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The Blues A Musical Journey: Warming by the Devil's Fire (2003)

Director: Charles Burnett

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From Time Out Film Guide

Writer/director Charles Burnett offers a slice of childhood autobiography, a summer away from his god-fearing West Coast family spent in the company of his louche-living Mississippi uncle Buddy. Expecting a baptism of the gospel variety, he's instead inducted into the way of sex and the blues. It's a languorous, even listless piece of storytelling that stands almost entirely on Burnett's dreamy parade of archive performers. Son House, Willie Dixon, WC Handy and a notably strong selection of women (Ida Cox, Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith) flit by, haunted spirits now doing the haunting.

Author: NB 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Charles Burnett

Producer: Margaret Bodde, Alex Gibney

Cast: Tommy Hicks, Nathaniel Lee Jr, archival performances Son House, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mississippi John Hurt, Victoria Spivey, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Ida Cox, Mamie Smith, Lightnin' Hopkins, Reverend Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy, WC Handy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bessie Smith, Carl Lumbly full cast

Genre(s): Musicals

Duration: 89 mins


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