The Black King (film)

The Black King

Directed by	Bud Pollard
Written by	Morris M. Levinson & Donald Heywood^[1]
Starring	A.B. DeComathiere Knolly Mitchell Dan Michaels Mike Jackson Mary Jane Watkins Lorenzo Tucker Trixie Smith^[2]
Edited by	Dal Clawson
Distributed by	Southland Pictures
Release date	July 1932 (1932-07) ^[1]
Running time	72 minutes^[1]^[3]
Country	United States
Language	English

The Black King is a comedy-drama^[1] 1932 race film chronicling the rise and fall of a fictionalized charismatic leader of a back-to-Africa movement, modeled on the life of Marcus Garvey. The film was directed by Bud Pollard.^[4]

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Themes

The Black King chronicles the rise and fall of a fictionalized charismatic leader of a back-to-Africa movement, satirizing the life of Marcus Garvey.^[4]^[5] The film explores numerous critiques of Garvey's movement, including the lack of knowledge about Africa, the presumptuousness in making plans for future development and government in Africa without consultation of people already there, and conflicts between lighter skinned and darker skinned African Americans.^[5] While Garvey was a primarily a political leader with religious opinions, his counterpart in the film was primarily a preacher and religious leader.^[6]^[5] The film was intended to resonate with the audience's pre-existing disillusionment with Garvey.^[4]

History

The Black King was written as a stage play by Donald Heywood and plans were publicly announced to produce it on Broadway directed by Russian choreographer Léonide Massine. This never took place. Instead, Heywood's story was adapted by Morris M. Levinson and it was produced as a film by Southland Pictures under white director Bud Pollard in 1932.^[7] The film was re-released in the 1940s under the title, Harlem Big Shot.^[5]

Cast

A.B. DeComathiere as Charcoal Johnson
Vivianne Baber as Mary Lou Lawton
Knolly Mitchell as Sug
Dan Micahels as Brother Longtree
Mike Jackson as Brother Lawton
James Dunmore as Nappy
Harry Gray as Deacon Jones
Mary Jane Watkins as Mrs. Bottoms
Freeman Fairley as Mob Leader
Ishmay Andrews as Mrs. Ashfoot
Trixie Smith as Delta
Lorenzo Tucker as Carmichael

Reception

Daniel J. Leab, a 1975 commentator, rates it well as entertainment, saying it has "a more carefully plotted storyline than most other black genre films of its time".^[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 1988 that despite the film's small budget, the film has "considerable scope and energy ... largely due to a dynamic, brutally comic burlesque of ... [lead actor] A. B. Comathiere".^[4]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The Black King (1932) - IMDb". IMDb.
^ "The Black King (1932) - Bud Pollard, Donald Heywood | Cast and Crew | AllMovie".
^ "Collection: Films by Title: "B"". The Black Film Center/Archive. Indiana University Bloomington. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Thomas 1988.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Leab 1975.
^ Weisenfeld 2007, p. 138f.
^ Weisenfeld 2007, p. 138.

References

Leab, Daniel J. (1975). "A pale black imitation: All-colored films: 1930–1960". Journal of Popular Film. Informa UK. 4 (1): 56–76. doi:10.1080/00472719.1975.10661756. ISSN 0047-2719. ProQuest 740764983.
Thomas, Kevin (February 11, 1988). "'Black King' Caps 'Talkies' Series". Los Angeles Times.
Weisenfeld, Judith (2007). Hollywood be Thy Name: African American Religion in American Film, 1929–1949. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22774-3.

External links

This page was last edited on 25 October 2023, at 14:02

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