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6.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Mills Blue Rhythm Band remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like 1930s jazz and want to see how people actually threw down in Harlem before everything got sanitized, this nine-minute short is absolutely worth your time. But if you need a story or can't stand scratchy, old-school audio, you'll probably turn this off after two minutes.
It starts in this fancy, upscale nightclub where everyone looks stiff as boards. The band is playing, but you can tell they are just warming up and playing it safe for the rich crowd.
Then, thank god, we cut to the "rent party" in a cramped apartment. The energy just shovels itself through the screen here. 🎷
I love the guy playing the washboard—he looks like he's having the absolute time of his life. He's grinning so wide his eyes are practically closed.
And then The Three Dukes show up to dance.
Their feet move so fast it literally blurs on the old film stock. One of them does this weird slide thing where he almost loses his balance, but he recovers so smoothly you wonder if he did it on purpose.
Sally Gooding sings a number, and her voice has this lovely, unpolished rasp to it. It is not like today's singers who are pitch-corrected to death.
But honestly, Fredi Washington is the main reason I watched this. She is barely in it, which is a crime, but when she is on screen, you can't look at anyone else.
There is a moment where a guy in the crowd gets too close to the camera and his big hat blocks the whole shot for a second. I love mistakes like that. It proves they just ran the camera and hoped for the best.
It reminds me of those weird, chaotic energy levels in older silent-era shorts like The Sawmill Four where everything feels slightly out of control.
The music gets louder, the room gets sweatier, and you can practically smell the cheap gin through the screen. It's wonderful.
Then, boom, the short just ends. No credits, no wrap-up, just a sudden black screen.
It is like the cameraman ran out of film and everyone just went home.