It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Mystery in Swing (1940) – Musical #751

Studio:
Aetna Film Corp.

Director:
Arthur Dreifuss

Starring:
Monte Hawley, Marguerite Whitten, Tommie Moore, Edward Thompson, Buck Woods, Robert Webb, Sybil Lewis, Jess Lee Brooks, Josephine Edwards, Alfred Grant, Tom Southern
Themselves: The Four Toppers, CeePee Johnson and His Orchestra

Plot:
Trumpet player Prince Ellis (Webb) is leaving his job at the Penguin Club for Hollywood. On his last night of the club, his womanizing catches up with him:
• Teenage Mae Carroll (Moore) is ready to run away with Prince, though her father (brooks) shows up and tells Prince to leave his daughter alone.
• Nightclub singer Maxine Rae (Edwards) is in love with him and jealous of the other women in his life
• And the ex-Mrs. Ellis (Lewis) shows up asking about her alimony.
But that night, Prince is murdered and Maxine witnesses his death but doesn’t know who did it. The body is discovered by reporter Biff Boyd (Hawley) and his girlfriend Linda Carroll (Whitten), who also see Maxine leaving his apartment.

Trivia:
• This film is considered to be the first time an orchestra with all Black musicians recorded the score for a film. The score was performed by Cee Pee Johnson and his Orchestra, according to a column written by Pittsburgh Courier motion picture editor, Earl J. Morris.
• “Mystery in Swing” is what is known as a “race film,” films made outside of major Hollywood studios comprised of all-Black casts. Race films were made between 1918 and 1950.

Highlights:
• Actress Tommie Moore
• The musical performances

Notable Songs:
• “Jump, the Water’s Fine” performed by The Four Toppers
• “Let’s Go to a Party” performed by The Four Toppers
• “Beat My Blues Away” performed by CeePee Johnson
• “You Can’t Fool Yourself About Love” performed by Josephine Edwards and the Four Toppers

My review:
Made in the fashion of “His Girl Friday” (1940) or any other newspaper mystery comedy, “Mystery in Swing” (1940) is a great time — and is a “who dun it” set to music!

In the film, trumpet player Prince Ellis (Robert Webb) is leaving the Penguin Club for Hollywood and a newspaper writer, Biff Boyd (Monte Hawley) begrudgingly has to cover it. While Prince’s talent may be respected, he isn’t well liked by everyone—though several women are competing for his attentions. When Prince ends up dead, Biff helps the police uncover the murderer.

“Mystery in Swing” would be considered a “race film,” as all of the performers are black. “Race films” have all-black casts and with characters who are everyday people and not the caricatures seen in other films. But though some race films are supposed to avoid those stereotypes, many still include them (for ex: Micheaux’s “Swing”).

Earl J. Morris, motion picture editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, said “Mystery in Swing is the best all-colored cast picture I have ever seen” further noting that he has probably seen all race films that were made, whether produced in Black Hollywood or in Harlem. “It is probably the first all colored cast picture filmed on a major scale,” he wrote in his March 2, 1940, review.

In Morris’s review, he continues to say that it is “the best dressed picture I have seen. The interior settings, such as furniture with elevators, safe and as a matter of fact, fourteen different sets were used… The furs and gowns worn by the women in the picture top all other sepia plays.”

On the mystery front – Morris notes that in “The Thin Man” style, the film will hold your attention and play detective.”

I share so much of Morris’s review, because he beautifully notes what makes this movie so much fun, and that it seems to be a more elevated production than other race films of this era. It’s stylish with a high production value and a cohesive story. Sadly, that can’t be said for all race films.

The mystery that keeps you guessing (I was surprised at the end!), and the way Prince Ellis died is rather clever. This film also has some excellent musical performances.

Admittedly, the musical performances all happen at once in the middle of the film, but they are pleasant. It’s sort of like an intermission from the story, however, something important to the plot happens during the performances. I liked getting acquainted with CeePee Johnson, who I wasn’t familiar with before, and the Four Toppers are lots of fun.

One of the standout acting performances for me, was of youthful Tommie Moore. I just wish we could have seen more of her!

The whole film is solved with a great, mysterious note: a will being read at midnight by candlelight on a stormy night! How much better can you get than this? To make it even better, this film has a brisk running time.

“Mystery in Swing” is a great time set to toe-tapping music.

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