Product Details

• Actors: Oscar Michaux, Tim Moore, Spencer Williams, Duke Williams, Ralph Cooper
• Format: AC-3, Box set, Black & White, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: St Clair Vision
• DVD Release Date: January 8, 2008
• Run Time: 747 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000VD5HMM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,311 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HISTORY, June 2, 2008

By	Lester L. Carter "DOC FEELGOOD" (PHILA , PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All these old films from the 30's and 40's, WOW. It's like I struck gold. And at such a modest price? Hours of viewing pleasure. Sometimes the acting is primitive. But, then again, I've watched so called 'Hollywood' films of that era and found them to be primitive. So what.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dozen 'race movies,' plus--, November 22, 2008

By	Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Race movies," a genre unique to the United States between 1915 and 1947, were quite popular with black Southern audiences and in Northern industrial cities that had large African American communities. After the successful legal desegregation of the film industry in 1948, this type of movie vanished, literally. Today, only a fifth of the original 500 race films still exist.

EARLY BLACK ENTERTAINMENT offers a cross-section of features directed by such pioneers as Spencer Williams, Bud Pollard and Oscar Micheaux. Set also includes a documentary, old radio program and galleries.


ST. CLAIR DVD multi-packs are reasonably priced, and offer fine quality video/audio transfers of unrestored public domain material. Discs are single-side recorded, plastic storage cases fairly sturdy, movie liner notes appear on box's back cover and most DVDs include bonus items.


Want more? MILL CREEK's budget-priced JAZZ 10 MOVIE PACK offers a half-dozen movies not on this set, plus two batches of vintage pay-per-view "soundies."


Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.

DISC ONE - BLACKS IN FILM
Race Movies: The Popular Art of the Black Renaissance
(5.9) Boy! What a Girl (1947) - Tim Moore/Elwood Smith/Duke Williams/Alan Jackson
(4.3) Moon Over Harlem (1939) - Buddy Harris/Cora Green/Izinetta Wilcox/Earl Gough
(4.3) God's Step Children (1938) - Jacqueline Lewis/Ethel Moses/Alice B. Russell/Trixie Smith/Charles Thompson
(5.4) The Blood of Jesus (1941) - Cathryn Caviness/Spencer Williams/Rogenia Goldthwaite/James B. Jones
BONUS: Poster Gallery

DISC TWO - BLACK WESTERNS
(5.5) The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) - Herb Jeffries/Lucius Brooks/Spencer Williams/Artie Young/The Four Tones
(5.7) Harlem Rides the Range (1939) - Herb Jeffries/Spencer Williams/Lucius Brooks/F.E. Miller/Clarence Brooks/The Four Tones
(5.3) Two Gun Man From Harlem (1938) - Herb Jeffries/Marguerite Whitten/Clarence Brooks/Mantan Moreland/Spencer Williams/Matthew 'Stymie' Beard
(4.6) Look Out Sister (1947) - Louis Jordan/Suzette Harbin/Monte Hawley
BONUS: Gallery - The Cowboy Life

DISC THREE - BLACK MUSICALS
(5.5) Hi-De-Ho (1947) - Cab Calloway/Ida James/Jeni Le Gon
(5.7) Swing! (1938) - Cora Green/Larry Seymour/Hazel Diaz/Alec Lovejoy
(5.1) The Duke Is Tops (1938) - Lena Horne/Ralph Cooper/Laurence Criney
(5.8) Beware (1946) - Louis Jordan/Frank L. Wilson/Emory Richardson
BONUS: The Trumpet Talks (vintage radio show)