Black and Tan (1929)
Behind on his rent, Harlem bandleader Duke Ellington rehearses a new piece while his partner Fredi Washington lands the band a nightclub booking to keep them afloat. Though a doctor has warned that her heart could give out, she dances until she collapses.
Black and Tan was Duke Ellington’s screen debut and the first film to feature his orchestra, directed by Dudley Murphy with a stylized visual imagination rare for an early sound short. It is preserved in the National Film Registry.
Background
Dudley Murphy directed Black and Tan in 1929 as a short sound film built around Duke Ellington and his orchestra, and it marked Ellington’s screen debut. Fredi Washington co-stars as the bandleader’s partner, whose booking at a nightclub keeps the band afloat and whose dance performance becomes the film’s dramatic climax. The short uses the music and nightclub setting of Harlem to tell its story. It is preserved in the National Film Registry, which recognized it for its place in early sound cinema and in the screen representation of Black performers.
What to watch for
The music is the centerpiece, with the orchestra’s playing driving the mood of the film from the rehearsal scenes to the club. The visual style, including its stylized camera work and moody lighting, is unusual for a short of its time, and the editing gives the performances room to build. Washington’s dancing and the fate of her character give the story its emotional center, and the short ends on a bleak note that its nightclub setting makes especially sharp. The film is short, so it rewards a second viewing.
