Black Heritage Films
From the 1920s thru the mid-1950s many films were made with all African-American casts for distribution to black cinemas and all-black audiences. These inexpensive but heartfelt little gems spanned all genres -- musical, dramatic, western, comedy and even horror -- and give a fascinating peak today inside a culture and world that has been largely overlooked by history.
Most films are available on both high-end BetaSP or DV Cam masters and also in the more economical DVD-R format. Some DVDs come with musical shorts or cartoon extras, as noted, or as double features.
The Blood of Jesus
(1941) 57 min. Spencer Williams film about an atheist who accidentally shoots his Baptist wife, who must fight the Devil for her soul. With “Boogie-Woogie Dream” musical short.
Boarding House Blues
(1948) 86 min. Moms Mabley and Dusty Fletcher. Tenants of a Harlem boarding house put on a show to save their home.
Boy! What a Girl!
(1947) 70 min. Tim Moore, Elwood Smith, Duke Williams. A couple of theatrical producers try to get backing for their musical show.
The Bronze Buckaroo
(1939) 58 min. Herb Jeffries sings and shoots in a black cast western. With “Bubbling Over” musical short.
The Devil’s Daughter
(1939) 59 min. Nina Mae McKinney runs afoul of voodoo in Jamaica. Comes with Son of Ingagi (1940) 61 min., only fair quality. Spencer Williams in haunted house horror film.
Dirty Gertie from Harlem
(1946) 65 min. Francine Everett, Don Wilson. A sexy, enticing dancer from Harlem makes things happen in a sleepy Caribbean island resort. With Sepia Cinderella (1947) with Billy Daniels and Sheila Guyse.
The Duke Is Tops
("Bronze Venus”)
(1938) 63 min. Lena Horne plays a night club singer who gets a chance at Broadway.
Gang War
(1940) 63 min. Ralph Cooper in gangster film set in Harlem. With “Mr. Adam’s Bomb” short.
Go Down Death
(1940) 56 min. Myra D. Hemmings, Samuel H. James. A bar owner attempts to discredit the new preacher with whom he is feuding by framing him with a photograph showing him drinking with women with bad reputations. With Amos ‘N Andy “Lion Tamer” cartoon and Inki cartoon.
Hi De Ho
(1947) 64 min. Cab Calloway is a band leader pressured to work in a gangster bar. With a collection of musical Soundies.
Jivin’ in Be-Bop
(1946) 58 min. Dizzie Gillespie and his musical friends have a ball. With cartoons “Hittin’ the Trail for Hallelujah Land” and “Uncle Tom and Little Eva.”
Juke Joint
(1947) 58 min. Spencer Williams is a con man involved in small town beauty contest. With cartoons Amos ‘n Andy “Rassling Match” and “Jasper in a Jam.”
Moon Over Harlem
(1939) 68 min. A girl’s mother marries a philanderer, who then pursues the daughter. When caught, the mother throws her out into the world of Broadway shows.
Murder on Lenox Avenue
(1941) 65 min. Mamie Smith, Alec Lovejoy. Dramatic events in a Harlem apartment house. Pa Wilkins is chosen by the Better Business League to replace their ousted, crooked leader Marshall.
Murder with Music
(1941) 57 min. Night club singer Nelle Hill has many suitors -- an escaped convict, a piano player and a newspaper man. One is killed. With musical shorts “Murder in Swingtime,” “Black and Tan Fantasy,” “Symphony in Black,” and “Ain’t Misbehaving.”
Paradise in Harlem
(1939) 60 min. Crime drama centered on a club singer who aspires to be a great dramatic actor.
Reet, Petite and Gone
(1947) 67 min. Bandleader Louis Jordan stars in a dual role. With “Cab Calloway’s Jitterbug Party.”
Rock ‘N’ Roll Revue and Rhythm & Blues Revue
(1955) Two one-hour compilations of black performers on stage: Dinah Washington, Mantan Moreland, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Safah Vaughn, Lionel Hampton, Herb Jeffries, etc.
Showtime at the Apollo
(1954) 80 min. Musical variety show filmed in New York’s Apollo Theater with many stars: Nipsey Russell, Duke Ellington, the Clovers, Herb Jeffries, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, etc.
The Spirit of Youth
(1938) 66 min. Joe Louis stars in story about the rise of a boxer. Visual quality is only passable.
Showcasing Black Actors
The following films feature famous black actors in films with white actors.
Check and Double Check
(1930) 80 min. Radio’s Amos ‘N Andy (white actors Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in black face) in a feature comedy. With Duke Ellington.
The Emperor Jones
(1933) 72 min. Paul Robeson plays a porter who escapes from a chain gang to become king of a Caribbean island. Based on the play by Eugene O’Neil.
The Jackie Robinson Story
(1950) 76 min. Jackie Robinson stars in own biography as first black baseball player in majors.
Judge Priest
(1934) 80 min. Will Rogers comedy is a showcase for black comedian Stepin Fetchit.
The Joe Louis Story
(1953) 88 min. Coley Wallace in biography of the Heaveyweight champ.
Topper Returns
(1941) Rochester is featured in this mystery-comedy about Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) helping ghost Joan Blondell find her own killer.
Mantan Moreland Co-Starring Features:
Freckles Comes Home
(1942) Gale Storm, Johnny Downs, Mantan Moreland. Two pals encounter an obstinate hick town sheriff who accuses them of murder.
With Law of the Jungle (1942) Arline Judge, Mantan Moreland. Nazis hide among jungle natives in this classic Monogram thriller.
The Gang’s All Here
(1941) Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland comedy/crime B-picture. With
Irish Luck (1939) Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland. An amateur detective teams up with a frightened bell-hop to solve a series of hotel murders.
King of the Zombies
(1941) 67 min. Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland. Fiendish Mad doctor creates Zombies for the Axis.
Mantan Moreland turns this chiller into a hilariously funny film. DVD includes Revolt of the Zombies (1936).
Let’s Go Collegiate
(1941) Frankie Darro & Mantan Moreland in a college musical.
With Up In the Air (1940) Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland in mystery-comedy set in radio station.
Cavalcade of Black Musical Shorts
These shorts are all collected onto one disc:
Bessie Smith in "St. Louis Blues"
Lena Horne in "Boogie-Woogie Dream"
Ethel Waters in "Bubbling Over"
Duke Ellington in "Symphony in Black"
Cab Calloway’s "Jitterbug Party"
“Murder in Swingtime”
“Mr. Adam’s Bomb”
“Open the Door Richard”
Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehaving”
Louis Armstrong “Shine”
The Mills Brothers, Dorothy Dandridge: “Paper Doll”
African-American Cartoons
Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land
Olio for Jasper
Inki and the Minah Bird
Little Black Sambo
Amos 'n Andy in "Rasslin' Match"
Jasper in a Jam
Jungle Jitters
Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat
Philips Broadcast
Amos 'n Andy in "Lion Tamer"
Have You Got Any Castles?
Jasper's Derby
Camptown Races
Jasper in Haunted House
Uncle Tom & Little Eva
John Henry & Inki-Poo
A few later Black Films
The Black Brigade
(1970) All-black World War-II brigade with Stephen Boyd, Robert Hooks, Paul Stewart, Richard Pryor, Susan Oliver, Glynn E. Turman, Billy Dee Williams.
Black Fist
(1975) Aka "Bogarde." To make money, a Los Angeles street-fighter goes to work for gangsters. With Richard Lawson.
The Black Gestapo
(1975) General Ahmed has started an inner-city People's Army to try and relieve the misery of the citizens of Watts. With Rod Perry.
The Black Godfather
(1974) Rod Perry. A neighborhood hoodlum fights his way to the top of a drug-selling gang.
The Black Six
(1974) Action film with Carl Eller, Mercury Morris, Willie Lanier, Ben Davidson, Gene Washington, "Mean" Joe Green.
The Gatling Gun
(1973) Western with Guy Stockwell, Woody Strode.
Get Christie Love
(1974) Teresa Graves. A black & sassy undercover operative uses street smarts, revealing outfits and Kung-Fu to penetrate the thriving drug dealing culture in Los Angeles.
Jive Turkey
(1974) Color. In 1956 Ohio, the head of a lucrative numbers game is pursued by both the mob and the local police.
The Mark of the Hawk
(1957) Sidney Poitier. The man called Obam struggles with the increasingly hostile forces facing each other in a colonial African country.
The Quiet One
(1948) Celebrated documentary. A quiet, neglected Harlem boy's wall of silence masks a drift into juvenile delinquency.
The River Niger
(1976) An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie.
With Cicely Tyson, James Earl Jones and Louis Gossett Jr.
TNT Jackson
(1974) Color. A young karate expert searches for her brother's killer in Hong Kong. Starring Jeannie Bell.
To All My Friends on Shore
(1972) TV movie. Bill Cosby. An airport redcap works hard to get his family out of the ghetto, only to discover that his son has sickle-cell anemia.
Voodoo Black Exorcist
(1974) Color, Spain. The mummy of long dormant, but powerful Caribbean voodoo priest Gatanebo gets revived on a luxury South Seas ocean liner
as a big buff bald guy and proceeds to terrorize the passengers. Gatanebo beheads several folks, occasionally reverts back to his prune-faced mummified state,
and falls for the ravishing Sylvia, who reminds him of his old flame Kenya.
