A Reckless Rover
Pioneers of African-American Cinema • 14m
C.N. David • United States • 1918
A slapstick comedy in the tradition of Keystone Cops.
Chased from his apartment by a policeman, ne’er-do-well Rastus Jones finds refuge in a Chinese laundry, where he wreaks slapstick havoc and has a memorable encounter with an improperly-filled opium pipe. Drug humor was not taboo, as Douglas Fairbanks had shown in 1916’s The Mystery of the Leaping Fish. A RECKLESS ROVER pays homage to the slapstick tradition by introducing its own rendition of the Keystone Cops in its grand finale. While the comedy series would suffer attacks by the Chicago Defender for perpetuating negative racial stereotypes (one factor in their decision to eventually cease production), the buffoonery in the Ebony Comedies was little different from the clowning one finds in the work of their fair-complected contemporaries.
Up Next in Pioneers of African-American Cinema
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Birthright
Oscar Micheaux • United States • 1938
A homesteading drama, musical-style.
An idealistic young man attempts to establish a school in a rural location, but encounters opposition from both the black and white communities. Oscar Micheaux himself was a former homesteader, and strongly believed that...
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Body and Soul
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. Ro...
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Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort S...
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 ...
