Underplayed Gems

Harlem After Midnight (1934)

Harlem After Midnight poster
Directed by
Oscar Micheaux
Genre
silent film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 16m
Rated
NR
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

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The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Gangsters and henchmen in Harlem get tangled up in kidnappings and secrets. The film mixes tense drama with comedic nightclub scenes.

drama-filledtensehilariousatmosphericmysteriouslight-heartednoir-ishdated

What happens

Harlem After Midnight (1934) is an American black-and-white silent film directed by author and director Oscar Micheaux. A drama film, it featured an "all-colored cast". As in most of the films created by Micheaux there is an all-black casting for the drama film. It is a lost film. As this was a silent film the Bailey's Royal Theater accompanied it with music by Walter Barnes and his Royal Creolians. Many of the night club scenes were shot at the popular and most visited venues of this time where Micheaux hand-picked the leading cabaret singers in the film based on if they resembled the already set members of the cast. The settings of each scene were chosen by the producers to add in hilarity to the drama-filled and tense toned film. Harlem After Midnight is a film that focuses on gangsters, kidnapping and the drama that comes along with the streets of Harlem. Throughout the film there are hidden secrets that are directly related to the Negro gangsters and henchmen who all have an unsuspecting background in the nightclubs in the city of Harlem. The nightlife scenes in this film are described as an hilarious reflection of what the nightlife is actually like in Harlem and it plays a huge part in the theme of this film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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