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Within Our Gates (1920)
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Overview
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Director:
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Release Date:
12 January 1920 (USA)
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Plot:
Abandoned by her fiancé, an educated negro woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished negro youths. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win
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User Comments:
The earliest surviving film from a black director
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Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Evelyn Preer | ... | Sylvia Landry | |
| Flo Clements | ... | Alma Prichard | |
| James D. Ruffin | ... | Conrad Drebert | |
| Jack Chenault | ... | Larry Prichard | |
| William Smith | ... | Detective Philip Gentry | |
| Charles D. Lucas | ... | Dr. V. Vivian | |
| Bernice Ladd | ... | Mrs. Geraldine Stratton | |
| Mrs. Evelyn | ... | Mrs. Elena Warwick | |
| William Stark | ... | Jasper Landry | |
| Mattie Edwards | ... | Jasper's Wife | |
| Ralph Johnson | ... | Philip Gridlestone | |
| E.G. Tatum | ... | Efram, Gridlestone's Servant | |
| Grant Edwards | ... | Emil Landry | |
| Grant Gorman | ... | Armand Gridlestone | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Leigh Whipper | |||
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
79 min
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
This film was thought to be lost until it resurfaced in the early-1990s, in the Filmoteca Espanol in Madrid, Spain.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in "The American Experience: Midnight Ramble (#7.4)" (1994)
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (9 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Within Our Gates (1920)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| what do people think of the rape scene | nikki-sanni |
| Link to film | Glendinni9 |
| A great film, is it on DVD? | unsung1974 |
Recommendations
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"Within Our Gates" is of enormous historical interest as a remnant of a brief period in the early twenties/late teens when there were (due to segregation laws) films made and distributed specifically by and for African-Americans. In this way, it has most deservedly been chosen for placement in the National Film Registry.
By today's standards the film is as silly, half-baked, and paper-thin as something by a high school playwright. The performances are pretty atrocious, but for the most part they are at home with the style of acting that pervaded films of the silent era.
It dealt with provocative issues of the time, such as overt racism, lynching, and the sorry state of education for the black community. Eighty years later we may have done a bit of shoring up, but no one's foolish enough to say that we're doing any better today. One positive thing that can be said is that a film dealing with these subjects today is encouraged, whereas in 1920 "Within Our Gates" was crushed by disapproving educators, legislators, and spineless distributors.