User Reviews

Artie Shaw's Class In Swing (1939)

*** (out of 4)

If you're a fan of shorts then you've probably seen dozens of musical ones where jazz or swing music is shown. Many of these shorts in the 30s and 40s might have been viewed by people in a theater who had no idea what the genre was and this interesting Paramount film uses Artie Lang to introduce swing music to those unfamiliar with it. The film starts off showing an empty stage where the musicians are one by one thrown in and their job is explained to the viewer. We're informed of the instruments they play and how various items are mixed in order to try and create an unique sound, which is certainly wanted. After the introductions Artie Shaw comes out and performs a couple numbers. I've seen countless swing shorts but not one like this. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but I found the entire thing to be pretty interesting and even as someone familiar with the genre I still found the short to contain some nice information that I really hadn't thought of before. The look of the film is quite simple as it was obviously shot without much of a budget but the music is very good and the documentary-like nature makes it somewhat unique.

When you see Artie Shaw in this film, it's hard to imagine that this ordinary looking guy would marry eight times--and to such women as Lana Turner and Ava Gardner! What they saw in him apparently was fleeting--and vice-versa.

This film is less a typical musical short and more like an educational film. It consists of a narrator describing the music, composition and style of a big band. It's really sad, as just hearing the Artie Shaw Orchestra would have been nice--but instead the narration makes it pretty distracting. In addition, you hear a singer (Helen Forrest)--and fortunately the narration ends as she begins to sing. But still, the narration makes the film a bit of an annoyance.

If we look at the video for what it is supposed to be, it does the job very well. Another reviewer complained about the narration, but the content of the narration is actually informative. Although the narrator is uncredited, I am sure that is none other than Bill Goodwin, who later was the first announcer for the legendary George Burns and Gracie Allen TV Show. Admittedly, he was supposed to be annoying on that show as well (usually hawking Carnation condensed milk or B.F. Goodrich tires).