Moms Mabley Movies
Veteran black comedienne Jackie "Mobs" Mabley is featured in her first (and last) starring vehicle, Amazing Grace. Essentially playing herself, Mabley portrays a feisty ghetto dweller who champions the cause of ex-convict Moses Gunn. With the old lady's help, Gunn is elected mayor, then proceeds to clean up his corruption-ridden administration. Amazing Gracealso includes appearances by Slappy White, Butterfly McQueen and Stepin Fetchit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Josh Binney directed this wonderful, nostalgia-soaked vaudeville revue with an all-black cast headed by the delightful Moms Mabley. Because films like this were aimed specifically at segregated inner-city black audiences, they were treated like disposable product by the studios, which offered them a surprising amount of leeway in terms of material. Drug jokes and sexual innuendos, which would surely have been censored in mainstream films in 1948, rub elbows with some truly bizarre novelty acts including a dancer with one arm and one leg, an acrobat dressed like a monkey, and a genial "let's put on a show to keep the wicked landlord from evicting us" plot line. Mabley does her usual comedy and tap dances, Bull Moose Jackson sings, and many popular African-American acts perform. Binney was something of an expert at films like this, having directed Hi-De-Ho for Cab Calloway, Killer Diller with Nat King Cole and Mabley, as well as this film within the space of a year or so. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
Enjoy the sounds of Nat King Cole and his Trio in this all-black musical revue. ~ Rovi
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