Smash Your Baggage (1932) User Reviews

Small's Paradise

[boblipton · 8/10 · 8 December 2019]

Redcaps and porters put on a jazz show in Grand Central Station -- eastern upper level, to judge by the track numbers on display -- in this all-Black short.

The cast is listed as "Small's Paradise Entertainers" and that's quite likely. Small's Paradise was one of the leading Harlem clubs in the 1920s and 1930s, like the better remembered Cotton Club. It was opened in 1925 by Ed Small and was the only well-known Harlem night spot with a Black owner. Over the decades, many great entertainers performed for its integrated audiences. It passed through at least three owners, all black, and in its last years was owned by Wilt Chamberlain, and performed as a combination discotheque and performance space. By the time it finally closed in 1986, it was the longest-running Jazz club in Harlem.

Lots of hot jazz and dancing in this short.

Entertaining offering from an all Black cast.

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 22 December 2016]

You have to read the quick story line posted for this film short on it's IMDb title page to get the set up. I usually don't pay much attention to them because they're not that informative, but whoever wrote up the piece knew his stuff.

This is an energetic flick with baggage attendants at a railway station striking up the band while featuring some fancy footwork by a host of entertainers. A lot of these entertainment film shorts offered up enthusiastic tap dancers, but the novelty here had one of them skipping rope as he did his act. And then, the guy would do something quite unimaginable - he would bounce on his knees! Ouch - it hurt just watching that - I don't know how he could have done it!

As for the title of this film short though - forget it. No smashed baggage, which in hindsight, was probably a pretty good deal.

song and dance short

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 22 May 2021]

Train station attendants gather to raise money for a disabled brother. Others join in. This a singing and dancing short with a group of negro performers. The most interesting is tap dancing that evolves into something akin to break-dancing. It's too bad that i don't know any of these performers. Cinema owes it to them to make them into real stars. Small's Paradise should be much better known.

Great Black Short Musical!

[msladysoul · 9 June 2002]

I've just started collecting black short films, you'll have a hard time finding them or trying to catch it on Turner Classic Movies but when you find it, it'll be worth it. Great singing and dancing, but what I hate is the fact that they don't introduce themselves or call their names, because you'll wanna know who some of these people are and you'll wanna see more of their work or you've seen them in other films or shorts, but you'll find out who they are in due time. This is great because it just gives you an idea of what was in and what they were doing in that era, the latest dancing and singing. Great fun.

Full of the things that made the Harlem Renaissance great.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 27 August 2011]

This is a short film from Vitaphone. Oddly, while most of Hollywood had no place for blacks in films except to be servants or comic relief, Warner Brothers featured quite a few black acts in their Vitaphone shorts--thus allowing us to preserve this part of our history.

"Smash Your Baggage" is has an all-black cast and although the film has a few derogatory stereotypes (such as the porters using up their funds shooting dice), it has a positive message that can be enjoyed by all. Because they have no funds in their relief fund, the porters decide to put on a benefit the next day. What follows has very little plot but LOTS of make the film fun--crazy good dancing. First, there are two of the most amazingly athletic tap dancers you'll ever see. You just have to see them to believe them--and some of what they do looks almost like break dancing fused with tap. The guy who jumps rope and taps was also pretty amazing. About the only flat moment was the lady balladeer. This isn't entirely her fault--as there was an issue with the quality of the sound. The bottom line is that this film features some amazing stuff--so amazing you can understand why today there's such nostalgia for the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s.

The End of Slavery

[mrdonleone · 3/10 · 18 December 2019]

When black people were still proudly equal to themselves they made this marvelous short movie about hard work and dancing and singing at the same time, for after all, if you could be lazy why wouldn't you?? This movie really pinpoints all racial slurs and presents them together under the general norm of Art, or, should I say, the end of Slavery.

Smashing

[tedg · 26 December 2004]

Spoilers herein.

There will be some who see this as stereotypical baggage, because these men — so far as they say anything — do a stepinfetchit bit. Quite apart from the Jim Crow situation in real life, these guys on screen are no more cartoonish than anyone else on film during this period.

I assume that this was made for black audiences. The story is a thin disguise for putting on a show which likely differed in a very few details. The camera is static and unimaginative. Very few setups were used. But what dance! What energy! This is short, but the passion of these guys needs to be appreciated.

I thought I saw quite a few moves that Michael Jackson used.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.