African-American Studies Collections

Filmography: S

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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SAARABA.
1988. 86 minutes. (V2847).
In Wolof and French with English subtitles. The Senegal. Directed by Amadou Saalum Beck.

Tamsir, a young man in his early 30s returns to his native Senegal after 17 years abroad in Europe and France. From the moment he lands at the airport in Dakar he seems apprehensive and uncertain. His rich industrialist uncle picks him up and offers him a home and job. Before he settles on the job he goes back to his home village to see his family. His wise father listens and warns. His mother admonishes. He hears and sees the changes in his homeland and has doubts. In the village he falls in love with a beautiful young girl named Lissa whose parents have promised her to a wealthy, corrupt MP. And, there is Demba, a boyhood friend, just a little off-center, who dreams of Saaraba -- a Wolof word that means "a mythical place free of misery", paradise. This film, the first by Beck is competently directed and scripted, and well acted. It presents a perspective of a former colonial land from fresh eyes and senses, but it seems to hit the same notes. Tamsir is not all that much different from a French of German hero -- his angst is deep and indescribable but he seems immune to the notion of action. It's fascinating to see something of the culture of an African society from this perspective -- the film delves into the sub-culture of Dakar, the world of bars and drugs and young men with no sense of purpose. With: Abdoul Aziz Diop as Tamsir, Fabiene Joelle Felhio as Lissa, Diankou Bakhayokho as Demba, Awa Chekh Gyeye as Daba, Elhadj Abdoulaye Seck as the uncle, Mamadou Ka as Abgeorneter, Samba Fall Yade as Tamsir's father, Cheikh Seck as Sidy, Alpha Oumar Wiene as Alpha Yoro, Fatou Dioum as Nafi, Sokhna Diop as Lissa's mother, Mada Diagne as Tamsir's mother, Rama Seck as Tamsir aunt, and Lissa Diagne as Rugi the shepherd's daughter.
Notes: Music by Abdoulaye Diabate and Sanon Drouf Orchestra. The film is filled with German titles -- it is a German/Senegalese co-production. Screenplay by Christopher Roth and Christien Ueli. Photographed by Thomas Merker.


SANDERS OF THE RIVER.
1935. 98 min. (V1069).
British. Directed by Zoltan Korda.

Sanders is a British official overseeing the tries along a river in Nigeria in the early part of the 20th century. He enlists the aid of loyal chieftain Bombasa to fight off raids by a warring tribal King. The title of this film suggests that the central character of this film is the stalwart British hero Sanders (played by Leslie Banks). In reality, it is the noble savage chieftain Bosamabo (Paul Robeson) is the real hero. The film was very popular in England but was an art house oddity in the U.S. With: Nina Mae McKinney, Robert Cochran, Martin Walker, Richard Grey, Tony Wane, Marquis de Portago, and Eric Maturin.
Notes: Screenplay by Lajos Biro and Jeffrey Dell. Based on stories by Edgar Wallace. Photography by Georges Perinal, Bernard Browne, Osmund Borradaile, and Louis Page.


SANGO MALO.
1991. 94 minutes. In French with English subtitles.
The Cameroon. African Cinema. Directed by Bassek ba Kobhio.

The story of conflict between two teachers in a provincial Cameroonian village over the best way to educate the children of the village. After his appointment to the village of Limphaza, Bernard Malo Malo [the Sango Malo or Mr. Malo of the title] immediately asserts his independence and independent thinking to the village chieftains [a priest, the headmaster of the school and a local merchant]. He teaches the children the values of the land, work and a practical education and also instills pride in many of the men of the village. The hero's almost perfect passion and righteousness almost overwhelms the story some times, but the grace and humor of the script and other characters help humanize him. Ultimately Malo's efforts lead to his downfall, but his message and method survive him. This is a lovely, film about the nature of social and intellectual conflict in a developing state. The film has a witty script and the acting is generally first rate. It has humor and grace about the lives of people in the village and what change and new direction can mean to them. With: Jerome Bolo, Marcel Mvondo II, Edwige Ntongon a Zock, Jean Minguele, Jimmy Biyong, Henriette Fenda Jean Endene.
Notes: Screenplay and dialog adapted by Kobhio from the novel Sango Malo: Le maitre du canton. Photography by Joseph Guerin. Music by Francis Bebey.


SANKOFA.
1994. 125 minutes.
Drama. African-American Heritage. African-American Folklore. Independent Cinema. Slavery, United States. The Middle Passage. Slave Rebellions. Directed by Haile Gerima.

While on a fashion shoot in West Africa, a beautiful African-American model becomes enmeshed with a mystical spot that forces her to recall of racial past. Hidden memories of her native and slave past overwhelm her and she [along with we the audience] are taken back to the days of the journey from Africa into American slavery. Sankofa is a stunning film with great reserves of emotional power and intelligence, though there are some infuriatingly smug moments and points-of-view. With; Kofi Ghanaba as Sankofa-the Divine Drummer, Oyafunmike Ogunlano as Mona/Shola, Alexandra Duah as Nunu, Nick Medley as Joe, Mutabaruka as Shango, Afemo Omilami as Noble Ali, Reginald Carter as Father Raphael, Mzuri as Lucy, Jimmy Lee Savage as Mussa, Hasinaut Camara as Jumma, Jim Faircloth as James, Stanley Michelson as Mr. Lafayette, John A. Mason as Big Boy, Luise Reid as Esther, Roger Doctor as Nathan, Alditz McKenzie as Kuta, Chrispan Ribgy as the photographer, Maxwell Parris as Baby Ngozi.
Notes: Produced by Haile Gerima. Co-produced by Shirikiana Aina. Written by Haile Gerima. Photographed by Augustin Cubana. Edited by Gerima. Music composed by David J. White.


SARAFINA!
1992. 98 minutes.
Drama with Music. South African Children. Directed by Darrell James Roodt.

This film, based on the play with music by Mbongeni Negema is a prettified production. It looks like too much Broadway got in the way. The play is about the spiritual and moral vibrancy of the youth of Soweto against incredible odds. Sarafina is a young South African woman whose senses of faith and hope find expression in song from the beautiful folk songs of the youthful rebellion against the white Afrikaner power structure. The film does not have the raw edge of scenes of the New York stage performance of the play seen in Nigel Noble's The Voices of Sarafina, a documentary about the musical made in 1990. With: Whoopie Goldberg, Miriam Makeba, John Kani, Mbongeni Negema and Lleti Khumalo as Sarafina.
Notes: Additional music by Hugh Masekela. Music score by Stanley Myers. Photography by Mark Vicente. Choreography by Michael Peters and Mbongeni Ngema. Written by William Nicholson and Mbongeni Ngema.


SAY AMEN SOMEBODY!
1983. 100 minutes. (V1135).
Documentary. Gospel Singers. Gospel Music. Directed by George T. Nierenberg.

A rousing documentary on gospel music, especially as sung by Willie Mae Ford Smith and her family. The film has a feeling that is almost joyously overwhelming. The regal Dorsey and the powerfully confident Willie Mae Ford Smith live up to Nierenberg installation of them into legendary status. With: Thomas A. Dorsey, The Barrett Sisters, and The O'Neal Twins.


THE SCAR OF SHAME.
1926. 75 minutes.
Silent. Melodrama. African-American Cinema. Directed by Frank Perugini.

A film in the Library of Congress Video Collection Volume V -- The African American Cinema II. With: Harry Henderson as Alvin Hillyard, Lucia Lynn Moses as Louise Howard, William E. Pettus as Spike Howard, Norman Johnstone as Eddie Blake, Lawrence Chenault as Ralph Hathaway, Pearl McCormack as Alice Hathaway, and Ann Kennedy as Lucretia Green.
Notes: Story by David Starkman. Photographer by Al Liguori.


SCHOOL DAZE.
1988. 118 minutes. (V1931).
Directed by Spike Lee.

This is a hybrid kind of film -- it is part satire/comedy, part drama, part musical. Spike Lee's first Hollywood feature looks and feels like a young director's attempts at trying whatever fits. It is successful in some things, not so in others. At a black university in the South, there is conflict and tension between two groups -- the Greeks and the campus radicals. More succinctly the story is about the conflict of attitudes among blacks built along intra-racial and class lines. The film addresses the issue of color distinction among blacks and how those distinctions affect the social fabric in the black community. A point that Lee's film touches, but only for a moment, is the possibility of distrust for the educated classes by those who perceive of them as spoiled rich kids (one of the film's best scene's is a tense confrontation between the student activists and some locals in a fast food restaurant). There are confusing signals sent by this film but overall it does show the extremely fresh perspective Lee brings to American film making. With: Larry Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme, Spike Lee, and Ossie Davis.
Notes: Screenplay by Lee. Cinematography by Ernest Dickerson. Music by Bill Lee. Box-office gross: $6,105,250.


THE SEARCH FOR ROBERT JOHNSON.
1992. 74 minutes.
Documentary. Robert Johnson. Blues Music and Musicians. Blues Music -- History. Directed by Chris Hunt.

Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and many other musicians have been influenced by Delta musician Robert Johnson. John Hammond, explores the life and works of the great Mississippi Delta musician Robert Johnson by interviewing family and friends about his nature and childhood and making. The transient life of the legendary bluesman, whose legend include his having sold his soul to the devil for his prodigious musical gifts [see Walter Hill's Crossroads] helped create the mist surrounding Johnson who travels the Mississippi roadways that Johnson reveled in. Myth and legend are hard to separate from the reality of his life. Recordings of Johnson singing his compositions and those performed by others [like narrator John Hammond].
Notes: Others interviewed include Gayle Dean Wardlow [Blues Researcher], Robert Burton 'Mack' McCormick [Blues Expert], Wink Clark [boyhood friend], Willie Mae Powell [girlfriend, who had never heard his recordings before the filmmakers played them for her], David 'Honeyboy' Edwards [blues player and Powell's first cousin], Johnny Shines [blues performer], 'Queen' Elizabeth [former girlfriend]. Johnson's songs include Sweet Home Chicago, Love in Vain, Crossroads and Come On In My Kitchen many of which were written to seduce women. Photography by Paul Bond. Edited by Stuart Davidson.


THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
1984. 60 minutes. (V2972).
Civil Rights Movement, United States -- African American History (each of two programs). Directed by Donald Dowe.

"Journey back through time and examine the most important comments of our century. Many of the world's current geopolitical divisions and economic concerns can be traced to specific events over the past 80 years; and many of today's social mores developed directly out of the history of the 20th century. With vintage European film rarely seen in America, archival newsreel and television footage, photographs and rare interviews, the unique historical perspective provides a greater understanding of national and international politics, business, mass media and social studies...The 20th century in America has not always been a period of growth and opportunity, particularly for blacks. In this two-part program, Ossie Davis and Ruby join Bill Moyers to review the accomplishments and progress of black America." Part I traces black history from the 1800's through the 1930s. Part II is of the maturation of the Rights movement in the 1930s through the pivotal court decisions and confrontations in the 1950s and 1960s.
Notes: Produced by Davis, Dee, Dowe, and Nora Day. Written by Davis, Dee, Moyers and Bernard A. Weisberger. Camera by Jerry Hunt.


SELBE: ONE AMONG MANY.
1982. 30 minutes. Narrated in English with Senegalese spoken with English subtitles.
Documentary. Women in the Developing States. Senegalese Women. Directed by Safi Faye.

The film focuses on the life and work of one Senegalese woman called Selbe Diouf. At 39, she is the mother of 8 children [one died at birth]. In the dry seasons, many mean leave the village to find work. Women such as Selbe are left to feed and care for the whole family, becoming worn with the effort. The film is about the diffidence and strength of the women in spite of the overwhelming natural and man made odds against them.
Notes: Camera by Papa Poctar Ndoye. Sound by Magin Fofana. Edited by Andreee Daventure.


SEPARATE BUT EQUAL.
1991. 193 minutes.
Segregation. Civil Rights Movement. School Desegregation Cases. Thurgood Marshall. Directed by George Stevens, Jr.

Sidney Poitier is Thurgood Marshall in this handsomely produced made-for-television film about the cases which led to the landmark decision to desegregate Southern schools in 1954. The film highlights the little known case in South Carolina, on appeal from the South Carolina Federal Courts that led to the case going before the Supreme Court. A well acted, entertaining and informative drama. With: Burt Lancaster as John Davis, Richard Kiley as , Gloria Foster as Mrs. Marshall, John McMartin as Governor Burns, Cleavon Little, Graham Beckley, Ed Hall, Lynne Thigpen, Macon McAllen, Randle Ell, Henderson Forsythia, Albert Hall, and Cheryl Lynn Bruce.
Notes: Written by George Stevens, Jr. Music by Carl Davis. Photography by Nic Knowland.


SERGEANT RUTLEDGE.
1960. 112 minutes.
Western. Buffalo Soldiers. 9th and 10th Cavalry. African-Americans in the Military, 19th Century. John Ford. Directed by John Ford.

A black enlisted cavalry officer is falsely charged with rape and murder. When bound over for courts martial the true nature of the man is revealed. A fine, well acted melodrama about racial hatred, bigotry, heroism. Woody Strode gives a proud, intelligent performance as Sergeant Rutledge as do Jeffrey Hunter [as his defense attorney, Lt. Cantrell] and Constance Towers as Lt. Cantrell's fiancée;. The story is retold in flashback from witnesses at the trial -- witnesses whose recall of events are colored by their particular biases. The film is stunningly photographed. With: Billie Burke, Juano Hernandez, Willis Bouchey, Carleton Young, Judson Pratt.
Notes: Written by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck. Photographed by Bert Glennon. Music by Howard Jackson. song Captain Buffalo by Mack David and Jerry Livingston. Produced by Willis Goldbeck and Patrick Ford.


SERMONS AND SACRED PICTURES.
1987. 29 minutes.
Documentary. Religious Life. Churches, Tennessee. Baptisms. African-Americans, Memphis, Tennessee.

This film begins with some remarkable black and white footage of river baptisms conducted by Memphis minister named Kemp in the 1940s and 1950s. The film, in song, sermon and film is a recorded history of this one Memphis church and Memphis's black community. Reverend L. O. Taylor's photographs and filmmaking have become a record of his community's life and history. Spoken words by parishioners then and now are on this film's soundtrack. The voices of Lula Adams, Jane Engleberg, T. E. McLemore, Rev. James Netters, Rev Kenneth Whalum, Mrs. Blanche Taylor, Rev. L. O. Taylor and others are heard. A fine document.
Notes: Black and white photography, music recording, original titles by Reverend L. O. Taylor, Memphis, Tennessee (1900-1977). Color Photography from Memphis Tennessee by Lynne Sachs. Special Consultant, Judy Peiser, Director, Center for Southern Folklore.


SEVEN DAYS IN BENSONHURST.
1990. 60 minutes. (V2954).
Documentary - Race Relations, New York City - Racism. A segment of the PBS series Frontline.

In August of 1989, a 16 year-old black youth named Yusuf Hawkins was killed in a racially motivated incident in the Italian-American neighborhood called Bensonhurst. The outrage in the city's African-American community was suddenly fact-to-face with the combative resistance to charges of racism by the neighborhood. The media's and politicians' role in the subsequent controversy are presented in this impressionistic visual essay written by journalist Shelby Steele and producer Tom Lennon. The whole issue is analyzed in context of a series of incidents in New York leading up to the death of young Hawkins - Bernard Goetz's shooting of black youths, the Howard Beach incident, the Tawana Brawley affair, the "wilding" in Central Park, and other racially polarizing circumstances in the city. Steele, the narrator as well, presents a philosophical but personal picture of the affair as part of the continuum of misguided race relations in America.
Notes: Edited by Ken Eluto. Photographed by Greg Andracke.


SHAFT.
1971. 100 minutes. (V1204).
Directed by Gordon Parks.

Story: When the Mafia tries to move on to a Harlem crime boss' turf, they kidnap his daughter to force his hand. John Shaft a smart, hip black private investigator, though not overly friendly to the crime boss, agrees to save the man's daughter from the Mafia chief. The situation is resolved with the combined efforts of Shaft, a radical young black leader and the detective looking into the case. The movie is fast paced and extremely entertaining. It is a fine piece of late 1960s entertainment. Parks keeps the action tight and plentiful. One thing does give the film an advantage over some other genre pieces of the time -- Isaac Hayes' electric score. It's awesome and it won Hayes the best song and score Oscars for the year. Shaft was played by Richard Roundtree who was the top black male model in the U.S. at the time. His acting is OK. He got better as he aged. With: Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell and Lawrence Pressman.
Notes: Written by John D. F. Black and Ernest Tidyman (based on Tidyman's book). Box-office gross: $7,067,825.


SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT.
1986. 84 minutes. (V1363).
Directed by Spike Lee.

She's Gotta Have It is one of the finest film comedies of the 1980s. The story of an attractive, spirited young black woman's sexual and emotional independence seemed to come from out of nowhere. A film, made by blacks, starring blacks and produced by blacks that had a verve and style, and attitudes that had never been displayed on screens before. The film's success was hardly limited to black audiences and it led to Hollywood backed film products for Lee. In all hype about Lee little attention has been paid to emergence of a brilliant new cinematographer -- Ernest Dickerson -- who is responsible for the incredible black and white photography in She's Gotta Have It. The cast includes: Tracy Camila Johnson, Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell, Raye Dowell, and Joie Lee (Spike's sister). The film's score is by jazz man Bill Lee (the director's father). Written and edited by Spike Lee.


SHOW BOAT.
1936. 110 minutes.
Musical. Miscegenation. Riverboat Shows. Edna Ferber.. Directed by James Whale.

There were three film versions of Edna Ferber's novel about river boat life and miscegenation in the deep south. Of the three the most emotionally satisfying version is the middle one directed by Whale. It has a sadness and melancholy that seems to fit the story better than the colorful MGM version The cast in Whale's film -- Irene Dunne, Allan Jones , Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Hattie MacDaniel, and Helen Westley-- is quite good. Helen Morgan's singing of Can't Help Loving' That Man of Mine is jolly but her singing of My Man is electric.
Notes: Screenplay by Oscar Hammerstein. Cinematography by John J. Mescall. Music by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II.


SHOWBOAT.
1951. 108 minutes. (V520).
Musical. Miscegenation. River Boat Theaters. Jerome Kern. Oscar Hammerstein. Edna Ferber. Directed by George Sidney.

This second sound version of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's musical is spirited, but its poignancy comes only in the misty eyed beauty of Ava Gardner's Julie. Songs include: Ol' Man River, (Can't Help) Loving' That Man of Mine and Make Believe. With: Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Brown, Marge Champion, Robert Sterling, Agnes Moorehead, and Paul Warfield.
Notes: There is a difference in the singing of Ol' Man River too -- Robeson's rendering is like a folk ballad -- Paul Warfield's is more operatic. The song works either way with a good baritone voice. Screenplay by John Lee Mahin. Cinematography by Charles Rosher. Music score by Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger from the musical by Kern and Hammerstein. Box-office gross: $5,533,000.


THE SINGING STREAM.
1987. 57 minutes.
Documentary. Gospel Singers. North Carolina. Black Family Chronicle.

Traces the history of the Landis family of Granville Co. N.C. over the lifetime of its oldest surviving member, 87 year-old Mrs. Bertha M. Landis. The film is a chronicle of the life of this close knit family of gospel singers from rural North Carolina. The extended family is shown as a strong one, linked by the matriarch, Mrs. Landis and their love for the music of their faith. The filmmakers use interviews and concert performance footage to highlight the lives of the family.


SIX DAYS IN SOWETO.
1976. 55 minutes.
Documentary. South Africa. Apartheid. Johannesburg. Soweto Uprising of 1976.

This British documentary that the filmmaker uses irony to depict the quiet, prosperous lives of the white British citizens of South Africa who seemed [in this 1974 documentary] completely oblivious to the violence, human rights abuse that average British citizens elsewhere who have found appalling. The film, the second of a series entitled The South Africa Experience depicts a life of whites who seem unaware of the depths of the problems of Soweto. The artificial appearance of change is understood by many to have been wiped away forever with the revolts in the townships of Soweto, the source of all of the black work force of Johannesburg. The story of Six Days is that of the revolt inspired by the children of the townships -- children whose parents must migrate to Johannesburg or other places to work. The film was made with the idea of presenting to Britons the true nature of Apartheid and South African polity in the 1970s. Using photos, news footage, and interviews with family, friends and survivors of the brutal police action against the students in Soweto, the film gives a detailed description the events which had escalated from protest, to disorder, to riot and ultimately ignited the most fundamental movement for change by black South Africans in the summer of 1976.
Notes: Produced, directed and narrated by Antony Thomas. Associate Producer, Peter Farrell. Camera by Ernest Vincze. Edited by Glen Cardno.


SKIN DEEP.
199-. 53 minutes.
Documentary. Racism. College Students and Racism. Multi-Culturalism. Directed by Frances Reid.

A film that "chronicles the provocative journey of a diverse group of college students as they examine their deeply held attitudes and feelings about race and explore the barriers that stand in the way of building a society that truly respects all races. We follow them through interviews, scenes from their lives at home and on campus, and through their participation in a weekend retreat of interracial dialogue. Their stories weave a compelling tale of the journey through the complexities of race relations in America today."
Notes: Produced by Frances Reid. Edited by Deborah Hoffmann. Photography by Michal Chin. Music by Mary Watkins.


SKIN GAME.
1971. 102 minutes. (V1059).
Western Comedy. Directed by Paul Bogart.

James Garner and Lou Gossett play a couple of con men roaming the Kansas-Nebraska territory with a sure fire scam. Garner plays a hard pressed slave owner who must sale his faithful servant Gossett to raise money. Using soft soap and wiles the two cross the territory making suckers out of every slave buyer imaginable. The scam goes fine until they run into a more determined slaver (Edward Asner). This comedy works solely because the comic skills and screen camaraderie between Garner and Gossett is so good. They in effect, turn this slight film into a pleasing buddy comedy. With: Susan Clark, Brenda Sykes, Edward Asner, Andrew Duggan, Neva Patterson, George Tyne, Royal Dana, Pat O'Malley, Joel Fluellen, Napoleon Whiting, Juanita Moore, and Don Clark.
Notes: Screenplay by Pierre Marton based on a story by Richard Alan Simmons. Music by David Shire. Photographed by Fred Koenekamp.


THE SKY IS GREY.
1980. 46 minutes. (V1180).
African-American Fiction. African-American Authors. Short Stories. Ernest Gaines. Directed by Stan Lathan.

The Sky Is Grey based on Gaines' short work of the same title. A young black youth in the South of 1930's learns about bigotry and love at a most impressionable age. A farm boy, on his first visit to town to see a dentist gets his first taste of racism and pride in Louisiana. A bittersweet tale about coming of age. With: Olivia Cole, James Bond III, Cleavon Little and Margaret Avery.
Notes: Teleplay by Charles Fuller.


SLAUGHTER.
1972. 92 minutes. (V2512).
Directed by Jack Starrett.

An ex-Green Beret war hero looks for the organization henchmen who murdered his parents. His efforts take him into the luxurious playpens of the underworld. Jim Brown plays Slaughter -- "big, bad, black, and bold" according to the lyrics of Billy Preston's souped-up theme song. The film is violent and amoral. Still, Brown's bronzed charismatic non-acting helps pull all of this turgid stuff off. The supporting cast is filled with capable professional actors -- Rip Torn, Stella Stevens, Don Gordon, Cameron Mitchell and Marlene Clark. Torn may be having more fun overacting than anyone in the cast.
Notes: Screenplay by Mark Hanna and Don Williams. Theme song was written and performed by Billy Preston.


A SOLDIER'S STORY.
1984. 102 minutes. (V740).
Directed by Norman Jewison.

Charles Fuller's play A Soldier's Play deals with the conflicts of race and perspectives among blacks. The black sergeant of a troop of black soldiers anticipating deployment to the front during World War II, is murdered. The first thought is that hostile clansmen near the base, in Louisiana, are responsible for his death. A young black officer sent to investigate the incident discovers that the sergeant's death had other, more unsettling causes. Fuller's play may have dealt more with the subtleties of racial conflicts within a single race. It also delves into how the sometimes schizoid multi-tiered levels or race in America. The film presents us a lucid, straightforward story though -- it is presented as a story of detection and discovery. Everything is not as obvious as the young Army captain is led to believe it is. His discovery surprises the audience and the authorities. Excellent traditional moviemaking with excellent performances by a group of young black actors, considerably more familiar now. With: Howard Rollins, Denzell Washington, Robert Townsend, Larry Riley, Trey Wilson, Art Evans, and William Allen Young.


SOME KIND OF HERO.
1982. 97 minutes. (V254).
Comedy. Vietnamese Conflict. Vietnam Veterans. Directed by Michael Pressman.

A Vietnam vet has trouble adjusting to civilian life after several years as a POW. He is lured into a lot of dumb situations. There is a good, but brief performance by Ray Sharkey as his best friend, a man who dies in the prison camp they both were interned. When the friend needs medical assistance, he signs an anti-U.S. document that comes back to haunt him after he gets out of the prison camp. With: Margot Kidder, Ronny Cox, and Lynn Moody.
Notes: Box-office gross: $11,000,000. Screenplay by James Kirkwood and Robert Boris from Kirkwood's book.


SOMETHING OF VALUE.
1957. 113 minutes. (V1015).
Directed by Richard Brooks.

Film version or Robert Ruark's novel about the ritualistic murders in Kenya in the 1930s and 1940s prior to the liberation movement. The film begins with a foreword by Winston Churchill, about the uprising and tribal and ritual killings that underscored of Kenya's independence drive in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The story is well told and very well acted melodrama. With: Sidney Poitier, Walter Fitzgerald, Rock Hudson, Wendy Hiller, Dana Wynter, Robert Beatty, Michael Pate, Juano Hernandez, William Marshall and Frederick O'Neal.
Notes: Screenplay by Brooks. For a historical presentation of the same events see MAU MAU.


THE SONG OF FREEDOM.
1936. 80 minutes.
Drama. Paul Robeson. Directed by J. Elder Wills.

Paul Robeson, Elizabeth Welch, Robert Adams, Orlando Martins, James Solomon, Toto Ware.
Notes: Story by Claude Wallace and Dorothy Holloway. Screen adaptation and scenario by Ingram D'Abbes, Fenn Sherie. Music by Eric Adsell. Lyrics by Henrik Ege.


SONIA SANCHEZ.
1990. 60 minutes.
Poetry Readings. Interview. African-American Poets. Black Women Poets. Directed and produced by Lewis Mac Adams and John Dorr.

Sonia Sanchez, poet, teacher and activist, reads from homegirls & handgrenades and Under a Soparano Sky, talks to students at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. and is interviewed by Mac Adams. She discusses her conquest of stuttering, and the connection between stuttering and writing poems. Readings include "Norma" and "Dear Mama." She discusses police bombings in Philadelphia and Tulsa, her reasons for teaching, the function of poetry, and her definition of a poet. She also lectures against war, and recalls how she started chanting poems.


SOUL OF THE GAME.
1996. 90 minutes.
Biographical Drama. Baseball. Negro Leagues. Satchel Paige. Josh Gibson. Jackie Robinson. Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan.

Delroy Lindo is Satchel Paige, Mykelti Williamson is Josh Gibson and Blair Underwood is Jackie Robinson in this enjoyable, spirited HBO feature about the integration of Baseball. The actors are each perfect in their roles - Mykelti Williamson is strong, heroically flawed and ultimately tragic figure as Josh Gibson. Underwood's Robinson is proud, intelligent and willful, but it is Lindo's rich, colorful performance as Paige that makes the film such a joy to watch. Also with Edward Herrmann as Branch Rickey, R. Lee Ermey as Wilkie, Salli Richardson as Lahoma, Gina Ravera as Grace, Obba Babatunde as Cum Posey, Cylk Cozart as Zo Perry, J. d. Hall as Gus Greenlee, Jerry Hardin as Happy Chandler, Brent Jennings as Frank Duncan.
Notes: Music by Lee Holdreige. Screenplay by David Himmelstein from a story by Gary Hoffman. Photography by Sandi Sissel.


SOUNDER.
1972. 100 minutes. (V610).
Directed by Martin Ritt.

Martin Ritt's fine, moving story about a black family in the rural south of the 1930's, shot entirely in Louisiana. It is story about surviving against what seems like impossible odds. Lonne Elder' script is simple and direct. While trying to make a go of farming a family struggles to have the eldest son get an education. They want him to use his God given gift of knowledge to his best ability. When money is low the husband is accused of theft and spends time on a chain gang. The boy, after a visit runs across a black school where the teacher sees that his intellect needs encouragement to grow. After the father returns home the family finds the means to send the boy to the school. Cicely Tyson gives an astonishing performance, the scene where she welcomes her husband home is like the homecoming of the little colonel in Birth of a Nation or Ashley's return in GONE WITH WIND. The story is at bottom about a boy and his dog. Sounder is the pet hound of the teenage hero in the film played by the talented young Kevin Hooks. With: Paul Winfield, Janet MacLachlan, Taj Mahal and James Best.
Notes: Music by Taj Mahal. Photographed by John Alonzo. Based on a novel by William H. Armstrong. Academy Award nominations for best picture, actor, actress, and screenplay. Box-office gross: $8,726,000.


SOUTH AFRICA.
1968. 28 minutes.
Documentary. South Africa -- Historical Study.

"Describes the nature of the unusual historical background out of which modern south Africa has evolved, and the many social problems which the peoples of South Africa face. Discusses criticisms of the government's racial policies and shows why South Africa will probably not change very much within the near future."
Notes: Available on 16 mm only.


SOUTH AFRICA ESSAY.
1965. 60 minutes.
Documentary. South Africa, Politics and Government.

"Reports on the South African dual standards of living form the lavish white sections to the black ghettos. Interviews with such people as Nobel Peace Prize winner Chief Albert Luthuli, Frank Waring, and author Alan Paton as to their attitudes toward this condition."
Notes: Available in 16mm only.


SOUTH CENTRAL.
1992. 99 minutes.
Social Drama. Gang Drama. South Central Los Angeles. Directed by Steve Anderson.

A young man, pressed into gang membership early on, wants a change in his life after he gets out of jail. He wants to be their for his son in a way his father was not available to him. It is his relationship with a fellow prisoner that instills this new responsibility in the young man. Steve Anderson's gritty, intelligent study of the rough life and dismal prospects of fatherless boys in South Central Los Angeles is at times quite riveting drama. The young, gifted cast includes -- Glenn Plummer, Byron Keith Minns, Lartia Shelby, Kevin Best, Christian Coleman, Starletta Dupois, Ivory Ocean and Carl Lumbly.
Notes: Music by Tim Truman. Photographed by Charlie Lieberman. Executive Produced by Oliver Stone. Written by Steve Anderson from the book Crips by Donald Baker. Academy Award nominations for best direction, screenplay, film editing (Geraldine Poroni). Box-office gross: $21,530,588.


SPARKLE.
1976. 98 minutes. (V611).
Drama with Music. Pop Music. Drugs in the Ghetto. Directed by Sam O'Steen.

This drama with music is a story of three sisters from the Ghetto who start a singing group with the help of one of the girls' boyfriends as a promoter. The story line has overtones found in Dream Girls, which had overtones from the story of the Supremes. It is a story about talent and survival and, about the sad failures induced by love and drugs. Three girls live in a tenement with their protective mother Effie, who works as a maid. They have talent and sing in the church choir. The three girls' personalities could not be more diverse -- the youngest sister, Dolores, slowly becomes independent and radical. The middle sister (the Sparkle of the title) is innocent and lovesick; and the third girl, named Sister, is beautiful, incredibly gifted as a singer, and self-destructive. In this kind of sentimental story the survivor is the sweet Sparkle, but the movie's power and emotional strength comes from the bad sister, especially as played by the magnetic Lonette McKee. McKee plays the girl as a sensuous, joyously sexual woman. Sister sings her songs as carnal anthems and uses here beauty to toy with audiences -- the people seeing the girls perform know that what they are seeing is something special -- but the film turns her into a caricature of Lady Day and takes her from us two-thirds through the film. McKee is awesome as the wayward Sister and so is the elegant Dorian Harewood as her half-forgotten boyfriend who has been set-up by Sister's drug lord lover. With: Irene Cara as Sparkle, Tony King as Satin, Philip M. (Michael) Thomas as Stix, Dwan Smith as Dolores, Mary Alice as Effie, and DeWayne Jessie as Ham.
Notes: The music for the film, by Curtis Mayfield, is very good, if ersatz Motown, is very well sung, especially by McKee. Screenplay by Joel Schumacher.


THE SPEECHES OF NELSON MANDELA.
1995. 70 minutes.
Mandela. Addresses and Speeches. South Africa.

"Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, born the son of a Tembu tribal chieftain, chose to give up his hereditary rights and instead become a lawyer. After joining the African National Congress in 1944, he eventually became deputy national president, thereby dedicating his life to the battle against racial oppression in South Africa. His activities in the struggle against apartheid led to his conviction for sabotage and 27 1/2 year imprisonment, during which Mandela remained a constant sign of hope to South Africa's non-white majority. After his 1990 release, Mandela's triumphant rise to the presidency of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement have placed him among the greatest moral and political leaders of all times. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and elected President of South Africa in the country's first all-race election, Nelson Mandela stands as one of the modern age's most enduring and inspiring figures. The Speeches of Nelson Mandela offers a compelling demonstration of his oratory prowess, from his long fight against apartheid, to his triumphant release from prison and ensuing political career."
Notes: Produced by Dennis Mueller. Edited by Jess Sismelich.


SPORTS FOR SALE.
1991. 118 minutes. (V3187).
Documentary -- NCAA -- Collegiate Sports -- College Athletics -- Knight Commission Report. Produced and directed by Howard Weinberg.

Panel discussion after documentary led by Bill Moyers include the key members of the Knight Commission - Father Theodore Hesburgh, William F. Friday, Richard Schultz, Clifton Wharton, and Murray Sperber author of College Sports Inc. The program highlights the historical and current problems confronting the level of professionalism in college athletics. Booster's clubs, points shavings, bad graduation rates at many schools are looked into. The program concentrates on events at Oklahoma University, Iowa and Iowa State Universities. Mention is made of incidents and controversies surrounding athletes such as Dexter Manley (OSU, Washington Red Skins), Terrell Jackson (Drake University, basketball), Andrew Gaze (Seton Hall University), Chris Washburn (Basketball, NCSU), Charles Thompson (Football, OU), as well as former coaches Barry Switzer and Jim Valvano. Issues such as crimes by athletes, grade fixing are also discussed and greater involvement by University Presidents. Academic Integrity, Financial Integrity, and Certification were, with more presidential involvement were among the reforms recommended by the Commission.
Notes: Written by Moyers and Weinberg. Camera by Alvin Krinsky, Mark Falstad, Gerry Martin and others. Researcher was Jennifer Mirsky.


STEPPIN'.
1991. 60 minutes.
Documentary. African-American Dance. Step Shows. Black Fraternities. Black Sororities. Black Greek Organizations.
Notes: A detailed look at the role of dance and step shows among African-American Greek letter societies (fraternities and sororities). The film interviews many fraternity and sorority members and faculty at the Indiana University. We also see performances of step shows at I.U. The cultural and social origins of the step shows is also discussed. Notes: Among those interviewed are Dr. James E. Mumford [Afro-American Studies, Indiana U.]; Dr. Mellonee Burnim [Chairperson, Afro-American Studies Indiana U.]; John Girton and Anthony Favors [Phi Beta Sigma]; Steve Johnson [Kappa Alpha Psi]; O.Z. Davis [Omega Psi Phi]; Don Smith [Alpha Phi Alpha]; David Keels [Kappa Alpha Psi]; Beryl C. Bore [Zeta Phi Beta Sorority]; Mann Harris [Omega Psi Phi]; Aquaila Barnes [Zeta Phi Beta Sorority]; Chere Cofer [Alpha Kappa Alpha]; Dina Scott [Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority]; Kim Majors [Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority]; and Karen Hodge [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority]. Fraternal colors and organizational dates Sororities-- Alpha Kappa Alpha [1908, colors Pink and Green], colors black and gold]; Omega Psi Phi [organized 1911, colors purple and gold]; Kappa Alpha Psi [organized 1911, colors red and white]; and Phi Beta Sigma [Organized 1914, colors white and blue]; Alpha Phi Alpha, Organized in 1906; Narrated by Mike Warren. Photographed by Otis Jones. Edited by J.M. Johnson, III. Written by M.J. Bowling and Jerald B. Harkness. Produced and directed by Jerald B. Harkness.


STORMY WEATHER.
1943. 78 minutes. (V1354).
Musical. Directed by Andrew Stone.

Musical loosely based on the life of dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, played by Robinson himself. The film is a salute to the Robinson -- the story is mostly a skeleton to hang the song and dance routines on. The incredible cast also includes Lena Horne (singing what has become her anthem, "Stormy Weather"), Cab Calloway, Dooley Wilson, Fats Waller (singing and playing "Ain't Misbehavin'") Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Ada Brown, the Nicholas Brothers, and Katherine Dunham and her dance troupe.
Notes: Choreography by Clarence Robinson and Nick Castle. Script by Frederick Jackson and Ted Kohler.


STORY OF A THREE DAY PASS.
1967. 80 minutes.
In French with subtitles and in English. American Soldiers in France. Racism. Romantic Melodrama. African-American Directors. Directed by Melvin van Peebles.

A young black soldier, stationed in France undergoes racial prejudice from his white cohorts when he reports back from a three day pass. When the white soldiers run into him on the beach with a white Frenchwoman, they report back to their commander. After his return he is stripped of a new promotion and confined to his barracks. This is African-American director Melvin van Peebles' first directorial effort, one he had to go to France to receive when he got no where trying to work his way into the Hollywood scene. Van Peebles used a catch in French cultural statutes that permitted any French author a grant to make a film and received a film director's card. He wrote several novels, in French, to qualify and this film is a result of that effort. Story of a Three Day Pass is an impressionistic romantic drama with strong psycho-racial overtones. The young hero is an innocent abroad, one who has real, an imagined acts of racism committed against him. Harry Baird is an intelligent presence as the hero, but he is only so-so as an actor. Van Peebles imagery is interesting, and the structure of his story is fairly straight-forward, sometimes leaning to oversimplification of the complex themes of inter-racial love and racism the director wants to achieve. It is, however, a noteworthy debut for the man who was the first African-American filmmaker to break into the American movie mainstream. With: Nicole Berger, Christian Marin, Pierre Doris.
Notes: Photography by Michel Kelber. Music by Mickey Baker and Van Peebles. Written by Van Peebles.


STRAIGHT NO CHASER see THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT NO CHASER.


STRAIGHT OUT OF BROOKLYN.
1991. 83 minutes. (V2179).
Drama. African-American Filmmakers. Directed by Matty Rich.

Dennis Brown is a Brooklyn ghetto youth who has reached the end of his tether. The cycle of poverty and depression he sees around him makes him hunger for things quickly. His family and girl friend try to brake the young man's souped-up desires but fail. Dennis and his friends Kevin and Larry Love decide to rob a drug dealer. They are shocked to see that their nervously achieved heist yielded far more money than they expected -- and the wrath of the drug lord they stole from. This is one of a large number of film by young black filmmakers in 1991, one that received excellent notices. The young director-screenwriter, Matty Rich (who also plays the character of Larry Love) gathered a lot of attention for his youth (19 when he made the film) and the intensity of his feelings for making movies. Rich' s film is, however, more a sociological achievement than a cinematic one. It's a hell of an achievement by so young a man, but it is the work of a talented amateur. Rich has already begun, in interviews, to become a poseur, much like Spike Lee. His youthful anger is evident in this film, but like his pronouncements to the media, it has the hollow ring of a professional whiner. Like Lee, he doesn't just give us his work and let us come to our own conclusions, he wants us to take a stand in his corner no matter what. With: George T. Odom, Ann D. Sanders, Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. and Mark Malone.
Notes: Produced and written by Rich. Original Music composed by Harold Wheeler. Photographed by John Rosnell.


STRUGGLE & SUCCESS: THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN.
1993. 82 minutes.
Documentary. African-Americans in Japan. "From the remarks of prominent politicians to sambo dolls and 'darkie': toothpaste, the perception of most Americans is that the Japanese view African Americans and other ethnic minorities as inferior. These negative perceptions have led to anger and frustration among African Americans in the U.S. Ironically, despite the perception, some African Americans have made Japan their home and profess to find Japanese culture overall more tolerant than American culture. How can they find a home in Japan? What is it about Japanese culture that can generate such enthusiasm and passion? What are the internal conflicts African Americans must experience living in Japan." Among those interviewed: Lance Lee [entrepreneur], Mal Adams [communications industry], Teresa Williams [English Teacher], Paul Smith, [President, BFJ], Jonathan King [M.M.E. Japan], , Andre de Kordova [English teacher], Karen Hill Anton [writer], Rodney Johnson [Importer], Ronnie Rucker [composer], Panziellia Leslie [fashion designer], Hiromi Furukawa [President Black Studies Association of Japan], Lorraine and Yuji Suzuki [CEO Tir-Wall Corporation], John Russell [Anthropologists, author], and John Dower [Historian]
Notes: Produced and directed by Reggie Life. Narrated by Ossie Davis. Music by Paul Jackson. Produced with the support of the Japan Foundation, AFLAC and the Hose Bunka Kikin. Videographer, Hisazumi Shumazu. Translated by Mina Monden. Consultants include Michael Berger, Ken Chujo, John Dower, Sozo Honda, Mikio Kato and others.


SUGAR CANE ALLEY.
1984. 107 minutes In French with English subtitles. (V996).
Trinidad. Directed by Euzhan Palcy.

The story of a sensitive, mischievous boy and his determined grandmother, who knows that the boy's only chance at a better future lies in his getting a good education. Simple, direct and sentimental. The film is about the way the young man and his grandmother survive the exploitative culture of the Caribbean island of Martinique under colonialism. With: Darling Legitimus, Garry Cadenat, and Douta Seck.


SUPERFLY.
1972. 92 minutes. (V964).

Superfly is violent and has racist overtones. The introduction of the black pimp and/or drug dealer as a heroic savior is misguided and may have been, ultimately, one of the most damaging stereotypes to emerge from the 1970s. Still this is energetic moviemaking. The action is lively, the atmospherics appropriate. The undertones of sleaze, corruption, and desperation in this film don't go away too easily. This film, and Shaft created a whole new genre -- the black exploitation or blaxploitation film. Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, Jim Kelly, Isaac Hayes, Leon Isaac Kennedy and especially Fred Williamson became the biggest stars of the genre. (The genre is satirized in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka see below). With: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazer, Julius W. Harris and Charles MacGregor.
Notes: Screenplay by Philip Fenty. Cinematography by James Signorelli.


SWEET SWEETBACK'S BADASSSSS SONG.
1971. 98 minutes (V759).
Directed by Melvin Van Pebbles.

Melvin Van Pebbles was the first black director to gain attention in the general film community. His film The Story of a Three Day Pass was made in France on a grant from the French Cinema Institute. When he came to the U.S. the American public was astonished to discover that he was not a "French" director but a black American director working in France. Van Pebbles's films in the U.S. are not perfect cinema by any means. His first film for American audiences was the scatological and gamy cult classic Sweet Sweetback's Badasssssss Song. In that film Van Pebbles plays a pimp who, raised in a whore house, is the stereotype of black man as sexual superman. When white authorities begin looking for a radical in the ghetto he becomes an activist. He kills a man and becomes a folk hero on the run from "the man." There are genuinely shocking scenes in this film -- it is just short of being identifiable as pornography. The film opens with Sweetback as a boy being seduced by one of the hookers in the bordello -- the actor used is not more than 10 years of age -- but the image Van Pebbles establishes (that of the sexually prodigious black man) will probably prove too potent for some. Van Pebbles has created a work of genuine rage about race, sex and politics but despite its daring and cinematic qualities its didactic tone and art-for-art's-sake look have dated it somewhat. Recommended viewing only for the most daring. Music is by Earth, Wind and Fire.