Boarding House Blues

This movie is less a film than a collection of routines from the black vaudeville circuit. The results are decidedly mixed as a movie but as a record of the routines and acts it contains its a historical document (then again many historical documents are not very entertaining) The plot has Jackie "Moms" Mabley running a boarding house for various performers. When times get tight they put on a show to help Moms out. Its threadbare and simply the excuse to hang the various routines and songs on. The bits are certainly better than the whole and while I did enjoy said bits, I was left feeling rather empty at the end. Definitely worth a look or two if you love vaudeville, or the history of comedy. Actually its worth a look see if you want some laughs and aren't particularly picky about annoying things like plot. As they say its worth a bag of popcorn.