Ralph Cooper Movies
Ralph Cooper was an actor and emcee who gained renown as the founder of the Apollo Theater's famous Amateur Night where such luminaries as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and others got their start. He started the show in 1934. Cooper also worked as an actor in Hollywood films during the '30s and as a producer of films especially geared toward African American audiences. In 1984, he was a special consultant to Francis Ford Coppola on The Cotton Club (1984). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1940
The all-black Gang War was originally designed for the "colored" movie houses which thrived in segregated communities throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The plot concerns the deadly rivalry between gangsters Killer Meade (Ralph Cooper) and Lou Baron (Lawrence Criner). The object of their war is the control of Harlem's jukeboxes, a plot device that allows for the logical interjection of a few musical numbers. Heroine Mazie (Gladys Snider) falls in love with one of the crooks, only to be left in the lurch when he's cut down by a hale of bullets. The film's overreliance upon newspaper montages as a narrative device suggests that several important plot points were forgotten in the haste of completing the picture within its near-nonexistent budget. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ralph Cooper, Gladys Snyder, (more)
- 1940
Idealistic black doctor James Dunbar (Ralph Cooper) wants to minister to his people in Harlem, and to this end sets up a free clinic. But a gang of racketeers threaten to shut Dr. Dunbar down unless he becomes an "underworld doctor", taking care of wounded crooks without notifying police. The doc resists at first, but finally succumbs because he needs the money to keep his clinic going. So here's the question: Is committing a crime OK if the result is for the greater good? The answer is quite surprising in this refreshingly non-formula film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ralph Cooper, Sybil Lewis, (more)
Also known as The Duke Is Tops, this is one of the best examples of the many all-black films made in the 1930s for what were then designated as "colored" theatres. Looking about 15 years old, Lena Horne plays the main attraction for the stage shows put on by a fellow named Duke (Ralph Cooper). When she gets a chance at a Broadway show, Lena swiftly severs all ties with Duke. But when Lena's big-time debut threatens to be a disaster, it is Duke who saves the day. The dialogue is for the birds, but The Duke Is Tops is aces when it comes to musical numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ralph Cooper, Lena Horne, (more)
- 1937
Dark Manhattan is an all-black melodrama, aimed at what were once known as "colored" movie houses. Ralph Cooper stars as anti-hero Curley Thorpe, the head of all protection rackets in Harlem. Curley begins to think about reforming when he falls in love with virginal nightclub chanteuse Cleo (Cleo Herndon). Alas, a rival gang begins encroaching upon Thorpe's territory, resulting in the climactic death of the poor fellow in a hail of bullets. Production-wise, Dark Manhattan is several notches above most of the cheapie all-black films of the era, with good direction and choreography compensating for the haphazard camerawork and uneven performances. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ralph Cooper, Clarence Brooks, (more)
- 1937
Directed with some style by B-Western specialist Harry L. Fraser, this "all-black" gangster melodrama was the first black-cast film to be exhibited by the powerful Loews theater chain. Ralph Cooper starred as "Mugsy" Moore, a black gangster torn between two women: his moll Kay Latour (Frances Turham, and childhood sweetheart Grace Foster (Theresa Harris, the latter now a famous radio star. Tracked down by Police Captain Holmes (Sam McDaniel, brother of Hattie and Etta) and his young second-in-command, Lieutenant Lester (Edward Thompson), Mugsy attempts to establish an alibi for a gang-land killing by using Grace. The police, however, manage to trap the killer by way of a fake radio broadcast. Bargain With Bullets was the first film to be released by Million Dollar Productions, a firm founded by Cooper and the (white) Popkin brothers, Leo and Harry, to produce motion pictures for African-American theaters. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1936
To finance such major productions as Ramona and Lloyds of London, 20th Century-Fox had to maintain a quota of such minor but entertaining potboilers as White Hunter. Warner Baxter plays the title character, Captain Clark Rutledge, a safari guide who can't stop brooding over the long-ago death of his father. When he is hired by Michael Varek (Wilfred Lawson), the man responsible for his father's demise, Rutledge at first seeks revenge. He is deflected from his murderous course when he falls in love with Varek's daughter Toni (June Lang). Though set in Africa, White Hunter was filmed in its entirety at Fox's Western Avenue backlot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, June Lang, (more)
- 1936
- NR
A remake of the 1917 Mary Pickford vehicle of the same name, Poor Little Rich Girl stars Shirley Temple in the title role. Neglected by her widowed soap-tycoon father (Michael Whalen), lonely Barbara Barry (Temple) spends most of her time in the company of her nursemaid Collins (Sara Haden). While on a shopping excursion in the City, Collins is killed in a traffic accident, and Barbara gets lost in the crowd. She finds shelter in the warm and loving tenement home of barber Tony (Henry Armetta), where she makes the acquaintance of vaudeville entertainers Jerry and Jimmy Dolan (Alice Faye and Jack Haley). Assuming that the girl is an orphan, the Dolans invite her to join their act when they discover that she possesses considerable singing and dancing talents. As fate would have it, Jerry, Jimmy and Barbara audition for a radio program which happens to be sponsored by Barbara's dad! For all its music, charm and vivacity, Poor Little Rich Girl has an unsettling inner lining of cruelty: Not only is the plot motivated by the death of Shirley's governess, but our poor heroine spends a good portion of the film avoiding a seedy would-be child molester (John Wray)! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, (more)
