 All of these characters speak directly to the camera/audience at one point or another, a device that also helps vary the mostly straight-line storyline.Furthermore, the film allows the opportunity for the audience to examine the difficulties of black entertainers back then against similar difficulties today.Starting with Robinson's funeral, including what looks like archival footage of the event, the film then plays out the biography in a straightforward manner as a flashback, both in color and black-and-white.