Murder in Harlem (1935)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Oscar Micheaux

Writers:

Oscar Micheaux (novel)
Oscar Micheaux (screenplay)

Genre:

Mystery | Drama

Plot:

A black night watchman at a chemical factory finds the body of a murdered white woman. After he reports it, he finds himself accused of the murder.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | African American | Remake | Based On True Story | Based On Novel

Cast

Clarence Brooks	...	Henry Glory
Dorothy Van Engle	...	Claudia Vance
Andrew Bishop	...	Anthony Brisbane
Alec Lovejoy	...	Lem Hawkins
Laura Bowman	...	Mrs. Epps
Bee Freeman	...	The Catbird
Lionel Monagas	...	Undetermined Role
Alice B. Russell	...	Mrs. Vance
Sandy Burns	...	Undetermined Role
Lea Morris	...	Undetermined Role
Joie Brown Jr.	...	Undetermined Role
Eunice Wilson	...	Singer
Henrietta Loveless	...	Undetermined Role
Lorenzo McClane	...	Arthur Vance
Helen Lawrence	...	Undetermined Role

Also Known As:

Brand of Cain (USA) (working title)
Lem Hawkins' Confession (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Micheaux Film

Trivia:

Based on the infamous Leo Frank case of 1913. Micheaux had previously examined this subject fourteen years earlier in The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921). It is interesting to note that, while this film sides with the Frank character, research suggests that Oscar Micheaux believed the real Leo Frank to have been guilty.

Movie Connections:

Version of They Won't Forget (1937)

Soundtrack:

Harlem Rhythm Dance

The Alpha Video edition is practically unwatchable

Do NOT assume from my score of 1 that this is a terrible movie. What I saw of it wasn't too bad for a Black-produced film of the 1930s. The problem, however, is that it was released by Alpha Video--possibly the worst producers of DVDs you can find!! Like so many of their other releases, this film is a horrible print and desperately needs to be restored--and Alpha, as usual, has done NOTHING to clean up the print and piece it back together properly. It was really frustrating when again and again, scenes would "chop"--with chunks missing and the scene abruptly changing. I know the original film couldn't have looked like that!! And yet, this happens throughout the film and makes viewing and enjoying it next to impossible. I sure hope that some other video company releases the film after some restoration work--it was interesting and I really wanted to finish it, but couldn't because the print was THAT bad.

By the way, HARLEM RIDES THE RANGE is also on the same DVD. While its print is very fuzzy, it is watchable and doesn't have chunks missing like in MURDER IN HARLEM. It's one of five Black Westerns starring Herb Jeffries in an attempt to create an African-American version of Gene Autry for Black-owned theaters. It's not an especially good film, but very important historically and worth a peek.

Also, some time back MURDER IN HARLEM was on DVD from Westlake Entertainment and I assume their copy must be better. Sadly, Westlake is no longer selling the DVD according to Amazon.