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Hardworking Minnie (Cora Green) marries "Dollar" Bill (Bud Harris) a shady gambler after her money and her attractive daughter, Sue (Izanetta Wilcois). Sue meanwhile, is in love with Bob (Carl Hough), an idealist fond of looking out over the skyline and saying "Harlem... there's so much to be done here--it's fairly screaming for leadership." When Bob decides to organize the community against local racketeers he little realizes would-be father-in-law Dollar Bill is one of them. Bill meanwhile has problems of his own: A vicious white mob from lower Manhattan is muscling in on his action, and bullets are about to fly.
Edgar G. Ulmer directs this cast of African-Americans. I'm not sure of everything that happened, because the copy I watched had pretty bad sound. A gal lives with her mother and step-father. The step-father (named Dollar Bill) is a gangster running the protection racket in Harlem. But his wife doesn't know that. The daughter wants to marry the man who's trying to stop the protection racket.
Surprising to me was Dollar Bill has a white mistress. Not surprising was that he answers to white gangsters. Also surprising was a scene where one woman undresses and stands around in her underwear while another one is in the bath.
While there is humor here, you won't find any Stepin' Fetchit. All the people are treated as real and with dignity. Or at least as much dignity as the role deserves and the budget will allow.
Edgar Ulmer low budget curio from 1939 with an all-black cast. Features very respectful character portrayals and never sinks to ridiculous stereotypes so widespread in cinema at the time. Some of the acting is pretty rough but Izinetta Wilcox is good and the awesomely named gangster lead, Dollar Bill, is well played by Buddy Harris. The four-day shoot and micro-budget is likely responsible for the films choppy quality and other technical shortcomings but I found it historically interesting if nothing else.
Got into Moon Over Harlem tonight! Another Ulmer flick, and another strong solid film here. And for the time period, too!
And on a micro tiny budge, with a micro tiny schedule! 4 days to shoot this one. And the results, overall, work.
For a 1930s pic very much about gangsters in harlem and some unique love stories of sorts, I was a lot more into this than I had anticipated. The ending finale was felt, and pretty well done, again, all things considered. this was 16mm i believe, and the tubi version here is woah. I'd say, most overreact on the quality of it though. The sound is harsh and off, the pic and frame is a lil odd,…
Uplift vs. organized crime melodrama shabbily mounted by Ulmer. Mostly of interest as a platform for a sizable ensemble of black character actors we might not otherwise get to see, and for its image of Harlem itself.
Ugly sound-design and dodgy line-readings prevented me from finding my way into this one very deeply, but the juxtaposition of nightclub floorshow with a wake seemed pretty Ulmer, and that Constructivist restaurant also looks like a bit of you-know-who.
Dive into the filmography of Edgar G. Ulmer and you'll encounter eclectic items like this micro-budgeted urban melodrama performed by a cast of African American actors. A stagey, stodgy movie, complete with musical numbers, but it's some kind of cinematic artefact.
Shot at hyperspeed on a microbudget, this is mostly notable just for the all black main cast, showing of lingerie, and even showing a glimpse of an interracial couple in 1939. The rip on Tubi is CRUSTY and real lo-fi, but the subtitles made it easy to still know what was going on.
Nothing must see like Within Our Gates, but stil not so bleh or anything to warrant dismissing entirely if you have the hour and a bit to watch.
Ulmer made this in four days. It’s his only 16mm production. Oscar Micheaux produced it. Other than that, it’s mostly a relic, one of the “race films” from the first half of the 20th Century. The tale is largely focused on a gangster infiltrating and then breaking up a mother and her daughter, featuring some fun nightclub diversions, with the nightclub singer singing in such a high-pitch, one that is now completely out of style. The print I watched was awful — not a fault of the movie.
