Race films were movies made from 1915 through the early 1950’s for an African American audience and starring, for the most part, all African American casts. Most theaters, with some exceptions in northern cities, were for “colored only”, “whites only” or would offer special “race” showings, either as matinees or late night screenings reserved for a black audience. Many films were produced during this time but fewer than one hundred survive today. These films covered all genres- melodrama, comedy, westerns, and musicals, you name it. They were produced by both African American run companies and white owned companies.
1947’s Sepia Cinderella is an example of a “race” film. It’s a romantic comedy full of music. It takes place, mainly, in a nightclub which gives it an excuse to feature live music, which, in my opinion, is the highlight of the movie. The music ranges from crooning ballads to big band, to early bebop jazz. The film tells the story of a young singer/songwriter, Bob (Billy Daniels), who, with the encouragement of his girl, Barbara (Sheila Guyse), writes a song so popular that he replaces a club’s standing singer. He also becomes the lover of the club owner, who he is unaware is engaged to another man. Once the relationship is exposed he breaks off the relationship in hopes of winning Barbara back and, of course, in the end, like Cinderella, they live happily ever after.
This film, along with many “race” films is not trying to do anything super interesting technically. It’s made up of mostly locked down camera shots with the occasional cut to a close up or two shot. The performances very wildly. Some of the acting is terrific while some is downright embarrassing. Some challenges may be related to the lame dialogue. The best stuff had a bit of an improvised feel, which I have a hunch was. Again the music is where the movie succeeds the most. There is one case that kind of baffled me though. During a couple of performances by a small combo the drummer is playing with brushes but when his solos come along what he’s doing and the sound of the performance are obviously not the same. Did this guy not really play drums? Did they lose the drummer at the last minute? It’s odd. Another odd thing that happens occurs toward the end of the film when former English child star Freddie Bartholomew shows up in the club and does a few “bits”. He was probably put there to bring attention to the fact that he was back from having served in WWII and is “ready to work”, but why in this movie? It seems to me that most of the audience members for this movie were not the same audience who would have sought out Bartholomew’s pictures like David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, and Little Lord Fauntleroy. It’s a head-scratcher. My best guess is Sepia Cinderella was produced by a white owned studio, Harold Pictures, and they were probably paid a nice amount of money to put Bartholomew in there. While the principle players were fine, my favorite character was the press agent for the Cinderella Club, played by Fred Gordon. The fact that he said that he was a press agent at least a dozen times during the course of the movie cracked me up and his energy brought some excitement to any scene he was in. Judging this movie on it’s own merits, I’d say it’s ok. Without the music it would have been a tough watch, but between the musical numbers and it’s short 69 minute running time, it’s worth a look.
Paradise in Harlem is another “Race” film, this one produced in 1939 by Jubilee Pictures. Sometimes titled “Othello in Paradise” it tells the story of a “Chitlin Circuit” Vaudeville comedian, Lem Anderson (who, even though he’s African American, performs in Blackface), who dreams of performing in a dramatic production, specifically Shakespeare. One evening he witnesses a mob assassination and is told to get out of town immediately or be killed himself. We also follow the happenings in the nightclub he’d been performing in, which brings opportunities for production numbers. Lem tries performing in the southern Chitlin Circuit, but winds up returning to Harlem when he hears of a church that is talking about mounting a production of Othello. He does return and begins rehearsing the play. During the production we see the mob characters “rub each other out” setting Lem free of his fears.
As I mentioned earlier, the race movies covered many genres and Paradise in Harlem tries to be several at the same time. It’s a melodrama with Lem and his troubles with the mob, but it’s also full of musical numbers- from big band to blues. There are also actual vaudeville comedians in the cast who perform some of their bits, and bring levity to any scene they appear in. I don’t think the film blends the genres into a structured story that well, but there are examples of each that do work. The performances range from way over the top to fairly nuanced. That one being Frank H. Wilson’s, who plays Lem. The musical numbers are pretty entertaining, but it’s the performances by Mamie Smith, who had been a pretty big star in the vaudeville circuit, retired, and came back to perform in a couple of films, like this one. She has that growly, blues-y, sound that would set the stage for the blues singers to come. Probably the last 15 minutes of the movie are the performance of Othello, which does get a little weird when they break out into a gospel-like number in the middle of it. The whole thing gets conveniently wrapped up in a very unrealistic way.
While Paradise in Harlem does feature an all Black cast, Jubilee pictures was another white owned studio that made movies for black audiences. Director, Joseph Seiden, was a Jewish immigrant who had made several Yiddish films before this movie. He does some interesting things with camera placement and editing that keeps the movie more interesting visually than it could have been. The budget was small but they did gather a pretty talented group of people together for this film. Even though it was uneven and, sometimes, a little strange, it’s an interesting historical document with a few fun musical numbers and comedy routines in there too.
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