Oscar Micheaux Movies
Though independent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux was an important and prolific contributor to early black American cinema, his work has been largely ignored by film historians. Part of this is due to the fact that few of the forty films he made between 1919 and 1948 have survived, but it is also due to his controversial racial messages and the technical inferiority of his films that have made him hard to integrate into standard histories. Prior to becoming a filmmaker Micheaux worked as a shoeshine boy, a farm worker, and a Pullman porter. By 1913, Micheaux was running a 500 acre South Dakota homestead and had written, published and promoted The Conquest, a semi-autobiographical novel -- he would go on to write ten more. In 1918, the Lincoln Film Company, one of the first all-black studios, offered to film one of his novels, The Homesteader (1917). But negotiations broke down and Micheaux decided to make it himself. He then went to Chicago and took over the abandoned Selig Studio; the film was released one year later. Micheaux became quite successful. By the '30s, black independent cinema was in decline due to the rise of Hollywood all-black musicals and the Depression, but Micheaux was still able to survive. Much of the poor technical qualities of his films can be attributed to lack of funding which resulted in his use of non-pro actors. Most of his films were poorly lit; scenes were shot in one take and the resulting flubs were not edited out. In 1931, he released the sound film The Exile. The film generated controversy amongst black critics and audiences for it's ambivalent, bourgeois ideologies. His 1938 film God's Step Children was especially controversial. Micheaux endeavored to imitate popular Hollywood genres and create African-American versions of major stars, but his films were not terribly successful. He attempted a comeback in 1948 with The Betrayal but it failed miserably. Three years later he died while on a promotional tour. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1948
Legendary African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux was generally able to transcend the shabby production values of his films with sincerity and good intentions. The Betrayal is blessed with a workable premise: Black farmer Leroy Collins struggles with the onus placed on him by Society when he falls in love with a white woman. The dialogue scenes are uninvolving, but the exterior shots of Collins vainly trying to cultivate his failing land are well handled. Betrayal was produced in the waning days of the all-black film industry. It would turn out to be the final effort of Oscar Micheaux, who died in 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Vernon, William Byrd, (more)
- 1939
In this all-African American mystery from director Oscar Micheaux, a singer is framed for murder, prompting her boyfriend to turn sleuth to find the real killer. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1939
A remake of the 1924 film of the same name, Birthright tells the story of an idealistic young black Harvard graduate who is confronted by prejudice. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1938
A light-skinned African-American girl, Naomi (Jacqueline Lewis), denounces her own race in this controversial melodrama produced, written, and directed by prolific black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. As a baby, Naomi was left by her mother at the home of a widow, Mrs. Saunders, and much confusion arose as to whether the child was black or white. When Naomi reaches her primary school years, she demostrates an intense hatred of blacks and attempts to ingratiate herself into white circles, eliciting accusations of aloofness from other children. Eventually, schoolteacher (Ethel Moses) takes umbrage to the girl's statement that "God didn't make Negroes" ("we're all God's children," Mrs. Cushinberry insists), Naomi spreads a false rumor that the teacher is having an affair with a married professor. A riot ensues, and Naomi is shipped off to a convent by her distraught mother (Alice B. Russell, Micheaux's wife). Returning to the family farm years later, a grown-up Naomi (Gloria Press) falls for her step-brother Jimmie (Carmen Newsome) and when she can't have him, ties the knot with a dark-skinned farmer whom she doesn't love and brands as "ugly" - leading to a disastrous marriage and a tragic fate for Naomi. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this crime drama an African-American college graduate leaves his Southern home and goes to seek his fortune in Chicago. He stays at a hotel which later turns out to be a cathouse. One of the proprietors takes a shine to the lad and tries to con him into a life of crime. The boy refuses, so the crooked woman gets tough by framing him for her lover's murder. The wicked woman then goes out on a bender and ends up killed by a train. Now the boy has no alibi. A trial ensues, but fortunately, a last-minute witness appears and saves him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
A young black model, Ethel Moses), who has gotten herself in deep with a couple of gangsters (Alfred "Slick" Chester and Andrew Bishop, attempts to go straight in this crime drama written, produced, and directed by African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Lorenzo Tucker, known as "the black Valentino," comes to the girl's rescue. Filmed for around $15,000 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Temptation was scheduled to coincide with co-star Andrew Bishop's vacation from his municipal job in Cleveland, Ohio. Moses was a well-known dancer who performed with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra and at Harlem's Cotton Club. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1932
A rare presentation of the man known as the "Black Valentino" is the focus in this program. This film was once thought to be lost. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1932
Low-budget auteur Oscar Micheaux directs this early crime drama concerning a Harlem nightclub dancer and presumed gangster's moll who receives a most unsettling note. Informed that in ten minutes she will be escorted into the back alley and unceremoniously pumped full of lead, the young dancer quickly begins to ponder the sad prospect of her all-too-brief future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
An African-American Secret Service agent (Carl Mahan) saves a young girl from a fate worse than death in this typical low-budget "all-black" melodrama produced, written, and directed by Oscar Micheaux. Returning from Europe, Secret Service agent Alonso White (Mahan) is assigned to a case in Batesburg, Mississippi. At his lodgings, he meets and falls for the town's new schoolmistress, Norma Shepard (Starr Calloway), later rescuing the girl from being ravished by nasty Jeff Ballinger (John Everett). By coincidence, Ballinger proves to be the very man agent White was assigned to track down. After shipping Ballinger off to jail, Alonso and Norma depart for Harlem, New York, where Norma's former landlady, Mary Austin (Eunice Brooks), now lives. Having lost all her money gambling in the Radium Club, Mary is accused of murdering Gomez, the owner. As Alonso and Norma prove, the real killer was Liza, the estranged mistress of Ballinger and now Gomez's wife. This confusing melodrama was actually a reworking of Micheaux's silent The Spider's Web, both having been based on the director's unpublished Jeff Ballinger's Woman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1931
One of the more controversial black films of the early sound era, this Oscar Micheaux production was billed as the "first Negro talker." Stanley Morrell starred as Jean Baptiste, an honest black youth whose girlfriend, Edith (Eunice Brooks), turns down his proposal of marriage in favor of running a Chicago gambling establishment. Dejected, Jean builds a new life for himself as a farmer in South Dakota. He falls in love with Agnes (Nora Newsome), the daughter of his white neighbor, and she reciprocates his feelings. But fearing that the racial barrier would make marriage impossible, Jean returns to Chicago and once again proposes to Edith. She accepts this time but is killed by a jealous suitor (Charles Moore). Jean is at first accused of the killing but manages to clear his name. Agnes, meanwhile, has learned from her father that her mother was "of Ethiopian descent," leaving her free to marry Jean. With a reported budget of only $4,500, Micheaux filmed part of this melodrama at New York City's Charles Schwab mansion without having secured the necessary authorization. The Exile was banned in several places, ostensibly because it lacked a seal of approval from local censorship boards. The real reason, however, was more likely its depiction of a love affair between an African-American man and a black woman "passing" for white. Reportedly, Micheaux was so unhappy with Stanley Morrell's performance that he re-filmed scenes with Lorenzo Tucker as Jean. Surviving prints of The Exile, however, feature Morrell in the role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Released by the African-American Oscar Micheaux Corp., this highly controversial silent melodrama featured Katherine Noisette and the handsome Lorenzo Tucker, who was widely known by African-American movie patrons as "The Black Valentino." Noisette played Lupelta, a beautiful mulatto girl stolen by savages as an infant and brought up in the jungle. On her way to marry tribal chief Lodango (Clarence Redd), Lupelta is abducted by a gang of Arab slave traders. She is rescued by black American Captain Paul Dale (Tucker), who is sent to the jungle to operate a constabulary. Brought to a mission school, Lupelta readily succumbs to learning and a "civilized" way of life, although she never loses her inclination to revert to the wild life of the jungle. Produced, written and directed by black film-maker Oscar Micheaux, A Daughter of the Congo was highly criticized by African-American newspaper editors who decried the film's "persistent vaunting of intraracial color fetishism." Explained Theophilus Lewis of New York's Amsterdam News: "The scene is laid in a not so mythical republic in Africa. Half of the characters wear European clothes and are supposed to be civilized, while the other half wear their birthday suits and some feathers and are supposed to be savages. All the noble characters are high yellows; all the ignoble ones are black. It is based on a false assumption that has no connection with the realities of life." A Daughter of the Congo was Micheaux's final silent film. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
This "all-black" silent melodrama was produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, the most prolific supplier of screen entertainment for African-American movie theaters. Micheaux's leading lady, Evelyn Preer, starred as a young Chicago girl visiting her aunt in Mississippi. The girl is accosted by the nasty son of a white planter and barely escapes being raped. Happily, Elmer Harris (Lorenzo McLane) of the Justice Department is also present and can arrest Ballinger. Elmer reappears in Harlem, New York months later, once again rescuing a damsel-in-distress, this time the old aunt (Henrietta Lovelass), who has been falsely accused of murdering a crooked casino proprietor (Edward Thompson, Evelyn Preer's real-life husband). The Spider's Web proved popular enough for Micheaux to remake it in 1932, this time under the title The Girl From Chicago. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Written and directed by independent auteur Oscar Micheaux, the low-budget silent film Body and Soul is significant as the film debut of actor Paul Robeson. He leads the largely African-American cast as the Reverend Isaiah T. Jenkins, a minister who lies, cheats, and steals. He's really an escaped convict and con artist posing as a Reverend. Even though he takes his flask with him to church, his followers believe in him. An upstanding member of the congregation, Martha Jane (Julia Theresa Russell), encourages her daughter, Isabelle (Mercedes Gilbert), to accept him as a suitor. Meanwhile, Jenkins' poor but honest twin brother Sylvester (also Robeson) also courts Isabelle as well. Inevitably, the bad twin Jenkins steals Isabelle's life savings and she flees to Atlanta. The National Board of Review disapproved of a clergyman as an evil character and Micheaux was running out of money, so the conclusion is a tacked-on "it was all just a dream" ending. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Robeson, Mercedes Gilbert, (more)
- 1924
Produced, written and directed by pioneering African-American auteur Oscar Micheaux, this low-budget silent race melodrama starred J. Homer Tutt as an idealistic Negro college graduate who discovers bigotry and brutality from both races in a small southern town. Micheaux regulars Evelyn Preer and Lawrence Chenault co-starred in this unusually long presentation (running ten reels). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Produced, written, and directed by Oscar Micheaux, the most prolific African-American filmmaker of his generation, this silent murder melodrama was apparently based on a real event in Georgia in which a white man was convicted of murder due to the testimony of a black janitor. Myrtle Gunsaulus, a young black girl, is found murdered in the basement of a factory by Arthur Gilpin, the black janitor. Naturally, Gilpin is charged with the crime and arrested. Ida May (Evelyn Preer), Arthur's sister, hires her former boyfriend, Sidney Wyeth (Lawrence Chenault), to defend her brother. During the sensational trial, Wyeth is able to prove the janitor innocent and shift the suspicion on Anthony Brisbane, a white man who is a known sexual pervert. The Gunsaulus Mystery was based on the notorious Leo Frank murder case, in which Frank, a white factory foreman, threatened a black janitor into helping him dispose of his young, female victim. Micheaux remade the film in 1933 as The Brand of Cain, and the Frank story was turned into the television mini-series The Murder of Mary Phagan in 1988 by NBC, starring Jack Lemmon. The Gunsaulus Mystery was made at the Esstee Studios in New York City. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1920
This film is one of the earliest surviving examples of a film by an African American filmmaker. Sylvia Landry is engaged to a black soldier, but her rival Alma Pritchard arranges for him to catch Sylvia in an innocent but compromising situation. No longer engaged, she moves to the South to work as a teacher in an all-black school. When the school has financial problems, she returns to Boston to raise money for it. There, she is befriended by a white doctor, Dr. Vivian, who falls in love with her. In a flashback, her rival tells the doctor how Sylvia lost her family. Sylvia's father was unjustly accused of murder, and her parents were lynched. Micheaux was not a great artist, but his films are important because they dealt with issues that the mainstream "white" studios ignored. The only surviving print of Within Our Gates was found in an archive in Spain, and the titles had been rewritten in Spanish. When translated back to English, plot points may have been lost. On the other hand, the last third of the film is a haunting flashback to the death of Sylvia's parents. The scenes of the lynch-mob beating one man to death and hanging Mr. and Mrs. Landry are still powerful today, and the film is highly critical of blacks who betray their race to earn favor with the white dominant society. ~ Bruce Calvert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Preer, Charles D. Lucas, (more)
