Michael Feinstein

(On Cable TV, September 2022) I don’t often comment on a documentary’s style, because most often there’s nothing to say: documentaries often try to deliver their information as seamlessly as possible—sometimes with a friendly narrator and sometimes not, but usually not making that much of a fuss about themselves. Soundies: A Musical History Hosted by Michael Feinstein definitely takes another tack, especially when it comes to Michael Feinstein presenting everything as clearly coming from Michael Feinstein. No, I didn’t know who was Michael Feinstein prior to the film (a signer/historian, as it turns out) but you will see plenty of him as he introduces the film’s rather more interesting topic: soundies, the WW2-era short films that focused on a single musical performance in video jukebox format, essentially the precursors to modern music videos. Soundies are fascinating in that they captured music performances by many of that era’s top performers, and often featured black musicians and racially integrated bands. Soundies was made just in time to capture recollections by some people involved in that brief industry, and make that link to the modern era. If you’re aware of some of the era’s greats, some of the snippets are nothing short of fascinating in-between Liberace, Dorothy Dandridge, a pre-stardom Cyd Charisse and Doris Day, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, Cab Calloway and many others. Talking heads such as Leonard Maltin (is a Hollywood history documentary complete without him?) and Hugh Hefner (!) provide additional context, and then there’s Feinstein walking on-screen in his mellifluous voice to tell us more about soundies. I kid a bit, because that style of presentation felt outdated in 2007, let along right now. Still, it’s a minor (and perhaps even charming) aspect of a rather strong documentary that delivers a thorough history of a minor artform that has largely been forgotten along the decades.