Richard Maurice is a street fiddler. When an acquaintance robs him and dies, he asks Maurice to raise his son, get him some education., so he doesn't turn out like his father. Maurice tries to comply. He gives two thousand dollars to the preacher who marries him to Orine Johnson to take the boy with him to Chicago and enroll him in his school. He doesn't know the preacher is a con man, who takes the boy and gives him to "the gang." That will be his education, and twelve years later, he returns as H Marion Williams. He takes Maurice's money, lures his wife to Chicago and kidnaps their daughter.
Unlike some of the better known race films of the era, this is a well produced, acted, shot and edited feature, with a subtext of mysticism and the sense that there are some Black folks trying to build families and communities, and the major threat is not the White man, but the wild beasts within their own midst: the thieves an takers, who destroy all efforts.
Maurice, who wrote, directed and produced this movie believed this. He ran his own movie production company in Detroit; two features are all that is known to have survived. Later, Maurice got involved in union work. He helped organize the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union/ He died in 1955, aged 61.
Unlike some of the better known race films of the era, this is a well produced, acted, shot and edited feature, with a subtext of mysticism and the sense that there are some Black folks trying to build families and communities, and the major threat is not the White man, but the wild beasts within their own midst: the thieves an takers, who destroy all efforts.
Maurice, who wrote, directed and produced this movie believed this. He ran his own movie production company in Detroit; two features are all that is known to have survived. Later, Maurice got involved in union work. He helped organize the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union/ He died in 1955, aged 61.
