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Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled by black filmmakers, Micheaux is regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker, a prominent producer of race films, and has been described as "the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century". He produced both silent films and sound films.
The race film or race movie was a genre of film produced in the United States between about 1915 and the early 1950s, consisting of films produced for black audiences, and featuring black casts. Approximately five hundred race films were produced. Of these, fewer than one hundred remain. Because race films were produced outside the Hollywood studio system, they were largely forgotten by mainstream film historians until they resurfaced in the 1980s on the BET cable network. In their day, race films were very popular among African-American theatergoers. Their influence continues to be felt in cinema and television marketed to African Americans.
Alice Burton Russell was an African-American actress, producer, and the wife of director Oscar Micheaux. She appeared in several films directed by her husband.
The Betrayal is a 1948 race film written, produced, and directed by Oscar Micheaux. He adapted it from his 1943 novel The Wind From Nowhere.
A Daughter of the Congo is a 1930 race film directed, written and produced by Oscar Micheaux. The film is loosely based on the novel The American Cavalryman (1917), by African-American novelist and playwright Henry Francis Downing. It is considered a lost film.
The House Behind the Cedars is a 1927 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by the noted director Oscar Micheaux. It was loosely adapted from the 1900 novel of the same name by African-American writer Charles W. Chesnutt, who explored issues of race, class and identity in the post-Civil War South. No print of the film is known to exist, and it is considered lost. Micheaux remade the film in 1932 under the title Veiled Aristocrats.
Ethel Moses was an American stage and film actress, and dancer. She was billed as "the black Jean Harlow". Moses is best known for working in films by Oscar Micheaux.
Donald Heywood was a Trinidadian-born American songwriter, composer, writer and director. He composed for "I'm Coming Virginia" in 1926, which became a hit for Ethel Waters. He became a prominent figure in black musical theater, and produced scores for films such as Moon Over Harlem (1939) and Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941).
Cleo Desmond was an American actress and vaudeville performer who had a long career on the stage and screen.
The Spider's Web is a 1926 Oscar Micheaux film starring Evelyn Preer. It was remade in 1932 as The Girl from Chicago.
Georgia Rose was a 1930 film. It was directed by Harry Gant and stars Clarence Brooks. It followed the 1928 film Absent with Brooks as its star.
The Broken Violin is an American silent film directed by Oscar Micheaux, released in 1928.
Carl Mahon was an actor in the United States. An African American, he had several film roles including a starring role in the 1932 film The Girl from Chicago
Andrew S. Bishop (1894–1959) was an actor on stage and screen. He and Cleo Desmond drew adoring fans to their theatrical performances. He starred in several of Oscar Michaux's African American films.
Willor Lee Guilford was an African American actress. She had substantial parts in several films including at least three Oscar Micheaux films.
Ten Nights in a Barroom is an American film released in 1926. The film had a temperance theme and an African American cast. It followed on Timothy Shay Arthur's 1854 novel Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There and William W. Pratt's play, as well as earlier film adaptations albeit with white casts. A man's drinking causes him to lose money, his business, and his daughter. The film has been restored and is archived at the Library of Congress. Charles Gilpin stars. The film was released during the Prohibition era. Roy Calnek directed.
Harry Henderson was an actor in theater and films in the United States. He made four films with the Colored Players Film Corporation. He was also cast in several Oscar Micheaux films and had a starring role in the film melodrama The Scar of Shame. He portrays a wealthy concert pianist in the film. He also had a lead role in the 1926 film The Prince of His Race.
Nathan Curry was an American actor. He was a supporting actor in several films featuring African American casts. Curry had prominent parts in silent films but was not given screen credit. He was one of the featured players of Black Hollywood.
The Midnight Ace is a 1928 American crime film. Abe DeComathiere, Mabel Kelly and Oscar Roy Dugas starred. The film was directed by John H. Wade for Swan Micheaux's Dunbar Film Company. Swan Micheaux was Oscar Micheaux's brother. Swan had worked for Oscar before a failling out over his management of finances. Swan left and formed the Dunbar film company but it only made this film.
Dorothy Van Engle was an American actress who performed throughout the 1930s. She starred in Oscar Micheaux films, including Murder in Harlem and Swing!.
References
- ↑ Weisenfeld, Judith (June 8, 2007). Hollywood Be Thy Name: African American Religion in American Film, 1929–1949. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520251007 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Oscar Micheaux of movie fame visits". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1930-10-18. p. 18. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
- ↑ Fullerton, John (August 7, 2004). Screen Culture: History and Textuality. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0861966457 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "'Easy Street', great all-colored talkie at the Lando next week". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1930-10-11. p. 19. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
- ↑ "Alice B. Russell – Women Film Pioneers Project". wfpp.columbia.edu.
- ↑ Staff, America Film Institute; Gevinson, Alan; Institute, American Film; Afi, American Film (August 7, 1997). Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520209640 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "ACADEMY COLLECTIONS | details". collections.new.oscars.org.
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