Moon over Harlem 1939 U.S. (68 minutes) directed by
Edgar G. Ulmer.
This is a ‘race picture,’ as
feature films with all black casts were known during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The story opens with the wedding
reception of Harlem mobster Dollar Bill (Bud Harris) and Minnie (Cora Green) at
Minnie’s apartment, with Dollar’s gang and Minnie’s churchgoing crowd, her grown
daughter Sue (Izinetta Wilcox) and Sue’s beau, the earnest Bob (Earl Gough).
The central dramatic conflict is
whether Minnie and her daughter can prevail over the depredations of the
skirt-chasing spendthrift mobster Dollar Bill.
A deeper theme engages two views of
the black future: Dollar Bill’s desire to take full control of Harlem from
white racketeers he answers to, opposed to Bob’s proto-civil rights era vision
of a Harlem free of gangsters preying on black businesses so that hard working
black business people can claim a place in an integrated mainstream.
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| Bob (Earl Gough), Minnie (Cora Green) and Dollar Bill (Bud Harris) in Edgar G. Ulmer's Moon over Harlem 1939. |
The sound and black and white
picture quality are uneven, but director Edgar G. Ulmer spins a watchable yarn.
Watch for Sidney Bechet, who plays
his clarinet among the guests at the opening wedding reception; Christopher
Columbus and his Swing Crew take the bandstand for the dance numbers.
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