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Jazz Professor and the Accidental Spy

 Monday: Cabin in the Sky (1943)

         Little Joe is a gambler and a fan of jazz. His wife Petunia tries to get him to change his ways. She wants him to stop gambling and come to church. Ignoring her advice he gets shot after a night of gambling. On his death bed  Lucifer Jr. comes to take him. But his wife's prayers call down an angel. The angel offers Little Joe a deal. If he can change his ways he can get into heaven. He agrees and is given some more time to live. Little Joe does his best to be good. He treats his wife better and stops gambling. Lucifer Jr. can see that he is losing. So he cheats and makes it so Little Joe wins a cash prize. After a misunderstanding with his wife, the money is the last straw to send him to the edge. It might be too late to get into heaven. I thought this movie was alright. It has a lot of jazz legends in it like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Although it has an all black cast, which is a rarity in the 40s, it is not well received by the black community. Duke Ellington's granddaughter talked about it before the movie played on TCM. She talked about how it was more of a folk story. And it was made for white audiences. It didn't represent black people well. She does admit that for the time it was still big. To be able to see someone that looks like them in a movie was always exciting.

Tuesday: A Song is Born (1948)

         Professor Frisbee is working with a group of professor to write a complete history of music. One day he learns about jazz. He hadn't known it was such a big part of the current music scene. So he starts to do research. He goes to different clubs and listens to the music. He also asks the musicians to come to a sort of conference so he can gather more information about the history of jazz and the different types. One such musician is a young female singer. Honey is a well known singer. She is also the girlfriend of a gangster. Her boyfriend gets in trouble and she has to hide. She decides to hide out at the academy that Frisbee lives and works at. He tries to remain professional but he starts to have feeling for her. Decisions have to be made when her boyfriend calls for her to come to him. This is a good movie. I enjoyed it. I like Danny Kaye who played Frisbee.

Wednesday: Bang! Bang! You're Dead! (Original title-Our Man in Marrakesh) (1966)

         Six travelers are on a bus to Marrakesh. One of them is carrying $2 million dollars to pay a local gangster to fix UN votes. The only problem is the gangster doesn't know who has the money. Andrew is a business man on vacation. On the bus he meets Kyra who is there to meet her fiance. Upon arriving in his hotel room Andrew finds a body in his closet. Kyra shows up saying he was given the wrong hotel room. It was meant to be her room. He shows her the body. It is her fiance. But she soon reveals they are not actually engaged. She is a reporter and he was her source. Kyra has found out about the votes and is trying to get to the bottom of the situation. Andrew soon gets sucked into it all and has to just do what he can to survive. This is a fun movie.

Sunday: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

        The El Royale hotel was once a popular place but has fallen on hard times. It is unique in that it is on the border of California and Nevada. Four travelers show up on the same day. They all have secrets. Soon they discover there is something not right about the hotel. Sinister acts have taken place there. Events start to happen that will change everyones lives. Who will survive the night? I don't want to say too much more,  it would give away some of the surprises. I thought this movie was ok. Better than I thought it was going to be.  

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