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Alice B. Russell
Alice Burton Russell (June 30, 1889 – January 1, 1985) was an African-American actress, producer, and the wife of director Oscar Micheaux. She appeared in several films directed by her husband. Biography She was born in 1889 in Maxton, North Carolina. Her parents were M. J. Russell and Robert Russell, who was a prominent newspaper editor, publisher, and politician. Regester, Charlene. "Emerging from the Shadows: Alice Burton Russell-African American Film Producer, Actress, and Screenwriter." 2020.''Film History'' 32 (1): 127-155. Russell and Micheaux married on March 20, 1926, in Montclair, New Jersey. She began her acting career in silent film, starring in her husband's '' The Broken Violin'' (1928). She continued to act after talkies predominated. She was mentioned often as A. Burton Russell in credits. In the 1930s, she produced three films by her husband and worked as miscellaneous crew in two films. Living nearly 100 years, she died in New Rochelle, New York. She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Betrayal (1948 Film)
''The Betrayal'' is a 1948 race film written, produced, and directed by Oscar Micheaux. He adapted it from his 1943 novel ''The Wind From Nowhere''. Plot Martin Eden is a successful African-American farmer in South Dakota. He is in love with Deborah Stewart, but he believes that she is white and that she would not be interested in him. He is unaware that Deborah also loves him. Martin goes to Chicago to seek out a wife. After an unsuccessful date with a cabaret singer, he reconnects with an ex-girlfriend who introduces him to Linda. They fall in love and marry, and then return to Martin’s farm. The couple become parents, but their happiness is short-lived when Linda’s pathologically jealous father convinces her that Martin is homicidal. She flees the farm with their child and returns to Chicago. Martin tracks her down in the city, but Martin is shot by Linda during a fight. In South Dakota, Deborah discovers she is African-American. She travels to Chicago and meets L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Daughter Of The Congo
''A Daughter of the Congo'' is a 1930 race film directed, written and produced by Oscar Micheaux. The film is loosely based on the novel ''The American Cavalryman'' (1917), by African-American novelist and playwright Henry Francis Downing. It is considered a lost film. Plot Lupelta ( Kathleen Noisette) is a mixed-race Congolese girl who was stolen at birth and raised by a hostile tribe. She is designated to marry a tribal chief, but on her way to the wedding she is abducted by Arab slave traders. Before she is sold into slavery, she is rescued by an African-American military battalion under the command of Captain Paul Dale (Lorenzo Tucker). Dale brings Lupelta to a mission school, where she is successfully acquainted with Western-style civilization. However, she never completely loses touch with the tribal customs and influences that shaped her formative years. Cast * Kathleen Noisette as Lupelta *Lorenzo Tucker as Captain Paul Dale * Salem Tutt Whitney as Kojo * Willor Lee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1932 In Film
The following is an overview of 1932 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1932 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events The Film Daily Yearbook listed the following as the ten leading headline events of the year. * Sidney Kent leaves Paramount Pictures and joins Fox Film. * Merlin H Aylesworth succeeds Hiram S Brown as president of RKO. * Jesse L. Lasky leaves Paramount and becomes an independent producer for Fox. * Sam Katz leaves Paramount. * James R Grainger leaves Fox and is succeeded by John D Clark, formerly of Paramount. * Paramount Publix, Publix and Fox decentralization of cinemas. * New industry program, including standard exhibition contract along lines of 5-5-5, proposed by Motion Picture Theater Owners of America and Allied. * Joe Brandt retires from Columbia Pictures joins World-Wide and later resigns again. * Two Radio City Music Hall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1939 In Film
The year 1939 in film is widely considered the greatest year in film history. The ten Best Picture-nominated films that year include classics in multiple genres. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1939 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events Film historians often rate 1939 as "the greatest year in the history of Hollywood". Hollywood films produced in Southern California were at the height of their Golden Age (in spite of many cheaply made or undistinguished films also being produced, something to be expected with any year in commercial cinema), and during 1939 there are the premieres of an outstandingly large number of exceptional motion pictures, many of which become honored as all-time classic films. ** June 10 – MGM's first successful animated character, Barney Bear, made his debut in ''The Bear That Couldn't Sleep''. ** August 15 – ''The Wizard of Oz'' premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. ** October 17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1931 In Film
The following is an overview of 1931 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1931 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * January 5: RKO acquires the producing and distribution arm of Pathé for $4.6 million. * June 20: Monogram Pictures releases its first film, ''Ships of Hate''. * July 7: Anti-competitive practices disclosed about certain distributors and producers in Canada. * November 17: E. R. Tinker elected president of Fox Films replacing Harley L. Clarke. * December 14: RKO refinancing plan approved. Best money stars ''Variety'' reported the following as the biggest male stars in the U.S. in alphabetical order although grouped George Arliss and Ronald Colman together as having equal ranking. The following were the biggest women names in the U.S. in alphabetical order but again grouped two actresses together to denote they were ranked the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darktown Revue
''Darktown Revue'' (1931) is an 18-minute American Pre-Code short film by Oscar Micheaux, his first short venture into sound film. The dances and ensembles were co-directed by Leonard Harper and the picture was shot along with their feature-length all-black talkie, ''The Exile''. As in many early talkies, the camera-work is extremely static. The film included choral singing and several vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ... acts, including the comedy duo of Tim Moore and Andrew Tribble doing a routine about a haunted house. References External links * "The Exile" Film Captures, 1931 films 1931 musical comedy films African-American films American musical comedy films American black-and-white films Films directed by Oscar Micheaux 1931 short fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birthright (1939 Film)
''Birthright'' is a 1938 American drama film directed, co-produced and co-written by Oscar Micheaux. Carman Newsome stars as a black Harvard graduate facing racism and discrimination after he returns to his small hometown in Tennessee, where he hoped to develop a school similar to Tuskegee Institute or Hampton Institute, both historically black colleges.Larry Langman, David Ebner. ''Hollywood's Image of the South: A Century of Southern Films'' (2001), p. 95 . "Birthright (1939), Micheaux. Dir. Oscar Micheaux; Sc. Oscar Micheaux; Cast includes: Carman Newsome, Alec Lovejoy, Ethel Moses. Advertised as "A story of the Negro and the South," Oscar Micheaux's drama is based on the novel by T. S. Stribling." This is a talkie remake of Micheaux's 1924 silent film of the same name; both were adapted from white author T. S. Stribling's eponymous 1922 novel. Starring J. Homer Tutt, Micheaux's 1924 film was highly controversial for its graphic depiction of racism. The film is now considere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1938 In Film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1938 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *January – MGM announces that Judy Garland will be cast in the role of Dorothy Gale in the upcoming '' The Wizard of Oz'' film. Ray Bolger is cast as the Tin Woodman and Buddy Ebsen as the Scarecrow. At Bolger's insistence, the roles are switched between the two actors. On July 25, MGM announces Bert Lahr has been cast as the Cowardly Lion. *February 24 – The entertainment trade newspaper Variety confirms that the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had bought the rights to adapt L. Frank Baum’s beloved children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the screen *April 5 – Noel Langley completes the first script for ''The Wizard of Oz''. *April 20 – Leonard Slye appears in his first starring role as Roy Rogers in ''Under Western Stars''. He becomes one of the most popular Western stars being r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
God's Step Children
''God's Step Children'' is a 1938 American drama film directed by Oscar Micheaux and starring Jacqueline Lewis. The film is inspired by a combination of elements shared from two previously released Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood productions, ''Imitation of Life (1934 film), Imitation of Life'' and ''These Three''. Plot A young black woman arrives at the home of Mrs. Saunders, a widow who is black, and begs her to look after her light-skinned baby, whom she cannot afford to feed. At first she says this is temporary while she looks for work, but leaves declaring she will never be back. Mrs. Saunders pledges to raise the child as her own, along with her own son Jimmie. She names the child Naomi. Nine years later, schoolgirl Naomi is thought by the other black children to be aloof and they accuse the light-complexioned child of not wanting to be black. This looks true the day Naomi disappears on her way to school and Jimmie tells his mother that Naomi deliberately avoided the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1935 In Film
The following is an overview of 1935 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. The cinema releases of 1935 were highly representative of the early Golden Age period of Hollywood. This period was punctuated by performances from Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and the first teaming of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. A significant number of productions also originated in the UK film industry. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1935 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * February 22 – '' The Little Colonel'' premieres starring Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore and Bill Robinson, featuring famous stair dance with Hollywood's first interracial dance couple * February 23 – Gene Autry stars as himself as the Singing Cowboy in the serial ''The Phantom Empire''. He would later be voted the number one Western star from 1937 to 1942. * February 27 – Seven-y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder In Harlem
''Murder in Harlem'' (also released as ''Lem Hawkins Confession'' and ''Brand of Cain'') is a 1935 American race film written, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, who also appears in the film. He remade his 1921 silent film ''The Gunsaulus Mystery''. Basing the works on the 1913 trial of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan, Micheaux used the detective genre to introduce different voices and conflicting accounts by his characters. In July 2021, the film was shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Plot An African-American man is framed of the murder of a white woman, but a white man is found to be responsible. Author-turned-attorney Henry Glory is hired by the accused man's sister to defend him. Glory pieces the crime together, and the white killer is revealed. The film is loosely based on the real life case of Leo Frank. However, it changes the titular aspect of the real case, in that it was highly prejudicial due to Frank being a non-whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harlem After Midnight
''Harlem After Midnight'' (1934) is a black-and-white silent film directed by author and director Oscar Micheaux. A drama film, it featured an "all-colored cast". As in most of the films created by Micheaux there is an all-black casting for the drama film. It is a lost film. Because this film was a silent film the Bailey's Royal Theater accompanied it with music by Walter Barnes and his Royal Creolians. Many of the night club scenes were shot at the popular and most visited venues of this time where Micheaux hand-picked the leading cabaret singers in the film based on if they resembled the already set members of the cast. The settings of each scene were chosen by the producers to add in hilarity to the drama-filled and tense toned film. ''Harlem After Midnight'' is a film that focuses on gangsters, kidnapping and the drama that comes along with the streets of Harlem. Throughout the film there are hidden secrets that are directly related to the Negro gangsters and henchmen who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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