The Duke Is Tops 1938  N/R, 72 min.
Genre: Musical
aka: The Bronze Venus
Director: William L. Nolte
Cast: Ralph Cooper, Lena Horne, Laurence Criner, Monte Hawley, Vernon McCalla, Edward Thompson, Neva Peoples, Charles Hawkins, Johnny Taylor, Everett Brown
The team of Duke and Ethel (Ralph Cooper and Lena Horne) splits up when Ethel gets a chance to perform in a Broadway show. But when that fails, Duke steps in to bail her out. Not much good can be said about the dialogue, but the music is good. Lena Horne's screen debut highlights this film–one of many with an all-Black cast that were made exclusively for their own audiences.
|  | |
Freckles Comes Home 1942  N/R, 63 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Johnny Downs, Gale Storm, Mantan Moreland, Irving Bacon, Bradley Page, Betty Blythe, Marvin Stephens, Walter Sande, Max Hoffman Jr., Laurence Criner, John Ince, Gene O'Donnell
Freckles (Johnny Downs) arrives home from college with big plans for himself and his hometown. But he begins with a rough start when gangsters have holed up in town with the intent of robbing the bank. Freckles must deal with the situation while also dealing with his sweetheart, Jane (Gale Storm). Based on Gene Stratton-Porter's stories.
| | |
Gang's All Here 1941 N/R, 63 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: In the Night
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland, Marcia Mae Jones, Keye Luke, Jackie Moran, Irving Mitchell, Ed Cassidy, Pat Gleason, Jack Kenney, Laurence Criner, Paul Bryar, Jack Ingram, Robert Homans
Young truck drivers Frankie (Frankie Darro) and Jefferson (Mantan Moreland) work for a firm that is being put out of business by a rival that forces trucks off the road and then hijacks the contents. Frankie, Jefferson, and their friends Chick and Patsy (Jackie Moran and Marcia Mae Jones) decide to take action.
| | |
King of the Zombies 1941 N/R, 67 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Cast: Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer, Patricia Stacey, Guy Usher, Marguerite Whitten, Leigh Whipper, Madame Sul-Te-Wan, James Davis, Laurence Criner
A U.S. agent, his pilot, and his man-servant are sent to the Caribbean to locate an admiral whose plane crashed. They also crash on a tiny island where a German doctor is making zombies out of the inhabitants through hypnosis. He had also caused the admiral's plane to crash, planning to hypnotize the admiral and then extract secrets from him. But our heroes stop that nonsense in this World War II propaganda film–though the U.S. had not yet entered the war.
| | |
| 1. The Duke Is Tops (1938)
aka: The Bronze Venus
2. Freckles Comes Home (1942)
3. Gang's All Here (1941)
aka: In the Night
4. King of the Zombies (1941)
In The News
|
