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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.
Lawrence Chenault was an American vaudeville performer and silent film actor. He appeared in approximately 24 films between years 1920 and 1934; most of his performances were in films directed by pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. His brother, Jack Chenault, was also a film actor.
Deceit is a 1923 American silent black-and-white film. It is a conventional melodrama directed by Oscar Micheaux. Like many of Micheaux's films, Deceit casts clerics in a negative light. Although the film was shot in 1921, it was not released until 1923. It is not known whether the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.
Norman Studios, also known as Norman Film Manufacturing Company is a former American film studio in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded by Richard Edward Norman, the studio produced silent films featuring African-American casts from 1919 to 1928. The only surviving studio from the period of early filmmaking in Jacksonville, its facilities are now the Norman Studios Silent Film Museum.
Underworld is a 1937 gangster film directed by Oscar Micheaux, about a recent graduate from an all-black college who moves from the American South to Chicago and gets swept into the criminal underworld. The film was adapted from the short story "Chicago After Midnight" by Edna Mae Baker. Among its stars are Ethel Moses, a Micheaux regular, and Oscar Polk, best known for his appearance in Gone with the Wind two years later.
Easy Street is a 1930 American film by Oscar Micheaux, an African American filmmaker. It features an African American cast. Known as the last silent achievement in his filmography, the film is considered lost. The plot reportedly revolved around a group of con artists trying to seize the savings of an old man.
The Broken Violin is an American silent film directed by Oscar Micheaux, released in 1928.
Elcors "Shingzie" Howard was an actress in the U.S. She appeared in several Oscar Michaux films. She also worked for the Colored Players Film Corporation.
Willor Lee Guilford was an African American actress. She had substantial parts in several films including at least three Oscar Micheaux films.
A. B. DeComathiere was an actor in the United States. He had a leading role in The Brute (1920). He also starred in the race film The Black King (1932), a satire of Marcus Garvey and his followers.
Ten Nights in a Barroom is an American film released in 1926. Directed by Roy Calnek and starring Charles Gilpin, 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.
Brown Gravy is a 1929 American comedy film with an African American cast. William Watson directed the Al Christie production. It was among the early "talkie" films released with African American casts. Octavus Roy Cohen wrote the story, part of a series he wrote for the Saturday Evening Post adapted to film in collaboration with Christie. The film's thin plot includes themes addressing religion, fraternal organizations, con men, and family life.
Oft in the Silly Night is an American short comedy film released in 1929. It was produced by Al Christie from a story by Octavus Roy Cohen, part of a series published in the Saturday Evening Post and adapted to film in Christie productions. Among the early "talkie" films featuring an African American cast, the film survives and is available online.
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 Frederick Douglass Film Company was an early American film production company in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was established in 1916, soon after the pioneering Lincoln Motion Picture Company, by prominent African-American business and professional men from New Jersey. The intent of the founders was to counter anti-African-American films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) and to improve race relations. It was named after the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Harlem Hotshots is an American short film from 1940 produced by Sack Amusements. The 20 minute film is a musical. One poster for the film includes a skyline of buildings and street sign for Lenox Avenue and 125th Street. The film was reissued in 1986 as part of Jazz Classics, No. 110; Harlem Harmonies Volume 1, 1940–1945.
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.
Thirty Years Later, is a 1928 American black and white silent drama film directed and produced by Oscar Micheaux for Micheaux Films. Thirty Years Later film was based on Henry Francis Downing' The Racial Tangle. The film stars William Edmonson and Mabel Kelly in the lead roles, whereas A.B. DeComathiere, Ardelle Dabney and Gertrude Snelson made supportive roles. The film revolves on the love affair between George Eldridge Van Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, and Hester Morgan, a black girl.
The Barber is a 1916 short comedy film by William D. Foster. The silent film was shot in black and white.
References
- ↑ Sampson, Henry T. (July 10, 1995). Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810826052 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Pitts, Michael R. (July 10, 2004). Famous Movie Detectives III. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810836907 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Musser, Charles; Gaines, Jane Marie; Bowser, Pearl (March 28, 2016). Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race Cinema of the Silent Era. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253021557 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Lupack, Barbara Tepa; Lupack, Royalty Account Barbara (July 10, 2002). Literary Adaptations in Black American Cinema: From Micheaux to Toni Morrison. University Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580461030 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 "The Midnight Ace". www.tcm.com.
- ↑ "Midnight Ace, The (1928)". The Pittsburgh Courier. March 24, 1928. p. 15 – via newspapers.com.