Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Neil Doyle Buster Keaton, at a low point in his career, directed this short subject about a new kind of swing band that plays musical instruments without actually playing them. It's a novelty act that never really caught on and it's easy to understand why.No use discussing the plot. It's merely an excuse to show these "swing singers" doing their thing singing for their supper in a streamlined railroad "Dinah".The black band is talented enough but the script is worthless, Keaton's direction is uninspired and the whole thing falls apart before "The End" is flashed on the screen.Forget about it.

Michael_Elliott Streamlined Swing (1938) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Buster Keaton directed this MGM short showcasing the original Sing Band. Keaton's direction is a tad bit dated and lazy as he doesn't really do much when filming the musical numbers, which just happen to be the best thing about the film. The story written around the musical numbers is also rather lazy and routine.It's a shame MGM let Buster's acting career go down the drain but I guess we can be happy that he was working at all.Turner Classic Movies shows this every once in a while.

theowinthrop Because of the hostility of MGM head L. B. Mayer, who had little use for comedians, and personal and alcohol problems, Buster Keaton's star career was in eclipse by 1938. He somehow got assigned to direct this film, which is a mixed bag - but distinctly a lesser effort of the Great Stone Face. He does not appear in this one, which all in all is just as well.Racially this film is offensive, even though there is an element in the story that suggests that better things were possible for African Americans if Caucasian Americans would assist them. Even that though does not really help: the African-Americans act like stereotypes, who mangle English, and have subservient jobs. They are the staff of a private railway car, and we see them entertaining the owner and two other men by doing the first of three skat numbers, where they sing and also pretend to be the instruments of the band. This is entertaining, but the effect in the second number is hurt by the members of the band playing instruments that include faking trumpets with toilet plungers.The band is rewarded by the owner of the private car - he is billionaire - and he is going (he says) to live on his private yacht for the rest of his life and does not need the car. So as a gift it is given to them - but as he does not own the railroad and it's tracks they have to remove it from the tracks and take it elsewhere. He leaves the band astounded at their good fortune - but they don't see him taken under the care of a German Psychiatrist. This billionaire is as crazy as a loon (and so he can't make gifts of his property).The members of the band somehow manage to get the diner (they call it a "Dinah") down Wiltshire Blvd. in L. A. and set it on some land - where they proceed to rebuild it as a diner. And here was the one positive point of the entire wasted short - they were quite industrious, and were intent on making their new business a success. It was a moment in the films of that era that one struggled to find usually - rare to see African-Americans striving to succeed in our capitalist system. But the moment is quickly shattered, when their hard work is threatened by two detectives (the men who accompanied the mad billionaire earlier) threaten to arrest them on their opening night. They tell the men that the billionaire was suffering from hallucinations. When the President of the Railroad shows up as a satisfied customer who will give them the car as a gift, they politely reject his offer. They don't trust gifts from billionaires anymore.It's a lame conclusion and a let-down on the one positive point of the film that I appreciated. Keaton's directing is adequate, but nothing more. It will never be one of his memorable classics, or even his good films - it is rather forgettable quickly. It illustrates how his career was wasted for so many years for stupid reasons.

Eventuallyequalsalways Warning: Spoilers ahead! Created in 1938 when America seems like a different world to a viewer in 2006, this short film about a group of African American singers who are apparently given a railroad dining car named "Dinah" by a crazy man; they believe him and innocently "steal" the dining car and set it up on a Hollywood street corner as one of the early RR car diners, and use it as a means of income and as a showcase for their musical talents. The police appear and tell them the car has been stolen, and then the President of the railroad appears and tells them they can truly have the diner. No longer trusting the word of the white men who keep giving them the car, the band politely declines the offer and the film ends. Certainly not one of Director Buster Keaton's best, but it's cute and watchable.