Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Fireworks of imagination in an intoxicating phantasmagoria of splendid innovations, Lena Horne and Duke Ellington crowning the show both musically and dramatically - the grand scene at John Henry's bar transcends most musicals in sheer flippant enthusiasm. The story is a kind of mental experiment, playing with life and death, and the gamble is high as you don't really know which is which. Rex Ingram is marvellous as Lucifer Junior, laughing his sides off throughout the picture, and the musical numbers are the real treats, especially the church scene in the beginning apart from the grand finale at the bar. The dialogue is ingenious throughout, and just to follow the witty argument makes it worth returning to the film to study it more in detail - there are so many fantastic details to catch up on the way, as the film practically is overloaded with splendid whims, and while it's all too realistic in its drama of life and death, it's at the same time like a fairy tale or parable, from which you can learn a great deal. This was only one out of many films by Vincente Minnelli over-proving that he was a genius.

So rolling the dice is racist and stereotypical? No more than it is in "Guys and Dolls"! A great fable with the perfect cast Directed by the then-unknown Vincente Minnelli and produced by Arthur Freed. (The dance number "Shine" directed by Busby Berkley.) Outstanding performances by Ethel Waters, Eddie Anderson, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, Butterfly McQueen, and so many more. A beautiful and touching story and I was very pleased that almost everybody who reviewed it could see it for what it is: a joyous celebration of comedy, music, song, and dancing. The devil's bellboys vs. the all-dressed-in-white General and Army of the Lord both fight for the soul of "little Joe" a small-time gambler, who is given 6 months to reform due to his wife Petunia's powerful prayer to Heaven. Several recognizable songs, some by songwriter Harold Arlen (Wizard of Oz). Like Oz, the same characters appear in both the fantasy sequences and reality. There's even a terrific cyclone as the gambling hall is ripped to shreds by the "Wrath of the Lord" at the climax! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it's an all-black cast and it's not in Technicolor, both of which are really minor details, to be sure. The deleted scene of Lena Horne's rather modest bubble bath is legendary! Look for it in the Pete Smith short on TCM or in "That's Entertainment Part III.)

I had never seen this film, perhaps because years ago I began to watch it on television, and the print was in horrible condition. But, I caught it recently on TCM, and I can honestly say that this film borders on brilliance. Vincente Minelli deserves a great deal of credit here, because he realized the impact of an allegorical film so brilliantly.But, for me, the real gem of the film is the performance of Ethel Waters! What a treasure! Eddie "Rochester" Anderson is fine as Little Joe, but I will always remember him best as Jack Benny's manservant. Don't think that's a racial put down. As the family used to watch the Benny program, Rochester was always the character we looked forward to. We loved him.It's interesting to watch Lena Horne in this film, compared to her performance in other films (such as "Stormy Weather"). Let's face it, in many films she was very light complected, but in this film the opposite seemed to be true. Here she plays the evil seductress in league with the devil, and is quite impressive. It was also a treat to finally see John Bubbles.

"Cabin in the Sky" is always a delight to watch. The loving performances are still so fresh. And as Minnelli's debut "project" it's fascinating to notice how he cut corners yet achieved a respectable though low budget MGM musical. (Minnelli even recycled the twister footage from "Wizard of Oz," complete with corn cribs and Kansas prairie in the background, during the film's climactic nightclub episode.) By 1943, most MGM musicals were in Technicolor, not black and white. It's obvious the film script and lyrics were upgraded and rewritten from their Broadway roots so there were less stereotypic images and songs (the original lyrics to the title song include the "darkie dream" of "eating fried chicken every day.") The "cabin" is not a hovel but rather charming in that typical MGM glossy way. Yet much does remain that is somewhat problematic. The number "Shine," sung by "Domino Johnson" in the nightclub, for instance, is a derogatory "coon song" of 1910. (A "shine" was a racist term for an African American.) Yes, Ethel Waters and the other women who are not good-looking babes are laundresses but they're not portrayed as the typical movie mammies or Aunt Jemimah types. They wear '40s length dresses and kerchiefs, not mammy bandanas. The pretty women are all vamps and tramps, hanging out in Jim Henry's nightclub, jitterbugging their asses off. The males are shown as gamblers, cheats, and philanderers. Only the angels speak standard English. Illiterate "Little Joe" cannot even sign his name for the telegram delivery guy.Yet as a variation on the FAUST legend, this well-developed story is fascinating. I first used the film in a Mass Media class about 40 years ago when I was a beginning teacher to illustrate "screen racism" to my classes at an African American Chicago high school. The power of the performances was so captivating, once the word got out I had other kids coming by my room during my lunch to watch the musical, too. Where else, in the late '60s, could anyone see a film that featured so many all-time great black performers like Duke Ellington, Butterfly McQueen, Mantan Moreland, Willie Best, and all the others. At that time, during the beginnings of the Afrocentric cultural awareness movement, older images of blacks like the "Amos 'N' Andy" TV program and some of the all-black musicals, were banned from television. Thank God for film! The movie may illustrate some of the problems connected with portraying racial themes in old Hollywood of the studio period, but to this day each time I watch it I appreciate the performances more and notice new details that captivate and inspire me. Watch for Ernestine Wade (who played Kingfish's wife Saffire on TV's early '50s "Amos 'N' Andy") in the opening church service scene sitting in the front row wearing a Tyrolean style hat. Dorothy Dandridge's challenging mother Ruby is a couple rows behind her with a silly hat and some little boys sleeping under her arm.