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The Lindy Hop scene in Hellzapoppin' is one of the all-time most incredible and electrifying pieces of partner dance ever to make it to the cinema screen. It was also - in my opinion - edited with no respect for the relationship between dance and music. Dancers started off phrase, clapped on the wrong beat, and had footwork that drifted out of time from the music - a product, I assume of multiple takes, and editors that either didn't know enough, or care enough about fitting the end product to the music. I assume the latter - because other scenes in the film (those involving singing) were synced to the music just fine. These were some of the best dancers of their time, and among the greatest swing dancers that ever lived. They deserve better. Like my previous edits, this version has had the timing tweaked to put it back on the correct beat, and various edits to set everything back to using the musical phrasing. I cannot be 100% sure, but my intention and hope is that I've managed to bring it closer to the way they originally danced it. Over and above that, inspired by the comparatively recent craze for upscaling videos (and it doesn't hurt to FINALLY have access to a full HD version of the entire movie), I've used a bunch of tools to improve my work on this classic scene - so here's a new version, in 4k, at a cool sixty frames per second. Enjoy! Whitey's Lindyhoppers: Frances “Mickey” Jones & William Downes Norma Miller & Billy Ricker Willa Mae Ricker & Al Minns Ann Johnson & Frankie Manning Musicians: Slam Stewart - Bass Slim Gaillard - Piano & Guitar Rex Stewart - Cornet Elmer Fane - Clarinet Jap Jones - Trombone Cee Pee Johnson - Drums A massive thank you to Atilio Menéndez, partly for his patient and invaluable advice, but mainly for taking two different HD versions of the original film and cleaning them up, combining and tweaking them to make the best possible source for upscaling, in ways I don't have the expertise to do. This wouldn't look nearly as good if it weren't for his help. Another thank you to Nick Rossi for his historical input, corrections and suggestions, and to everyone else I've inundated with version upon version upon version to critique. Visit my blog for more information on the rephrasing, and all things Swing music/DJing:
