One Dark Night (1939 film)

Last updated
One Dark Night
Directed by Leo C. Popkin
Produced by Harry M. Popkin
Starring Mantan Moreland
Production
company
Release date
1939
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish

One Dark Night is an American film released in 1939. [1] [2] [3] Also known as Night Club Girl. [4] It was directed by Leo C. Popkin. It was produced by Harry M. Popkin. The film features an African American cast [5] including Mantan Moreland in a dramatic role.

Contents

Cast

Production and release

Hattie McDaniel reportedly turned down the role played by Bette Treadville. [6] The film was made by Million Dollar Productions and distributed by Sack Amusement Enterprises. It was produced by Clifford Sanforth. The film drew various black celebrities to a showing. [7] Josephine Edwards performs two songs in the lost film. [8]

The film was re-released as Night Club Girl in 1944. It is categorized as a race film, [9] and is now lost. [10] [11] The Yale University Library has a lobby card for the film. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bette Treadville</span> American singer and actress

Bette Treadville was an American singer and actress, based in Los Angeles, California.

Sybil Lewis was an actress in the United States. An African American, she appeared in several films including musicals during the 1940s. She appeared in African American films and Hollywood pictures. She had starring roles in several African American films including Lucky Gamblers and Am I Guilty? and portrayed smaller roles including as a maid in Hollywood films. She also had a leading role in Broken Strings (film) in 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo C. Popkin</span> American film director and produce

Leo C. Popkin (1914–2011) was a film director and producer in the United States. His brother Harry M. Popkin was the executive producer of Million Dollar Productions, a partnership that included Ralph Cooper.

George Randol (1895–1973) was an actor, screenwriter, director, and producer of films in the United States. In 1938 he was honored as an influential film executive in a newspaper writeup of the "Negro" film industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Million Dollar Productions</span>

Million Dollar Productions was a movie studio in the United States active from 1937 until 1940. It was established to produce films with African American casts. It was a partnership between Harry M. Popkin, Leo C. Popkin and Ralph Cooper.

Edward Thompson (1898–1960) was an actor in the United States. He appeared in several films with African American casts. He worked on films with his wife Evelyn Preer, Spencer Williams, and other prominent African American actors including in Al Christie productions. He played in various theater productions as an actor, including in a musical dancing role in Darktown Follies.

Absent is a silent film released in 1928 starring Clarence Brooks. It was directed by Harry Gant. The film is about a veteran with memory loss who finds employment at a mining camp, aids his hosts, and finds new purpose. It was produced by Rosebud Film Corporation. It was followed on by Brooks in Georgia Rose.

Gang Smashers, also released as Gun Moll, is an American film released in 1938. It features an African American cast. The National Museum of African American History and Culture has a poster for the film in its collection. Leo C. Popkin directed the Million Dollar Productions film from a screenplay by Ralph Cooper. The University of South Carolina libraries have an 8-page pressbook for the film. Nina Mae McKinney stars in the film a thriller about the Harlem underworld and racketeering.

As the World Rolls On, also known by its working title The Heart of Jack Johnson, is a 1921 drama film starring Jack Johnson. It was an Andlauer Productions film. It was advertised as featuring an "All-Star Colored Cast". The film features footage of National Negro League baseball games. It is a 7-reel film.

Take My Life is an American film released in 1942. It featured a group of young actors known as the Harlem Tuff Kids. In this film they join the U.S. Army. The group also appeared in the 1939 film Reform School. Both were produced by Million Dollar Productions. Oakton Community College has a poster for the film in its collection. The poster includes the taglines Harlem Goes to War! and Thrill to the Brown Bombers in Action.

When True Love Wins is a 1915 American film. It was produced by Birmingham, Alabama based Southern Motion Picture Company and adapted from Isaac Fisher's screenplay about prejudice based on pigmentation.

The Highest Tradition is a 1946 documentary film from the U.S. about African American war heroes. It was written and produced by William D. Alexander. It is a World War II era war propaganda film. Fredric March narrates. The film begins with stock footage of the Pearl Harbor it then transitions into profiles of African American war heroes.

Charles H. Turpin was a constable filmmaker, theater owner, and judge in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1910, he became the first African American elected to city-wide office in St. Louis. A legal dispute contested his estate.

Historical Feature Films was a film production company in the United States. It was established in 1915 and produced at least 4 films. The company's films featured African American casts and included bigoted tropes and stereotypes that demeaned the characters. The studio's films were re-released by Ebony Film Corporation.

Money Talks Downtown is a 1916 American short comedy film with an African American cast. It stars Jimmy Marshall and Florence McCain. It includes derogatory racial stereotypes and a storyline about a woman seeking money and a man lightening his skin color to try and make himself more appealing. It was produced by Historical Feature Films and distributed by Ebony Film Company.

She's Too Mean for Me is a 1948 American film starring comedian Mantan Moreland. It was one of two Goldmax productions. It is a comedy. In the movie, the character portraying Moreland's on-screen wife is after him in the film. It and Come On, Cowboy! were the last two films Ted Toddy produced. Irving Hartley was the cinematographer.

Scandal of 1933, also known as Gig and Saddle and Scandal, is an American film featuring musical performances. The 60-minute feature film includes performances of songs written by Irving Mills, Duke Ellington, Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, Harry Akst, Roger Graham, Dave Peyton, Spencer Williams, Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger, Mort Dixon, Harry Warren, Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra, and Putney Dandridge. It was produced by Jack Goldberg and features an all-African American cast. A poster for the film advertises it as a musical jamboree.

Midnight Menace is a short American musical film released in 1946. It was produced by All-American News and Al Sack. Josh Binney directed. The plot involves a Voodoo practitioner making dead bodies appear around Lollypop Jones. The film features songs by Fats Waller and Andy Razaf. An alternative description of the plot says the film is about a Voodoo practitioner hypnotizing a man's wife and using her in his stage show.

Milton Woods was an actor. He was in several films. In 1946, Newsweek described him as the "colored Basil Rathbone". In 1951, Jet reported that he directed of the American Negro Repertory Theater, touring the country in a trailer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artie Belle McGinty</span> American actor (1892–1963)

Artie Belle McGinty (1892–1963) was an American actor in theater, films, and radio in the United States from the 1910s through the 1940s. She performed as a singer, dancer, and comedienne. She was a member of the Negro Actors Guild and an appointed member of the organization's dance committee.

References

  1. Richards, Larry (September 17, 2015). African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography. McFarland. ISBN   9781476610528 via Google Books.
  2. McCluskey, Audrey Thomas (September 27, 2007). Imaging Blackness: Race and Racial Representation in Film Poster Art. Indiana University Press. ISBN   9780253217790 via Google Books.
  3. Nash, Jay Robert; Ross, Stanley Ralph (September 27, 1986). The Motion Picture Guide. Cinebooks. ISBN   9780933997066 via Google Books.
  4. "Films in Review". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. September 27, 1973 via Google Books.
  5. Kellner, Bruce (September 27, 1984). The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era. Greenwood Press. ISBN   9780313232329 via Google Books.
  6. Earl J. Morris, "Grand Town Day and Night" Pittsburgh Courier (August 19, 1939): 20. via Newspapers.com
  7. Brown, Lee; Allen, Robert L. (September 27, 2001). Strong in the Struggle: My Life as a Black Labor Activist. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9780847691913 via Google Books.
  8. Hischak, Thomas S. (June 16, 2017). 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781442278059 via Google Books.
  9. "Another Picture by Million Dollars" Pittsburgh Courier (August 26, 1939): 20. via Newspapers.com
  10. "Principals Prepare for Million Dollar's 'One Dark Night'" Pittsburgh Courier (September 9, 1939): 20. via Newspapers.com
  11. Larry Richards, African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography (McFarland 2015): 125, 128-129. ISBN   9781476610528
  12. Harry M. Popkin presents Mantan Moreland in One "dark night.". s.n. September 27, 1939. OCLC   778631569 via Open WorldCat.