Minstrel Man (1944)

Minstrel Man is a diegetic movie musical designed as a vehicle for and celebration of Benny Fields. He sings his hit "Melancholy Baby" in this twice. In fact, he sings nearly every song twice, and he sings the Oscar-nominated "Remember Me to Carolina" a total of four times in this 65-minute movie. 

This is a nostalgic piece of film history that was very popular, and it anticipated the popularity of The Jolson Story two years later. 

Blackface minstrelsy is so fucking weird. In the first place, this movie was popular in 1944, during the war, and that's already mind blowing, but I really just don't understand why this singer needed to be in blackface in the first place. These songs are fine, and they could be sung easily enough without the burnt cork. 

As for the movie itself, it has only a whiff of a plot and is fairly dumb.

I watched Minstrel Man via the Cave of Forgotten Films.