A nightclub singer refuses to "date" customers, so she's framed for the murder of her aunt.
Acting
Edna Mae Harris radiates dignity under impossible pressure.
Direction
Micheaux stretches pennies into visual poetry.
Writing
Dialogue bites harder than its budget suggests.
Director
Oscar Micheaux
Edna Mae Harris
Elsie Bellwood
Carman Newsome
Benjamin Hadnot
Robert Earl Jones
Detective Wenzer
Frances E. Williams
Elizabeth Green
Cherokee Thornton
John Landry
Slim Thompson
Clyde Landry
Gladys Williams
Aunt Josephine
Juano Hernández
Rev. Bryson
Henry 'Gang' Gines
Ned Green
Don De Leo
Farina, a club owner
Charles La Torre
Garotti, a club owner
Robert Paquin
District Attorney Eckert
Amanda Randolph
Matron
Teddy Hall
Young Boy
George Reynolds
Lt. of Police (Donovan)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Micheaux made 'race films' outside Hollywood's white gaze, creating roles Black actors couldn't get elsewhere — this is defiance as cinema.
Robert Earl Jones is James Earl Jones's father; his silences here echo in his son's voice decades later.
US
