My Baby Is Black!/Checkerboard

"Two offbeat French films dealing with racial prejudice in very different ways are teamed up in this DVD release from Something Weird Video. Both My Baby Is Black and Checkerboard have been transferred to disc in letterboxed format at the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1; the prints used for both features have suffered their share of damage over the years (especially My Baby Is Black), though the transfers themselves are strong and well-detailed. Both films have been dubbed into English, with no subtitles or language options included, and the clear if not sterling audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono. Bonus materials include a collection of trailers for other grindhouse-friendly French films (including a television spot for My Baby Is Black); a fine short film Paris After Hours, which depicts an late-night jazz session in the City of Lights (including Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and Kenny Clarke); an excerpt from the exploitation film Mondo Oscenita featuring clips from My Baby Is Black; and a gallery of exploitation ad artwork. As usual, the folks at Something Weird have gone out of their way to make this package something fans of strange cinema will go for, and Checkerboard in particular is a sleaze epic well worth investigating."