Symphony in Black (1935)

Original title

Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life

Directed by

Fred Waller

Genre

musical film

Country

United States

Runtime

9 min

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 18 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A short musical film from 1935 featuring Duke Ellington's composition A Rhapsody of Negro Life. It includes Billie Holiday's screen debut and shows scenes of African American life set to Ellington's orchestral score.

jazz-infusedhistoricartisticmusicalpioneeringculturally significantshortorchestral

What happens

Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life is a 9+1⁄2-minute musical short produced in 1935 that features Duke Ellington’s early extended piece, "A Rhapsody of Negro Life". The film, Billie Holiday’s screen debut, was directed by Fred Waller and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Symphony in Black represents a landmark in musical, cultural, and entertainment history as well as significant progress in Ellington’s own biography. It is a member of the first generation of non-classically arranged orchestral scores and perhaps most importantly, one of the first films written by an African American describing African American life to reach wide distribution. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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