Looking back at Pickaninny Blues

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, probably not. Unless you’re a film history nerd or someone obsessed with the weird, uncomfortable corners of early animation, Pickaninny Blues is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. It’s a relic of a time we’ve (thankfully) moved past.

If you like checking out stuff like The Tales of a Thousand and One Nights just to see how the craft evolved, you might find something here. But for a casual Friday night? Hard pass. 😬

The vibe check

Margie Hines is doing her best, I guess, but the whole thing feels like it’s held together by duct tape and bad ideas. There’s a frantic energy to the movement that makes my eyes hurt after a few minutes.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Pickaninny Blues (1932) through its definitive frames.

It lacks the charm you find in, say, Katok. It feels colder, somehow. Like the people making it were more interested in hitting a quota than making something that actually breathed.

Oddly specific observations

• There’s a background prop that looks suspiciously like a chair from Dancing Mothers, or maybe I’m just hallucinating because I’ve watched too many of these old shorts in a row.
• The lighting in the second act is just baffling. Half the screen is washed out, and the other half is so dark you can’t tell who is talking.
• One of the reaction shots lingers for, I don’t know, five full seconds too long. It becomes this weird, staring contest between the character and the audience.

It’s strange how some of these films—like The Hunchback and the Dancer—have this weight to them, while this one just feels like smoke. It floats by, it’s unpleasant, and then it’s gone.

I found myself wondering if they even had a script, or if they just pointed a camera at a wall and hoped for the best. Some of the cuts are just jarring. It jumps from scene to scene like a record skipping.

Look, I’m not saying it’s the worst thing ever made. It’s just... empty. It’s a movie that tries to be lighthearted but ends up feeling like a chore. Maybe give it a miss and watch something else.