Stormy Weather

Released Nov 17, 1943

1h 17m

Musical

List

95%

Tomatometer

42 Reviews

80%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Bill Williamson (Bill Robinson), a struggling performer, meets a beautiful vocalist named Selina Rogers (Lena Horne). Bill promises her that they will be together after he becomes a success. However, he and Selina both skyrocket to fame and lose contact. Fortunately, Bill just might get one more chance to woo Selina at a huge musical stage show. Popular entertainers of the 1940s, including Fats Waller and Cab Calloway, perform as themselves in the film.

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Critics Consensus

Stormy Weather's depiction of the Black community is disappointingly facile, but its delightful musical numbers drown out any missed narrative notes.

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Mildred Martin

Philadelphia Inquirer

Plot doesn't matter a hoot in this lively, likable picture.

Jan 28, 2021

Full Review

Wanda Hale

New York Daily News

The hottest thing in town.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jan 28, 2021

Full Review

John W. Riley

Boston Globe

Really, the only thing to do is to sit back and enjoy yourself. The cast of Stormy Weather will see to that.

Jan 28, 2021

Full Review

Calum Baker

Radio Times

Although some of the images are outdated and outright offensive, this movie is all about the performances:

Rated: 4/5

Sep 29, 2022

Full Review

Evelena D. Jackson

Baltimore Afro-American

The acting, costumes, and scenery are superb.

Jan 28, 2021

Full Review

Herman Hill

Pittsburgh Courier

All in all, [Stormy Weather] is excellent entertainment, and calculated to chase the war blues away.

Jan 28, 2021

Full Review

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John S

The songs were lovely for the most part. The tap dancing brothers were a highlight. It's not a movie with much cohesive story though, and the dance number featuring the "black face" bonnets were very sad reminders of the time of which this film is a product. I was a little speechless. It's not a great film, but it's significant on a few levels.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/05/23

Full Review

Emmett H

It''s filled with good music and good dancing. Culturally unique.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Absolute dynamite, zazz, razzmatazz, and more talent per minute than any other movie I can think of. Fats Waller live in performance in a choreographed musical! Lena Horne in three big sets you could watch with either the sound off or the video off and still rave about! The Nicholas brothers in a sequence that Fred Astaire himself called the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen! And that's not even mentioning Bill "Mr. Bojangles" Robinson, Cab Calloway - heck, everybody in the picture stacks talent on top of craftsmanship all the way up to the ceiling. You only have to compare "Stormy Weather" to some musicals - good ones - like "Gypsy" or "Pal Joey" to wonder how many movies this picture's 77 minutes would have been spread across if the performers had not all been been "colored." The flimsiness of the plot is mitigated by its brevity, the tightness of the budget is well-concealed, and the Jim Crow-era production is neither obtrusive nor opaque enough to conceal from any sane viewer just how awesome these people are. No need to hold your nose or avert your eyes - you aren't watching the producers or the sometimes questionable costumes, you're watching a whole lot of the greatest American dancers and musicians ever, at the top of their game.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

77 years ago "Stormy Weather" was filmed starring an all-black cast with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lena Horne and an array of talented black musicians, singers and dancers. The Nicholas Brothers combined tap, jazz, ballet and acrobatics. The acrobatic tap duo's iconic scene from the 1943 musical "Stormy Weather is considered one of the greatest dance sequences ever, and it was unrehearsed and filmed in just one take. As the years pass I believe we appreciate more than ever the talent of this cast. Dance numbers and musical performances still make you want to get up and dance, move your body to the rhythm or just drum your fingers on the arm of your recliner and tap your feet. All dancers of the past 40 years should see this movie and learn we didn't create the dance moves in recent decades.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is an American cinema classic and the title track, when it arrives, is as sublime as any performance ever captured on celluloid. It is astonishing that this movie even exists, for it captures the genius of Black America at a time when they could go fight Nazis and then come home to segregation and de facto apartheid.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best, GREATEST musical movie ever made! With 2 of the best movie songs ever sung: Ain't Misbehavin' and the title song!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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Andrew L. Stone

Director

Lena Horne

Selina Rogers

Bill Robinson

Bill Williamson

Cab Calloway

Self

Katherine Dunham

Self

Fats Waller

Self

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Synopsis

Bill Williamson (Bill Robinson), a struggling performer, meets a beautiful vocalist named Selina Rogers (Lena Horne). Bill promises her that they will be together after he becomes a success. However, he and Selina both skyrocket to fame and lose contact. Fortunately, Bill just might get one more chance to woo Selina at a huge musical stage show. Popular entertainers of the 1940s, including Fats Waller and Cab Calloway, perform as themselves in the film.

Director: Andrew L. Stone
Screenwriter: Jerry Horwin, Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler, H.S. Kraft, Seymour B. Robinson
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Musical
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 17, 1943, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 17m
Sound Mix: Mono

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