Movies - The Duke is Tops

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	Movies - The Duke is Tops

The Duke is Tops is the title of an American musical motion picture, released in 1938 by Million Dollar Productions. The film was directed by William Nolte.

The film was one of a number of low-budgeted musicals made in the 1930s and 1940s for the African-American market. The casts and production teams of these films were almost all black, and the music reflected current tastes in jazz and rhythm and blues.

The Duke is Tops is best known for featuring the film debut of singer Lena Horne, who was only 21 at the time and had yet to develop the smooth, classy style she would distinguish herself with in her later films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Notably, Horne has a major acting role in this film, something that save for 1943's Cabin in the Sky
and a few later films, she would rarely enjoy.

The film mostly focuses upon the character of Duke Davis (Ralph Cooper), a stage show promoter in love with Ethel Andrews (Horne), a popular singer in his company dubbed the "Bronze Venus". Duke finds out that bigtime promoters from New York City want to propel Ethel into the big leagues, but Ethel -- out of loyalty and love for Duke -- refuses to leave his small-time show. Duke, in a selfless act, orchestrates a deception to force Ethel to leave his show in order to better her career.

However, the loss of the Bronze Venus causes Duke's own career to collapse and he soon finds himself working on a travelling medicine show where he goes from town-to-town, introducing a series of specialty musical acts and helping to sell Doc Dorando's all-purpose elixir. But when he hears that Ethel's New York gig is a flop, Duke goes to New York where he is reunited with her. Soon after, Duke combines his stage show, the medicine show and Ethel's singing into a top nightclub act.

Although somewhat obscure, The Duke is Tops is available on DVD in North America.

Trivia

During one of her musical numbers, Lena Horne sings about "stormy weather". Another song also about "Stormy Weather
" would later become one of her trademarks.
Ralph Cooper, the film's star, also served as the movie's production manager.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Duke is Tops ]

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