Called the “white Louis Armstrong” by Armstrong himself, Jewish jazz trumpeter Eddie Rosner was forced to flee Nazi Germany and later Poland for the Soviet Union at the outbreak of World War II, where he attained great success and was nicknamed “the Czar.” Stalin enjoyed his music in a private performance but later cracked down on jazz—the very word was banned—and Rosner, arrested while trying to emigrate, was tortured for seven months in Lubyanka Prison. This French video by Pierre-Henry Salfati offers an engaging score and fascinating archival footage, hampered by silly restagings and an affected voice-over drawn from Rosner’s words. In French with subtitles. 61 min.
