Answer to Open the Door, Richard (film #2 on Side A of Disc #9 of Classic Musicals DVD Magapack (Mill Creek Entertainment, 2005) (part of Soundies Cavalcade)). [Category: Sleaze & Outsider]

This soundie could be called "The Steppen Fetchit Rap", which gives you an idea of how enlightened the portrayal of its main character is. The song and the soundie both involve the attempts of a band to get a very lazy African-American man to get up and open his front door (why, they don’t say). Turns out he’s on his honeymoon, which gives the film a whole new bizarre twist I’m not going to touch with a ten-foot pole. Weird.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.