Broken Strings

Except for the hokey ending, I enjoyed this family drama which touched on the artificial dichotomy of classical music and swing or jazz. Clarence Muse is excellent as a concert violinist who lost the use of his left hand after an automobile accident, and is reduced to teaching for a living. His son, Walter Washington, plays the violin well, but prefers swing and jazz, which leads to conflicts because Muse doesn't consider those forms of music worthy of being played. There are good subplots too, involving Muse's daughter, nicely played by Sybil Lewis.

This being a "race" movie intended for black audiences, other musical entertainment was a must, and there are two items I enjoyed. The first had the young Stevens sisters (introducing themselves as Charmain, Cecile and Leonetti) sing and dance to a song called "Kentucky Babe." And the second was Darby Jones doing a rubberlegs kind of a dance that was excellent, especially since I knew him only from his playing African savages in two Tarzan movies and in Congo Maizie (1940). It took an all-black movie to demonstrate this talent.