Movie Review: The Duke is Tops

Movie Review: The Duke is Tops (1938)

Duke Davis (Ralph Cooper) is a show producer who has a star act, Ethel Andrews (Lena Horne), who is also his sweetheart.  Their current show, “Sepia Scandals” is doing very well in the small Southern cities it’s playing.  A big-time East Coast agent wants to put Ethel on Broadway, but doesn’t need Duke tagging along.

Worried that he’s holding Ethel’s career back, Duke tricks her into breaking up with him so that she can head up to New York City.  Unfortunately, without her, his next show flops.  Now poison in local show business, Duke happens to meet up with an old friend, Doc Dorando (Laurence Criner.)  Doc’s elixir sales have been doing poorly, as he’s still using the same old spiel.  Duke convinces Doc to let him turn their old trailer into a full-fledged medicine show.

Things go poorly at first, but after they reach the bottom of a river, Duke turns the business around using savvy marketing and good music.  Then he learns that Ethel’s show on Broadway has been a flop.  Turns out the big-shot agent is no producer, and is mishandling her career.

Ethel finally learns the truth about Duke’s trick moments before he shows up at her door.  With his help and that of his medicine show pals, they put on a show that’s a real hit, and Ethel becomes a star.

This musical is different from the other ones I’ve reviewed in that almost everyone in the cast and crew was African-American.  At the time, these were known as “race films”, designed to be shown at segregated movie houses that black people were allowed to be seated at.   Thus it effectively takes place in an alternate universe where there are no white people, and no struggle with racism.  The effect can be a bit eerie for pale-skinned people like me, so used to seeing white casts, with one or two token minorities (especially in these older films.)

This was Lena Horne’s first film, it was reissued in 1943 as Bronze Venus with her name above the title as she’d become a star n her own right.  Ralph Cooper was the host of Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater for a whopping fifty years!

Good stuff:  The music is excellent.  Ms. Horne isn’t quite up to her career peak, but the songs are lovely.  Duke and Ethel make a good couple.  For most of the film, it’s free of the usual Hollywood stereotypes of black people.

Less good:  For most of the film, it’s refreshingly free of the Hollywood stereotypes inflicted on black characters in the 1930s.  And then comes the “tribal number.”  Um.  The contrast really makes this stick out.

Also, Duke is manipulative of Ethel, “for her own good.”  This gives her little agency in the film.

Of interest to people who like musicals, and want to see more black people as the stars of the show.