African-American Studies Collections

Filmography: B

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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BASEBALL.
1994. A film in 9 segments. [see details below].
Baseball, a historical documentary. Directed by Ken Burns.

Notes: Produced by Burns and Lynn Novick. Written by Geoffrey C. Ward and Burns. Narrated by John Chancellor. Supervising editor, Paul Barnes. Produced with the cooperation of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, N.Y.

The First Inning: Our Game. 115 minutes. The 1840s--1900. Alexander Cartwright helps lay down the rules we still play by today, but his New York Knickerbockers lose history's first official "base ball" game, 23 to 1, on June 19, 1846. Organized by harry Wright in 1869, baseball's first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, goes undefeated through its first season, traveling the new transcontinental railroad to play teams from coast to coast. Team owners from eight cities from the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1876, and three years later devise the reserve clause that would let them treat players like property for nearly a century. Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first African-American major leaguer, finds his career cut short in 1887 when bigoted white players, led by Chicago Star Cap Anson, pressure club owners to make racial segregation an unwritten rule of the game. Pitching ace turned sporting goods magnate Albert G. Spalding, carousing catcher "King" Kelly, players' rights pioneer John Montgomery Ward and Cy Young -- the game's all-time winningest pitcher -- head a roster of legendary players in professional baseball's first quarter-century. Plus: women get into the game, the invention of the curve ball, gambling scandals, skyrocketing salaries and baseball on the Nile.

Something Like a War. 120 minutes. 1900 - 1910. Former sportswriter Ban Johnson bucks the baseball establishment by founding the American League in 1900, and gains control of both major leagues only three years later. Pugnacious manager John McGraw brings his no-holds-barred brand of baseball to the New York Giants. Female phenom Alta Weiss captains her own all-male all-star team, then abandons the game for a medical career. Great pitchers dominate the decade, led by "souse-paw" strike-out specialist "Rube" Waddell, accidental curve ball expert "Three Finger" Brown, all-time shutout champion Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson, whose virtuosity on the mound and virtuous life makes him a prince among players. Driven, dangerous Ty Cobb emerges to play the game with vicious intensity, but proves no match for the awkward-seeming veteran, Honus Wagner, when they compete for the championship at the decade's end. Plus: the first modern World Series, the invention of ballpark hot dogs and the Doubleday myth, Merkle's Boner, "Casey at the Bat" and "Take Me Out To the Ballgame."

The Faith of Fifty Million People. 120 minutes. 1910 - 1920. Manager Connie Mack's coat-and-tie style in the dugout creates a new baseball dynasty in Philadelphia. Ty Cobb is suspended when he climbs into the stands to kick a handicapped heckler, but his teammates refuse to play without him and stage the first players' strike to bring him back. The upstart Federal League lures away Star players with offers of higher pay, but collapses before the courts can rule on its lawsuit charging that the major leagues have become a monopoly. Exploited by team owner Charles Comiskey, eight members of the Chicago White Sox, including batting champ "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, plunge the game and the nation into the "Black Sox" scandal. Given absolute power by owners desperate to restore public trust in the game, baseball's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, begins by cleaning up the "Black Sox" scandal. Plus: the first Presidential opening day pitch, how "The Star Spangled Banner" came to the ballpark and Boston's last World Series victory -- with a young pitcher named Ruth.

A National Heirloom. 120 minutes. 1920 - 1930. Blasting the game's new "live" ball into the bleachers, Babe Ruth breaks box office records in his first season with the Yankees, drawing more than a million fans. One-time pitching great Rube Foster founds the Negro National League, as African-American artists create a Harlem Renaissance and set a new pace for modern society with jazz. Baseball visionary Branch Rickey establishes the first farm system to grow Stars for his St. Louis Cardinals--and harvest five pennant winners in just nine years. Aging aces Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander provide a last flash of glory with seventh game World Series heroics. The Sultan of Swat smacks an incredible 60 home runs in one season, while "Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig and the rest of the Yankees' "Murderers Row" bury opposing pitchers. Plus: baseball's first fatality, the uncharted House of David barnstormers, radio puts the action on the airwaves ad the major leagues win an exemption from antitrust laws.

Shadow Ball. 120 minutes. 1930-1940. Gentleman manager Connie Mack creates another powerhouse team in Philadelphia, led by Jimmie Foxx, whom opposing pitchers call "The Beast." Itinerant ace Satchel Paige mixes unhittable pitching with an inimitable style to become a Negro League legend, while his one-time Pittsburgh Crawfords teammate, Josh Gibson, smashes home runs at an all-time record pace. With Stars named Dizzy, Daffy, and Ducky, the St. Louis Cardinals "Gashouse Gang" raise a ruckus at the 1934 World Series. Taking a break from high school to pitch in the majors, farm boy phenom Bob Feller sets a new strikeout record in his rookie year. Power hitter Hank Greenberg battles anti-Semitism to become the first Jewish baseball Star, aiming every home run at Hitler. Plus: the Bambino's called shot, the first Major League and Negro League All-Star games, baseball broadcaster Red Barber and the Brooklyn Bums, Lou Gehrig's tragic retirement and the opening of baseball's Hall of Fame.

The National Pastime. 120 minutes. 1940-1950. Joe Dimaggio's unmatched hitting streak and Ted William's quest to break .400 electrify the nation in the summer before America goes to war. As women "man" the Homefront, working in factories to help win the war, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League shows Midwesterners a new way to play the game. At war's end, Brooklyn's Branch Rickey defies the baseball establishment with a plan to put a black payer on the Dodgers -- and bring black fans to Ebbets Field. Taking an oath that he would not strike back against bigotry, former UCLA football Star and Negro League standout Jackie Robinson joins the all-white Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, battling racism with spectacular baseball talents that make him the first Rookie of the Year. Dodgers Cookie Lavagetto and Al Gionfirddo team with Yankees Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto to make the 1947 World Series an Italian-American baseball showcase. Plus: All-stars on the battlefield, the Williams Shift, Satchel's long-delayed "rookie" season and Babe Ruth says goodbye.

The Capital of Baseball. 120 minutes. 1950-1960. Manager Casey Stengel rebuilds the Yankee dynasty with switch hitting slugger Mickey Mantle and the imperturbable talents of Yogi Berra. Bobby Thomson's "shot heard round the world" sets off fireworks at he Polo grounds, as television carries the action coast to coast. The Negro Leagues fade into history as African-American Stars like Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, Roy Campenella, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson and Henry Aaron follow Jackie Robinson into the majors. After four decades of frustration, the Brooklyn Dodgers finally bring a world championship to Ebbets Field. Falling attendance forces many east coast teams to head west, causing the first shift in baseball's landscape in fifty years. Plus: "Who's On First?," a midget in the line-up, Don Larsen's perfect game, Mario Cuomo signs with the Pirates and Willie makes "The Catch."

A Whole New Ball Game. 120 minutes. 1960-1970. Babe Ruth's "unbreakable" single-season home run record comes under siege as Yankee Roger Maris slams his way through the '671 season. The incompetent Amazin' Mets claim the worst record of the century in their first year, but miraculously end the decade as champions. Pitcher Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson handcuff hitters with their blazing fast balls, while slugger Carl Yastrzemski sees his dream season end in another Boston World Series defeat. Seasoned labor leader Marvin Miller brings new clout to the players' union, forcing club owners into negotiations for the first time in baseball history. Fast-paced expansion and franchise-hopping bring new ball teams to Anaheim, Minneapolis, New York, Houston, Atlanta, Oakland, San Diego, Seattle, Kansas City, Washington and north of the border to Montreal. Plus: Jackie Robinson joins the civil rights movement, George Carlin explains baseball's anti-war symbolism and Curt Flood takes the game to court.

Home. 120 minutes. 1970 to the present. Puerto Rican born Pirates slugger Roberto Clemente leads off an era of Latino all-stars, including Cincinnati's Tony Perez, Boston's Luis Tiant, the Mets' Keith Hernandez, the Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela and manager of the two-time world champion Toronto Blue Jays, Cito Gaston. Under a barrage of racist taunts and threats, Henry Aaron, last active veteran of the Negro Leagues, smashes Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record, eventually setting the new mark of 755. Curt Flood loses his Supreme Court case against the reserve clause, but the players' union wins free agency in arbitration, prompting some local heroes to abandon their fans in pursuit of multimillion-dollar salaries. A Carlton Fisk home run caps the greatest game ever played in the World Series and stirs a resurgence of interest in baseball, as 75 million tuned in to see Boston reach for a world championship yet again. After 22 years of hustling, Peter Rose tops Ty Cobb's lifetime record for hits--and four years late is banned for betting on the game. Plus designated hitters, baseball's first black manager, the owners' collusion, Buckley's Bungle and extra innings, as the lessons of the game pass on to a new generation of players and fans.


BECOMING A WOMAN IN OKRIKA.
1990. 27 minutes.
Women of Nigeria. River State, Nigeria. Rite of Iria. Rites.

"This visually stunning film documents an extraordinary coming of age ritual in a village in the Niger Delta. It suggests the conflict Third World women face between transitions and the values of the modern world. The rite, called Iria, consists of elaborately painting the young women's bodies with beautiful designs; subjecting their bodies to public scrutiny by the elder women; methodically fattening them; and teaching them the responsibilities of womanhood. After an elaborate celebration, they run a race pursued by young men and their leader, representing a mythological personage who is armed with sticks. By passing through this rite, the women let go of girlish fantasies and prepare for childbearing.quot; Notes: Produced by Judith Gleason, Elisa Mereghetti and Kamel Films. Cinematography by Elisa Mereghetti Tesser. Ethnography and text by Judith Gleason. With the collaboration of Wariboko Bouari, Andrea Hanson, Chief Allison Ibuluya. Edited by Sandra Degiuli.


BEHIND THE MASK.
1976. 52 minutes. (V1312).
Documentary. Tribal Custom. African Artifacts. Ceremonial Rituals. Dogons, Masks.

A segment of the BBC production The Tribal Eye that examines the carved ceremonial masks of the Dogon tribe of Nigeria.
Notes: Written and narrated by Richard Attenborough.


BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.
1981. 60 minutes.
Coalmining, coalminers, West Virginia. Black Coalminers.

A film about a day in the West Virginia coal mines. The filmmakers interviews workers as they begin a work shift. Archival footage of workers in the 1930's and 1940's. Black and white miners discuss how hard the life and work are. Notes: Produced, photographed and directed by Kenneth Fink. Edited by Paul Barnes.


BIKO: BREAKING THE SILENCE.
1987. 52 minutes. (V1846).
Documentary. South Africa. Apartheid. Directed by Edwina Spicer.

A documentary about the South African leader Steven Biko. The film uses footage from Richard Attenborough's film Cry Freedom and newsreel, television, and other archival materials to present the political and the intellectual development of the young martyr. Notes: Produced by O. Moruma, E. Spicer, R. Wickstead, and M. Kaplan. Narrated by Mike Munyati. Edited by Shelley Wells.


BILL COSBY ON PREJUDICE.
1971. 24 minutes.
Visual Essay, Commentary. Bigotry.

This short feature is a satirical essay on the nature of bigotry. Bill Cosby appears as a man who expresses every possible type of ethnic and racial prejudice. An effort at using humor and irony to debunk the nature of racial and social hatred. Notes: Written and produced by Bill Cosby. Directed by Bill Cosby and Tom Mossman. Video by Jim May Weather. Music by Bill Ruff. Cameras by Walter Eby and Jack Reader.


BILL T. JONES.
1994. 60 minutes.
Documentary. Dance. Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Promised Land and Uncle Tom's Cabin.

"Bill T. Jones is one of the most powerful forces in the Modern Dance world. His influences include Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham and Jose Limon, but his style is fresh and unique, creating contemporary classics known for their energy, innovative partnering and technical virtuosity. Built around rehearsal and performance of his epic masterpiece, Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land, this film guides us through the life, work and creative process of Bill T. Jones and his extraordinary company. The choreographer himself is our charismatic host, offering penetrating insight into his style, and the piece that confronts some of the most sensitive and provocative issues of our time: Race, Faith, Gender and Sexuality." Contains nudity in final performance sequences.
Notes: The film shows Jones' troupe in action preparing for the making of his dance Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land. Filmed in New York, the troupe's home base. The film is dynamic and imaginative because Jones delves in all the dynamics of his works -- emotional, technical and personal. Produced and directed by Mischa Scorer. Photography by Mike Fox with Philip Millard. The Company includes: Bill t. Jones, Gregg Hubbard, Arthur Aviles, Laurence Goldhuber, Sean Curran, Heidi Latsky, Leonard Cruz, Andrea Woods, Maya Saffrin, and Betsy McCracken. Guest artists include Sage and John Coles, Niles Ford, Andrea E. Smith, N. Justice Allen. Choreography by Bill T. Jones.


BILLY TURNER'S SECRET.
1991. 25 minutes. [approximate].
Homosexuality. Gay Black Men. African-American Directors.

Included in the collection of gay films entitled Boys' Shorts. Directed by Michael Mayson. A comedy about a young black man in New York who is forced to reveal his sexual preferences to his friend and roommate, who is, vocally and abusively homophobic. A feel good comedy. With: Mark D. Kennerly as Billy, Tanya Solar as Evelyn, Michael Mayson as Rufus, Khea Williams as Natasha. Music by Kenny Hairston and Trevor Gale. Notes: Photography by Jeremy Rogers. Written by Mayson.


BINGO LONG TRAVELING ALL-STARS AND MOTOR KINGS.
1976. 111 minutes. (V336).
Negro Baseball Leagues. Baseball. Comedy. Directed by John Badham.

In 1939 a barnstorming black baseball team tries to make ends meet. The team travels through the south and Midwest. The players act "colored" for white audiences but win games. They are a gifted bunch who slowly become aware that the impending change in major league baseball -- integration -- will be the end of their way of life in the game. This is a very enjoyable film, with a wonderful cast of black actors doing marvelous ensemble work -- Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Stan Shaw, James Earl Jones, Ted Ross, and DeWayne Jesse. Notes: Screenplay by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins from a novel by William Brashler. Cinematography by Bill Butler. Box-office gross: $4,719,190. An excellent documentary on the same subject is available in Nonprint -- There Was Always Sun Shine Someplace [(V430)].


BIRD.
1988. 161 minutes. (V2109).
Charlie Parker. Jazz Musicians. Directed by Clint Eastwood.

Clint Eastwood, a jazz enthusiast, directed this dark, somber looking and feeling film about the life of the great jazz saxophone player Charlie 'Bird' Parker. The film was one of the most highly praised films of the 1980s but was surprisingly snubbed by the Motion Picture Academy in all categories including the fine work of Forest Whitaker as Bird and Diane Venora as his wife. Eastwood and music director Lenny Niehaus decided to use the sax work of Bird himself, re-mixing the pieces with the work of modern musicians "more attuned" to Parker's sense of music. The film is a biographical look at the sadly tragic life of a phenomenally gifted musician. The result is a mixed bag -- the film shows nothing that suggests that Bird found anything joyful or re-affirming his music. The story is almost a complete downer. It is an honest attempt nonetheless, by Eastwood about an artist he cared about, about music he genuinely loves. With: Michael Zelniker as Red Rodney, Samuel E. Wright as Dizzy Gillespie, Keith David as Buster Franklin, Richard Zavaglia as Ralph the Narc and Diane Salinger as Baroness Nica. Notes: Screenplay by Joel Oliansky based partially on Chan Parker. Cinematography by Jack N. Green. Music score by Lennie Niehaus. Box-office gross: $2,200,000.


BIRTH OF A NATION.
1915. 185minutes./ 12 reels/12,000 feet. Silent. (V34).
D.W. Griffith. Civil War. Reconstruction. Romantic Melodrama. Popular American Fiction.

Quite possibly the most controversial American film ever made and the most influential. Until Birth of a Nation was made few American films exceeded 6 reels or approximately one hour in length. Director D.W. Griffith had been gradually building toward a full length feature with efforts such as Judith of Bethulia. Griffith, a Tennessean, had learned of the Klan as gallant saviors and knights at his mother's knee. He used those romanticized memories and the virulent novels of Thomas Dixon The Leopard's Spots and The Clansman as the focal point of his film. The result was a sweeping historical epic that created a sensation in theaters across the country. It was like a glorious recruiting poster for the Klan (unintentionally), and provoked protests in cities across the country. The story is that of the Cameron and Stoneman families and their triumphs and struggles during and after the Civil War. There are many haunting and beautiful images in the film, but many others that are disturbing (and racist). With: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Wathall, Miriam Cooper, Mary Alden, Ralph Lewis, George Siegmann, Walter Long and Wallace Reed. 1915. Directed by Griffith. Photographed by G.W. "Billy" Bitzer. Box-office gross: $10,000,000.


BLACK AMERICAN CONSERVATISM: AN EXPLORATION OF IDEAS.
1992. 58 minutes.
Documentary. Black Conservatives. African-American Intellectuals, Conservative. Correspondent, Clarence Page.

Conservative intellectuals and entrepreneurs talk about the role of conservatism in African-American social and economic history. They present views that are sometimes diametrically in contrast. Historical notes: M.R. Delany's Back to Africa movement in the wake of the Civil War whose ideas contrasted with those of Frederick Douglass. Booker T. Washington and the National Negro Business League which of course was denounced by W.E.B. DuBois and the Niagara Movement. Notes: Interviewed are: Alan L. Keyes, President Citizens Against Government Waste; Paul L. Pryde, Jr., President of Pryde, Roberts & Co.; Barbara Wright Bell, CEO, Boys' & Girls Clubs of Newark, Inc.; Joseph Perkins San Diego Union; Robert L. Woodson, President, National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise; Kimi O. Gray, Manager, Kenilworth/Parkside Housing; Prof. John Sibley Butler, U. of Texas; Elizabeth Wright, Editor, Issues and Views; Joshua Smith, Chairman the Maxima Corporation; Republican Congressman Gary Franks. Produced and directed by M. Zach Richter. Co-producer and co-director, Robin Downes. Written by Clarence E. Page. Photography by Naftali Larish. Edited by Martin Lucas.


BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOR.
1976. In French with English subtitles. 88 minutes. (V1996).
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Satire of the nature of colonialism in Africa. When World War I breaks out, the French settlers in a small French-African outpost ineptly go to war against their equally badly prepared German confreres. The film is smug and condescending in curious ways. There are moments that are witty, but the overall effect can almost be described as over subtle. With: Jean Carmet, Jacques Dufillio, Catherine Rouvel, and Jacques Spiesser. Notes: Academy Award winning best picture of 1976.

BLACK ATHENA.
1991. 52 minutes.
Documentary. Martin Bernal. Multiculturalism. Revisionist History. Cradle of Europe, African Origins. Western Civilization, Origins.

"Where did western civilization begin? What role did Africa and Asia play in ancient Greek history? Who were the Egyptians? This film explores the headed debate around Professor Martin Bernal's iconoclastic book on the African origins of Greek culture, Black Athena. It provides a balanced introduction to the controversies surrounding 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness' sweeping American college campuses. Black Athena offers a devastating indictment of 19th century scholars' systematic denial of the connections between Greece and the non-European cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean. It deftly summarizes the recent archeological evidence Bernal uses to argue that Bronze Age Greece was based on Egyptian culture and colonization. Leading classicist and Egyptologists from the U.S. and Britain challenge Bernal's theory. They argue that like the 19th century scholars he attacks, Bernal has used evidence selectively and uncritically to support his own political agenda. Black Athena eschews glib solutions to complex problems. But it provides the lay reader a guided tour through one of the most contentious and far-reaching issues in ancient archeology and history. It shows that the study of the past is often a window on the passions and preoccupation's of the present." Notes: Among those interviewed: Martin Bernal [Near Eastern Studies, Cornell], Jim Weinstein [Egyptologist, Cornell], Peter Kunhold [Classicist, Cornell], Sir John Boardman [Classical Archaeologist, Oxford], Professor Molly Levine [Classical Scholar, Howard University], Dr. Leonard Jeffiries [CCNY], Richard Jenkyns [Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford], Dr. Edward Said [Columbia University], John Ray [Egyptologist, Cambridge], Dr. Edith Hall [Classics Lecturer, Reading University]. Notes: Research, Nick Mirzoeff. Camera Richard Branczik. Green Consultant, Sue Pugh-Tasios. narration Bill Bingham. Music by Alex Balanescu, Clare Connors. Edited by Jane Harris. Produced by Tariq Ali. Directed by Christopher Spencer.


BLACK HISTORY: LOST, STOLEN OR STRAYED.
1968. 60 minutes.
Instructional. Black History. African-American History.

"Matthew Henson and David Hale Williams ar not names that most Americans can easily identify. Yet, both made significant contributions to American history and culture. Bill Costy examines the manner in which American historian have tended to ignore, down play or improperly document several significant achievements by black Americans. Cosby gives evidence of negative media images in newsreels and films such as, Birth of a Nation, that have conspired to downgrade interest in black culture and black historical achievements." Notes: Narrated by Bill Cosby and produced for television by CBS News.


BLACK IS . . . BLACK AIN'T.
1995. 86 minutes.
Documentary. African-Americans. African-Americans, Identity. Directed by Marlon Riggs.

"When Marlon Riggs' died of AIDS at the age of 37, he was completing a film which summed up a lifetime's work exploring African American identity. Variety concluded: 'Riggs couldn't have left a more effective or challenging legacy to the black community.' BLACK IS . . . BLACK AIN'T weaves together the testimony of those whose complexion, class, gender, speech or sexuality has made them feel 'too black': or 'not black enough.' Scholars and artists, including Bill T. Jones, Essex Hemphill, Angela Davis and Bell Hooks, as well as ordinary African Americans, movingly recall their own struggles to discover a more inclusive definition of blackness Threading the film together, is Riggs' own deeply personal quest for meaning and self-affirmation as his death deteriorates. In the end, Riggs locates the essence of 'blackness' in African Americans' courage from slavery down the present to improvise a positive meaning for their lives in the face of overwhelming discrimination and suffering. . ." Notes: Produced and directed by Marlon T. Riggs. Co-produced by Nicole Atkinson. Co-director/editor, Christiane Badgley. Director of photography, Robert Shepard. Performers/interviewees include: Larry Duckette, Essex Hemphill, Wayson R. Jones, Linda Tillery, Wayne T. Corbitt, Djola Bernard Branner, Eric Gupton, Angela Davis, Yvette Flunder, and Marlon T. Riggs. Dancers, Bill T. Jones and Andrea El Woods with choreography by Jones. Original Music by Mary Watkins.


THE BLACK KING.
1932. 70 minutes. (V1861).
Race Pictures. Satire/Comedy. Back to Africa Movement. Directed by Bud Pollard.

"Charcoal" Johnson, through connivance, becomes the minister/leader of a Logan, Mississippi, congregation from which he attempts to extort money for a Back to Africa movement. The corrupt Johnson proclaims himself King of the United States of Africa. A mildly critical comedy filled with comedic stereotypes of the uniformed legions of Charcoal Johnson. Several all-black cast films took up this particular theme in reaction to the movement initiated by Marcus Garvey. There are some genuinely sharp scenes and dialogue. Overall, the film is no better or worse than many of this particular genre of "race pictures."
Notes: Cinematography by Dal Clawson. Dialog by Donald Heywood. Adaptation by Morris M. Levinson. Songs include Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.


BLACK LIKE ME.
1964. 104 minutes. (V1724).
Racism, United States. Color Consciousness, Dramatizations. The South. John Howard Griffin. Directed by Carl Lerner.

A film based on the book by John Howard Griffin, an editor who used chemicals and dies to change his color in order to experience being black in the South. Earnest, honest effort at a presentation on the nature of prejudice in the U.S. in the late '50s and early 1960s. With: James Whitmore, Sorrel Booke, Clifton James, Will Geer, Al Freeman, Jr. and Roscoe Lee Brown. Notes: Music by Meyer Kupferman. Screenplay by Geared and Carl Lerner. Produced by Julius Tannenbaum.


BLACK MAN'S LAND.
1973. Three programs [52 minutes each].

Documentary. Kenya--Politics and Government.

• A -- Kenyatta (V2416)
• Mau Mau (V2417)
• White Man's Land (V2418).

Produced and directed by Anthony Howarth and David Koff. Kenyatta. "Jomo Kenyatta's death in 1978 brought to an end a political career that encompassed more than fifty years of African history. Kenyatta entered politics in the mid 1920s, and then spent seventeen years in exile in Europe. He returned to Kenya in 1946 and was elected President of the Kenya African Union. He was arrested in 1952 and imprisoned for allegedly managing 'Mau Mau.' He was released in 1961, and two years later became Kenya's first Prime Minister. In power, the man whom Europeans had once reviled as the 'leader to darkness and death' was eulogized by them as a pillar of stability. In power, too, Kenyatta faced an opposition movement led by some of his closest colleagues and colonial days. Kenyatta weaves archival and contemporary images together with interviews with friends and relatives, comrades and opponents, to create a biographical portrait of a key figure in twentieth century politics, and a case study of nationalism as political force in Africa." Mau Mau. "In October 1952, the British government declared a State of Emergency in Kenya. Its object: the defeat of 'Mau Mau.' In the war that followed, fewer than forty of Kenya's 40,000 white settlers were killed, while more than 15,000 Africans lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands more were arrested and subjected to a humiliating and often brutal process of rehabilitation. But what was 'Mau Mau?' A movement based, according to the British Colonial Secretary, on a 'perverted nationalism and a sort of nostalgia for barbarism'? Or the Land Freedom Army, an organized political and military response to repression and armed aggression? Using newsreel and previously inaccessible archive footage, and drawing on interviews with participants and observers on both sides. Mau Mau examines the myth and the reality of Africa's first modern guerrilla war." White Man's Country. "Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the European powers 're-discovered' Africa and parceled it out among themselves. Little attention was paid to British East Africa, as Kenya was then known, until a railway was built through it. Almost overnight, an old colonial idea took root in a new setting. Kenya, or at least its fertile highlands, ought to become 'a white man's country,' like south Africa or New Zealand. Land was allocated, settlers were welcomed, and the jewel of the British Empire' was born. How did Africans confront this process? It was, after all, African land that was taken, African labor that was used to work it, and African taxes that kept the colonial regime solvent. White Man's Country combines period photographs and contemporary location footage with the testimony of African and European witnesses, to examine both sides of Europe's 'civilizing mission' in Africa."
Notes: A film by Anthony Howarth and David Koff. Written by Koff. Edited by Roger Buck. Music by Peter Frampton. Photographed by Bruce Parsons and Moninder Dhillon.


BLACK MEN: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES. 1988. 60 minutes. African-American Males. Black Men -- Socio-Economic Conditions. (V1991).

A program produced by KERA TV in Dallas, Texas. A seminar and panel discussion on the role and image of black men in the America of the 1980s and the future. Issues of black men's role in the general fabric of American socioeconomic structure are examined and debated.
Notes: Produced and written by Stan Matthews. Hosted and narrated by Bob Ray Sanders.


BLACK ON WHITE see THE STORY OF ENGLISH


BLACK ORPHEUS.
1958. 106 minutes. In Portuguese with English subtitles. (V140).
Directed by Marcel Camus.

Camus' rendering of the myth of Orpheus and Euridices is cast with Brazilian actors and set in the gaudy, carnival atmosphere of Festival time. The film is lush and possesses a soft kind of sensuousness. The actors are handsome and capable but the film has a naive kind of quality, an innocence that makes it a little too sweet and soft. With: Marpessa Dawn, Bruno Mello, Lea Garcia, Adhemar Da Silva, and Lourdes de Olivera.
Notes: Oscar winning best foreign film of the year. Music by Luis Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim.


BLACK PENTECOSTAL SERVICE.
1979. 60 minutes.
African-American Churches. Religion. (V1385).

Raw footage of Pentecostal services held in Southern Black churches. A two hour sermon has been edited to more reasonable length. The church bishop is also a faith healer.


BLACK POLS/WHITE PRESS.
1982. 60 minutes. (V3032).
Documentary -- Mayoral Elections, Chicago -- Blacks in Politics -- Race Relations, United States.

A film by Marian Maryinski broadcast as a segment of the PBS series Inside Story. The politics of Chicago are notorious. This film depicts the confrontational nature of Chicago politics especially in its relations with the city's media. Harold Washington, the first black mayor of the city, had an especially tempestuous relationship with part of the press, most particularly with Walter Jacobson, lead reporter for the CBS affiliate Channel 2. They have direct conflict over the issue of patronage -- a former councilman, and friend of Washington was granted a city recorder's contract under questionable conditions -- Jacobson's pursuit of the issue proved controversial. Grayson Mitchell, Washington's press chief and Charles Hamilton a native of Chicago and professor of Political Science are also interviewed.
Notes: Camera by Jean de Segonzac. Also available in Nonprint is the RACE FOR MAYOR a look at the emotionally charged race to succeed Washington after his unexpected death.


BLACK SHADOWS ON A SILVER SCREEN.
1986. 52 minutes. (V1682).
Documentary. African-Americans in the Motion Picture Industry. Subtitled The Black Film Industry from 1915 to 1950.

The emphasis is heavily on films of the silent period and the 1930s including the production of films with all black casts and producers. Rare footage of Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson and other black performers and celebrities is used.
Notes: The film is narrated by Ossie Davis. Script is by Thomas Cripps. Produced by Steven Henriquez and William Bowman. Edited by Steven York.


BLACK WOMEN WRITERS.
1989. 28 minutes.
Documentary. African-American Women Authors.

Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, Angela Davis, and Michele Wallace in a spirited discussion on African American women and their relations with black men. Specific arguments are presented about the controversy surrounding Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Spielberg's film of the work and of the lightly (then) role of black women in the Civil Rights movement. The program is a segment of the Phil Donahue Show.


THE BLOOD OF JESUS.
1941. 68 minutes. (V1861).
Religious Melodrama. African-American Directors. Written and directed by Spencer Williams.

"A religious folk-drama, the film concerns the accidental shooting of a man's wife, and of the faith in Jesus that brings her back. As she lies dying, her soul goes on a symbolic journey in which it rejects Hell for Zion. Satan for God, at the foot of the cross. When she awakens, recovered, the choir of sisters and brothers from the church come in to sing and celebrate the miracle with them." With: Spencer Williams, Cathryn Caviness, Juanita Riley, James B. Jones, Frank H. McClennan, and Eddie Debuse.
Notes: Spencer Williams most notable role was as the


THE BLOODS OF 'NAM.
1987. 60 minutes. (V3058).
Documentary -- Blacks in the Military -- Vietnamese Conflict, Personal Narratives.

"Although black soldiers accounted for only 10% of the total American population, during the Vietnam war blacks represented 23% of the total casualties. Frontline follows Wallace Terry, author of Bloods, a national best-seller on which this program is based, as he examines the lives of black soldiers who fought the Viet Cong. Terry finds that these soldiers fought discrimination in the army and disillusionment when they returned home."
Notes: 1987 Blue Ribbon Winner-American Film and Video Festival (EFLA). Produced and photographed by Wayne Ewing. Correspondent Wallace Terry. Edited by Mark Muheim. Author and correspondent Terry interviews for Frontline many of the same men he focused upon in his book. He interviews black enlisted men, officers, and prisoners-of-war.


BLUES HOUSEPARTY.
1989. 57 minutes. (V4038).
Documentary. Blues Music and musicians. Folk Music. Subtitled Music, Dance and Stories by Masters of the Piedmont Blues.

This documentary is a presentation of the old fashioned "down home" blues house party or "hoe down." The singers all reminisce about their joy and pleasure in their music. It is a much more joyful kind of blues and singing than that shown in the documentaries about Delta blues [see Delta Blues Singer. The singers and musicians in this film are aware of a broader world, and bad times and blues are things that have a distinct past. The Piedmont blues musicians are not buried in the dire poverty and depression of the obscure Delta bluesmen. Featuring John Cephas, Archie Edwards, John Dee Holeman, Quentin "Fris" Holloway, James Jackson, John Jackson, Cora Jackson, Flora Molton, Phil Wiggins and Larry Wise. Notes: Produced and edited by Eleanor Ellis for the Greater Washington [D.C] Folklore Society. Directed by Jackson Frost. Associate Producers, Barry Person, Joe Wilson, Bill Barlow. Camera by Tom Goodwin and Todd Holme. Narrated by Phil Wiggins. Songs include Balky Mule, The Road is Rough and Rocky, Evening Sun.


BODY AND SOUL.
1924. 52 minutes. (V2655).
Silent -- Melodrama. Oscar Micheaux. African-American Filmmakers. Directed by Oscar Micheaux.

An escaped convict shows up in the town of Tatesville, Georgia as a preacher much admired by the elder women of his flock. One woman, the mother of an attractive young daughter is especially interested in having the Reverend wed the girl. The girl is no stranger to the preacher's deceptions. The mother and other older ladies of the church are unaware of his philandering nature and his drinking. Under the pressure to marry the man, the girl runs away to Atlanta. When her worried mother finds her living in a hovel she asks why, thinking that she had left home with their savings. The girl with her dying breath finally convinces the woman of the preacher's duplicity. The bereaved mother returns home to face the minister and publicly rebuke him. The congregation turns on the villain and drives him from town and the pulpit. The mother's grief is compounded by her dreams of a much happier life. This is a fascinating film for many reasons not the least of which is the presence of the charismatic Paul Robeson. Robeson plays the bad minister, and in a smaller part, the man that the girl loves. There are some fascinating things in this film. Micheaux, the most significant black filmmaker in the first half of the century had an excellent eye for detail and a good sense of the melodramatic. His film is no better or worse than mainstream melodramas of the same stripe. Body And Soul is like a passion play within a social melodrama. Robeson who seems to be playing the same character he had just made famous on Broadway -- The Emperor Jones -- is an impressive presence. Micheaux's style is almost expressionistic at times and highly skilled. Some of the films titles make intriguing use of racial terms. There are also some subtle shots photographs that hang on the home of the mother and daughter -- photographs of Booker T. Washington and of Abraham Lincoln hang in a place of honor like those of JFK and Dr. King that can be found in many African-American homes today. It is a fascinating little sociological sign-post. With: Laurence Chenault as Yellow Curly Hinds, Chester M. Alexander as Deacon Simpkins, Walter Cornick as Brother Amos, Marshall Rodgers as the Club owner (the title card refers to him as a "Negro" businessman) and with Lillian Johns and Madame Robinson as churchwomen. Curiously, the mother and daughter, so central to the film do not have a credit on the screen but they are played by Theresa Russell and Mercedes Gilbert.
Notes: The print we have of the film is in excellent condition.


BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
1980. 20 minutes. (V756).
Documentary. Biographical Study. Booker T. Washington 1856-1915.

A short biographic film about the life and achievements of the great black leader of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Traces Washington's life and efforts against the backdrop of Reconstruction and the years immediately following Reconstruction.
Notes: Winner CINE Golden Eagle Award. Written by Lou Potter. Directed by William Greaves. Narrated by Gil Noble.


BOOMERANG.
1992. 118 minutes.
Romantic Comedy. African-American directors. Directed by Reginald Hudlin.

This Eddie Murphy comedy, his first film in almost two years, was his attempt to break the smart-alecky comic persona that made him a hugely popular star. Many critics handled this film much more roughly than it deserved. For the first time in a Murphy film, women have key roles and his choice of women is impressively diverse. It's a romantic comedy about a lady's man who comes face-to-face with women who won't let him have his way. The screenplay has sensitivity about different black types [male and female] of surprising depth, even though the world created in the film is no more real than it was in a Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedy. The cast especially Robin Givens (doing a pretty good imitation of Faye Dunaway in Network) is bright and attractive. Also with Halle Berry, David Allen Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder, Eartha Kitt, Tisha Campbell, and Chris Rock.
Notes: Screenplay by Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield. Photography by Woody Omens. Music Score by Marcus Miller. Music includes songs by Babyface, Dallas Austin and Grace Jones and sung by Boyz-To-Men and P.M. Dawn. Music supervision by Bill Stehpney.


THE BOSTON HOAX: THE POLICE, THE PRESS AND THE PUBLIC.
1990. 58 minutes.
Media and Crime. Boston Hoax Case. Race Relations, Boston, Massachusetts.

Fred Friendly hosts this panel discussion on the notorious Stewart case involving a husband who contacts the police reporting a crime, accusing two black males of brutally attacking and killing his pregnant wife. Police efforts determined that Stewart had murdered his wife himself. The damage done by reportage of the incident is the subject of this panel discussion. Among the panel are: Emily Rooney News Director, WCVB-TV Boston; Gregory Moore, Asst. Managing Editor, The Boston Globe; Newman Flanagan, Suffolk County (Mass) District Attorney; Kenneth A. Chandler, Editor Boston Herald; Dianne Wilkerson, Attorney, NAACP; Charles Austin, Reporter, WBZ-TV Boston; Alvin Poussaint, Psychiatrist, Harvard University; Bill Kovach, Nieman Foundation; David Ropiek, WCVB, Boston.
Notes: Produced by Michael Quinn for Columbia University Seminars on Media and Society. Directed by David Deutsch. Camera by Steve Bailey and others. Broadcast January 17, 1990.


BOYZ N THE HOOD.
1991. 112 minutes. (V3311).
Drama. Gangs, LA African American Family Life. Directed by John Singleton.

Life in the streets of South Central LA One of the finest debut films in recent American film history. Young African-American film maker Singleton has taken the story of troubled youths and hopeful aspirations in Los Angeles' meaner streets and fashioned as solidly crafted a traditional kind of melodrama as can be made. It was, deservedly, a huge popular and critical success. His young cast especially Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chesnut are magnetic, talented young black actors. The cast, overall, is quite superior with: Larry Fishburne, Nia Long, Tyra Ferrell, Angela Bassett, Meta King, and Whitman Mayo.
Notes: Screenplay by Singleton. Music by Stanley Clarke. Photographed by Charles Mills. Academy Award nominations for best direction and original screenplay. Box-office gross: $26,700,000.


BREAKER MORANT.
1980. 108 minutes. (V104).
Australian Cinema. Boer War. South Africa. Historical Drama. Directed by Bruce Beresford.

The story of Australian troops fighting with British forces in the Boer War. A trio of the Australians are being tried for an alleged massacre of Boers as a sop to Germans who have protested the treatment of the rebellious settlers. Based on a true incident, where political contingencies made the men doomed for following orders to pursue the rebellion. Handsome, intelligent, and very well acted, though there is a righteousness and smugness about the film that does permeates some of the trial scenes, especially in the set speeches. With: Edward Woodward, John Waters, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, Charles Tingwell, Vincent Ball, and Lewis Fitz-Gerald.
Notes: Screenplay by Beresford with David Stevens and Jonathan Hardy was nominated.


BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET.
1984. 109 minutes. (V690).
Science Fiction. Directed by John Sayles.

Science fiction comedy about a black interplanetary alien who lands in Harlem and blends into the scenery as a somewhat eccentric Harlem type. The Brother is pursued by bounty hunters from his home planet, one of whom is played by Sayles. This off-beat film has a smooth sense of humor and once again shows how fine an ear Sayles can have for dialog. The cast is charming and gifted and Sayles makes good use of them. The story does get a little convoluted in the second half, when the alien starts feel and hear the pain caused by drug dealers. The plot takes on an element of intrigue that is not quite satisfactorily resolved. Still, a more than worthwhile film to explore. With: Joe Morton, Steve James, Daryl Edwards, Leonard Jackson, Maggie Renzi and Rosette Lenoir.


BROTHER JOHN.
1970. 94 minutes. (V3280).
Drama. Directed by James Goldstone.

This is a curiously somber, symbolic film about a black man named Kane (Sidney Poitier) who always mysteriously returns to his Mississippi hometown when someone in his family has died. Kane's urbane sense of self and apparent knowledge of foreign and worldly things confuses the local authorities and mystifies family and childhood friends. The film is quietly paced. There is too much made of Kane's undefined mystical powers, but the film deals with key racial themes of the period in a reasonable and fairly intelligent fashion. Brother John is neither a bad or a good film. Cast: Will Geer is Doc Thomas, Bradford Dillman is Lloyd Thomas, Beverly Todd is Louisa Macgill, Roman Bieri as Orly Ball, Warren J. Kemmerling is George, Lincoln Kirkpatrick is Charley Gray, P.J. Sidney is Reverend McGill, Richard Ward is Frank and Paul Winfield is Henry Bruckhart. Notes: Music by Quincy Jones. Screenplay by Ernest Kinoy.


BUCK AND THE PREACHER.
1971. 102 minutes.
Western. African-Americans in the West. African-American directors. Directed by Sidney Poitier.

Sidney Poitier plays a ex-Army scout trying to help former slaves escape being forcibly return to Louisiana as tenant farmers. Enroute he meets an itinerant black preacher [Harry Belafonte] who reluctantly helps him achieve his mission against the brutal trackers. Tense, well acted western, probably the first western to depict black life of that era. With: Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell, Denny Miller, Nita Talbot, James McEachin, Clarence Muse, Enrique Lucero, Julie Robinson, John Kelly, Lynn Hamilton.
Notes: Music by Benny Carter. Photography by Alex Phillips, Jr. Screenplay by Ernest Kinoy.


BUCKDANCER.
1965. 10 minutes. (V4006).
Documentary. Buckdancing, Sea Islands Folk music and dancing.

A film by Bess Hawes, Alan Lomax, Ted Carpenter. Scenes of traditional African-American folk dance and music called buck dancing as done in the Sea Islands off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.
Notes: Buckdancer Ed Young is interviewed. The music and songs provided by the Sea Island Singers.


BURDEN ON THE LAND.
1991. 52 minutes.
Documentary.