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BLOOD OF JESUS/ LYING LIPS
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This Harlem double feature contains Blood of Jesus (Spencer Williams,      USA, 1941, 57 mins.), an absorbing work about the scandal that envelops a        small rural community when a weak husband accidentally shoots his religious      wife, unleashing his own tormented faith and quest for redemption. Lying    Lips (USA, 1939, 60 mins.), a late film from the gifted Oscar Micheaux,     examines racial and sexual repression in the story of a charismatic nightclub  singer (Edna Mae Harris) unjustly incarcerated for trumped-up murder charges.    Spencer Williams/Oscar Micheaux---USA---1941/1939---117 mins.
EARLY BLACK ENTERTAINMENT IN FILM
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A rare treat. This three-disc collection includes 13 classic all-black films     from the `30s and `40s, and features the work of Oscar Micheaux, Tim Moore,      Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Williams, and Spencer Williams.     Disc One is devoted to "Blacks in Film," Disc Two to "Black Westerns," and     Disc Three to "Black Musicals." USA, 747 mins.
EMPEROR JONES
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Dudley Murphy's adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play about the personal           transformation of Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson), an anonymous man catapulted       from a socially insignificant train porter and escaped prisoner to the emperor   of a Caribbean island. Features two Robeson songs, "Let Me Fly" and "Water     Boy." With Dudley Digges, Frank Wilson and Fredi Washington.                   Dudley Murphy---USA---1933---72 mins.
FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON
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This collection of early black films celebrates the groundbreaking work of       Spencer Williams, Oscar Micheaux, Judy Jones, Herbert Jeffrey, Geraldine         Brock, Alonzo White, Robert Earl Jones, and Myra Hemmings, to name a few.        History & Heritage includes: Juke Joint (Spencer Williams, 1947,   67 mins.), The Bronze Buckaroo (Richard C. Kahn, 1938, 57 mins.), Go  Down, Death! (Williams, 1942, 51 mins.), The Blood of Jesus           (Williams, 1941, 57 mins.), The Girl in Room 20 (Williams, 1946, 66        mins.), Song of Ingagi (Kahn, 1940, 62 mins.), The Girl from          Chicago (Oscar Micheaux, 1932, 70 mins.), and Lying Lips (Micheaux,   Spencer Williams/Richard C. Kahn/Oscar Micheaux---USA---1932-1947---502 mins.
JUKE JOINT
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In Juke Joint, Bad News Johnson and July Jones arrive in the West and      meet Mama Lou Holiday, who takes them in after they convince her they are        actors. The all-black cast also includes Spencer Williams, Inez Newman, Melody   Duncan, and Katherine Moore.                                                   Spencer Williams---USA---1947---60 mins.
LULLABY OF HARLEM
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Some true musical legends are seen at the top of their form in this collection   of performances filmed live at the Cotton Club, the Apollo Theater and the       Savoy Ballroom during the Golden Age of Harlem. Billy Eckstine, Nat "King"       Cole, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Dizzy      Gillespie, The Mills Brothers, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Louis Jordan and the Tympani Five, and the Delta Rhythm Boys are featured. 60 mins.
MARK OF THE HAWK
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Sidney Poitier stars as a man put on trial for murder in colonial Africa. In     the beginning he sides with the liberation movement but in the end makes a       speech that is positive about colonialism as a whole. The cast includes Eartha   Kitt who performs "This Man Is Mine". Also featured is Juano Hernandez         (Intruder in the Dust).                                                  Michael Audley---Great Britain---1958---83 mins.
MOON OVER HARLEM
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Edgar G. Ulmer presents Moon Over Harlem (1939, 68 mins.), an unusual      musical melodrama about a Harlem widow who falls for a charismatic gangster.     The all-black cast is augmented by 20 chorus girls, a choir and a 60-piece       orchestra conducted by Donald Heywood. With the superb jazz clarinetist Sidney Bechet, his wife, Marieluise, Bud Harris, Cora Green and Izinetta Wilcois.     This is followed by Swing (1938, 80 mins.), directed by Oscar Micheaux.  Much of this all-black cast musical is built around the music, performed from    Alabama to Harlem, with the Tyler Twins doing the dance numbers. Featuring     Cora Green, Hazel Diaz, Carmen Newsome, and Alec Lovejoy.                      Edgar G. Ulmer/Oscar Micheaux---USA---1939/1938---148 mins.
MOVIES OF COLOR: BLACK SOUTHER
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While black filmmakers were being largely ignored by the major Hollywood         studios, there was a small but flourishing independent African-American          cinema, particularly in the South from 1915 to 1945. Movies of Color       features rare clips from some of these forgotten films, interspersed with      commentary from film historians, showing the work of such important figures as Oscar Micheaux, Spencer Williams, and others who worked within tight budgets   and under the most difficult circumstances to create a cinema of their own.      Tom Thurman---USA---2001---56 mins.
PARADISE IN HARLEM/ BURLESQUE
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Frank Wilson, Mamie Smith, Juanita (Bloody Mary) Hall and Edna Mae Harris star   in this all-black musical.                                                       Joseph Seiden---USA---1939---83 mins.
PAUL ROBESON: PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST
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Paul Robeson, the unforgettable baritone and outspoken social activist, starred in some of the most important works of early black cinema.
SON OF INGAGI
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An all-black cast in one of the rarest of horror films; Zack Williams plays a    detective in this "African" style melodrama about hidden gold, murder and        theft, with a happy ending. With Laura Bowman, Spencer Williams.                 Richard C. Kahn---USA---1940---70 mins.
SONG OF FREEDOM/ BIG FELLA
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Two vintage musicals starring the legendary actor, singer and activist Paul      Robeson are included on this disc: Song of Freedom (1936, 80 mins.)        stars Robeson as a British-born singing sensation who travels to Africa to       trace his roots. Once there, he finds his people have been victimized by       spiritual corruption. Robeson sings "Sleepy River," "Lonely Road," "The King's Song" and "The Black Emperor." Big Fella (1937, 73 mins.), loosely based on a novel by Claude McKay, stars Robeson as a dockworker who helps to find a    young boy missing from an ocean liner. Songs include "Lazin'," "Roll Up,       Sailor Man," "You Didn't Ought To Do Such Things" and more.                    J. Elder Wills---Great Britain---1936-37---153 mins.
WAY DOWN SOUTH
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Bobby Breen portrays a young white man who inherits his father's plantation.     He battles with a vicious overseer who is appointed caretaker of the land.       Clarence Muse stars as "Uncle Caton" in this melodrama which also features       musical numbers. The script was co-written by Clarence Muse and Langston       Bernard Vorhaus---USA---1939---62 mins.