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RIDIN ON DUKE'S TRAIN

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I am impressed with how engaging this story is. My favorite aspect are the characters and how it shows a time in the 30s when jazz was popular and also gives a glimpse of how whites treated blacks. It isn't overly violent and is primarily a positive story. The dialogue is extremely believable and it flows well from beginning to end. Recommended.

This film is set in 1939, on the cusp of World War II. It follows a young African-American orphan boy (Danny) who narrowly escapes a KKK lynching and then literally stumbles upon bandleader Duke Ellington's private rail cars, is discovered as a stowaway, and is "adopted" by Ellington and the members of his band. Danny's adventures with the Ellington family lead to his eventual achievements in life as an adult.