Oscar Micheaux • United States • 1925
A stirring drama with Paul Robeson in dual roles.
Paul Robeson appeared in this film by the enterprising Oscar Micheaux. No other film in the director’s career so vividly represented his cynical view of clergymen as greedy manipulators of the vulnerable. Robeson stars as twin brothers, one a Bible-thumping, alcohol-sipping, sexually-predatory minister and the other an ordinary working man, both vying for the affection of a young woman who is trying to abide by the misguided wishes of her devout mother.
Zora Neale Hurston • United States • 1940
Hurston observes religious practices of the Gullah people.
This footage, shot by Zora Neale Hurston in the Sea Island community of Beaufort, South Carolina, observes the religious practices of the Gullah people. The footage is accompanied here by field ...
Spencer Williams • United States • 1946
Sultry entertainment lands a woman in hot water.
In an unauthorized retelling of W. Somerset Maugham’s short story “Miss Thompson”, Francine Everette stars as Gertie La Rue, a nightclub entertainer who arrives at a Caribbean resort to entertain the touris...
Richard Maurice • United States • 1928
A surreal melodrama with one of cinema's strangest endings.
Produced in Detroit, Michigan by little-known African-American filmmaker Richard Maurice, ELEVEN P.M. is a surreal melodrama in which a poor violinist named Sundaisy (Maurice) tries to protect an ...
