Lying Lips (1939), 5+

A nightclub singer refuses to "date" customers, so she's framed for the murder of her aunt, convicted of the killing and sent to prison. However, her friend, who is a police detective, ...
1h 20min | Drama, Music* (*mine) | May 1939
Director: Oscar Micheaux
Stars: Edna Mae Harris, Carman Newsome, Robert Earl Jones

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031599/
Watched online, decent print, but choppy.

Not classified as musical, but it's in the Tap! Appendix for Clyde "Slim" Thompson (who doesn't dance), Teddy Hale.

After watching more than 200 musicals, I know the likelihood of hearing a familiar song is very low. So was startling that this film opens with a familiar standard:

• You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, Sung by Edna Mae Harris 
• Music by Harry Warren, Lyrics by Johnny Mercer 
• Then a little gangster-involved nightclub plot, followed immediately by another familiar standard:
• Some of These Days, Sung by Slim Thompson
• Music and lyrics by Shelton Brooks 
• More plot, then: 
• I've Got a Heart Full of Rhythm, Sung by Edna Mae Harris 
• Music and lyrics by Louis Armstrong and Horace Gerlach 
• More plot, another familiar standard:
• Dance performed by Teddy Hale 
• Tea for Two 
• Music by Vincent Youmans, Lyrics by Irving Caesar 
• In a medley with another familiar standard:
• Chinatown, My Chinatown 
• Music by Jean Schwartz, Lyrics by William Jerome 

So we're done with music before we're 40 minutes in. Ugh. Then I can't recommend this. As is typical for the race films I've seen, the acting is bad, the sound and visuals are primitive. UNusual for these: some of the sets where they filmed were nice (modest but large living quarters) with very nice furnishings and decor.

FOUR standards in 1 film? I wonder if they got a special discounted licensing fee?

Micheaux Film, dir. Micheaux; 5+