As a belated follow up to his article on the subject, Alex Fitch talks to Times journalist John Clarke about the history of Black musicians on film from 1929’s Hallelujah to this year’s Dreamgirls. The show also features clips from Stormy Weather (1943), Shaft (1971) and The Blues Brothers (1980)…

Originally broadcast 15th March 2007 (mp3 format, 28.3mb)

Links: BBC article on the Dreamgirls controversy
TimesOnline articles by John on The Gospel according to Al Green and the rebirth of soul label Stax
Indiana University’s Black Film Archive
UCLA article on Soundies
Optronica at the BFI
For more info, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com