best of black entertainment in 1943- promoting music & dance & how the related importance & contribution is significant to the American Culture at large. It is classified as a historical treasure, & undeniable agreed to be within the top 5 of all-time best Black Films. Filmed & produced during World War II when segregation was pretty much legal in most cases- the movie represents a "time capsule", emblematic as a historical archetype with its problematic stereotypical racism indicative of the society of the time with its dehumanizing representation of Black People as an accepted tradition. The comical representation (of people) , conniving personalities, minstrel entertainment "Miller & Lyles (i.e.-"Amos 'n' Andy type mentality), hyper obese (jolly) individuals, "forced Africanism", & vaudeville entertainment, were strictly addressed (& denoted) only to Black Folks.
Stormy Weather is an All Star Cast showcasing quality black performers. The narrative of the film is to set up the performances of the stars. The scene set-up is only secondary to the performance showcases themselves, so instead of only snippets of great Black music & dance- the movie offers a plethora of excellent Black art. It may be understood that Stormy Weather perhaps may be viewed as a "music video within a video", thus the narrative is the vehicle to aid in the music videos only, & thus the plot is essentially unimportant. Accordingly then, the story is a bit illogical whereas the film set-up is from the perspective of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson looking back & sharing his life, career & accolades on his porch with the neighbor children, or perhaps (it might be) a love story between the characters on screen played by actors Bojangles & Lena Horne.
There were more than 20 musical numbers in the film, undoubtedly a "gem of a musical" offering such a wonderful range of performers of different genre. Notably- the divine Lena Horne, Mr. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (Fred Astaire called Mr. Robinson the greatest dancer of all time {additionally in four minutes eight seconds Robinson tapped 1,984 taps- that's eight per second a noted record breaker}), Cab Calloway & his Band is a major contributor to the quality of this movie (Mr. Calloway {IMHO} has more charisma than Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, & Armando Desante TOGETHER {some of Cab's most brilliant archival footage is right in this film!!!!!}), The Nicholas Brothers did an incomparable stereo & synchronized tap dance # to Cab's "The Jumpin; Jive" including "leap-frog" full splits (almost raggedy-Ann like) & returns (across dining tables, throughout the bands tables, down a staircase) in a brilliant artistic fashion (smiling nonstop), right into a chorus finale of 55 men & women dancers/singers doing "My My, Ain't that Somethin'" (Reprise). Other notables are Thomas "fats" Waller "Ain't Misbehavin'," (he's got real cool {and exaggerated} facial expressions on film), Ada Brown singing "That Ain't Right" to Fats Waller Bluesy Piano Band. Katherine Dunham's dance troupe of 10 doing "Stormy Weather Ballet" (Katherine Dunham led a world-famous dance troupe) was graceful & spectacular. Of Course Lena Horne doing "Stormy Weather", is a hit, but she did 3 other numbers that included some smooth & beautiful dance steps.
Stormy Weather is just what it was intended to be- diverting entertainment in a wartime world. Perhaps the stereotypes are bothersome, the story a bit illogical, but the talent and passion of the performers and the caliber of the music make it all worthwhile- then & now. So much of quality is lost in today's world. It was a pleasure to view this movie 10 times this week. :-)
 Entertainment Is The Name Of This Tune April 30, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Music, not story, is the name of the game here.
"Stormy Weather" provides an avenue for black singers, dancers and musicians of the mid-1940s to show off their talents. Too bad it was that way but at least putting these acts on screen in a movie format wasn't just black folks "preaching to the choir." This film gave a lot of white people a chance to see some great talent they might never have seen and, hopefully, helped some of these entertainers in their careers.
Bill Robinson and Lena Horne are the stars of the film, or should I say the main entertainers. Robinson is wonderful to watch throughout. He's not just a great dancer but an extremely likable guy. He comes across that way, anyway, and has in every film I've seen him. Horne has a good voice and a pretty face that became famous for almost never aging.
Since I prefer a little more up-tempo, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and The Nicholas Brothers filled the bill nicely. They were awesome.
What little story there is centers around Robinson's character trying to break into show business. En route are also some funny lines and characters.
 Disappointed April 2, 2009
VRS (Chicago USA)
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
I bought this DVD because I missed seeing it at a local theatre that features old films, but I was disappointed in that the story wasn't good or interesting. However, I wanted to see the dancers, the Step Brothers - I think they were called, where they did that fantastic dance down the stairs. That was unbelievable! Also wanted to see beautiful Lena Horne, but disappointed that they didn't have her in beautiful gowns. So, other than the Step Brothers dancing, I was bored.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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