Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

Bessie Smith appeared in only this one movie; it has an all-black cast and runs 16 minutes. Whatever one might say about the limitations of the story line, derived from the W.C. Handy song by the director, Dudley Murphy, and Handy himself (who served as musical director), seems irrelevant. Even in this folklorish film, made when sound recording was still primitive, she comes through. Here she is, the greatest of all our jazz singers, all 5 feet 9 inches and 200 pounds of her, crowned with a little 20s hat, and when she lets out her harsh, thick voice, full of gin and sensuality and humor, she’s one of the most beautiful images that ever filled the screen.

— Pauline Kael