The Black King
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bud Pollard
A. B. Comethiere
Vivianne Baber
Knolly Mitchell
Dan Michaels
Mary Jane Watkins
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Soon after being forced out of the Rise and Shine Baptist Church in Logan, Mississippi, by newcomer Deacon Charcoal Johnson, the kindhearted, old Deacon Jones dies of a broken heart. Troubled by the takeover, Mary Lou Lawton, one of the parishoners, tells her boyfriend, Sug Jackson, that Johnson is nothing but a crooked backslider. When Johnson holds a meeting at the Masonic Hall to lead the "Back to Africa Movement," promising his parishoners great fortune on the African continent, Sug informs white judge Allan Lee that Johnson is planning to take workers off the plantations. The judge orders the sheriff to raid the meeting, and in the confusion, Johnson flees with the parishoners' money. He takes refuge at Mary Lou's house, where he proposes marriage to her. Sug tries to help Mary Lou, but she resents his forceful manner and takes the side of the desperate Johnson. Soon, a crowd of angry parishoners gathers at Mary Lou's demanding a return of their money, and when they storm her bedroom, they find that Johnson has fled. Time passes, and Johnson and Mary Lou turn up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Johnson has established himself as a reigning religious sovereign, calling himself the Emperor of the United States of Africa, and Mary Lou is his queen. Johnson and Mary Lou expand their empire and travel to Kansas City and Chicago, where they are feted by the city's social elite. Meanwhile, attorney Stephen Carmichael and his associates decide that Johnson is gaining too much influence in the black community and vow to put a stop to his movement. After failing in his attempt to lure Mary Lou away from Johnson by disrupting a parade in his honor, Sug pleads with her not to board the ship bound for Africa and tells her that he loves her. A grand farewell ceremony for those about to depart to Africa is stormed by Sug and his pals, who threaten to explode the place unless he is heard. When the room falls silent, Sug exposes Johnson's lies, telling the crowd that no country has agreed to accept them. The crowd then turns on Johnson, who is immediately deposed, and Sug and Mary Lou embrace in a kiss.
Director
Bud Pollard
Cast
A. B. Comethiere
Vivianne Baber
Knolly Mitchell
Dan Michaels
Mary Jane Watkins
Harry Gray
Lorenzo Tucker
Freeman Fairley
Ismay Andrews
Trixie Smith
Crew
Marc S. Asch
Jos. A. Bannon
Gerre Barton
Brooks
Henry Thacker Burleigh
Dal Clawson
Anthony Continer
Donald Heywood
Lester Lang
Morris M. Levinson
Morris M. Levinson
Charles P. Nasca
Armand Schettini
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A working title for this film was Empire, Inc. The viewed print bore the title Harlem Big Shot, which May have been a theatrical re-release title. The actor portraying Judge Lee was the only white member of the cast. The film was billed as a satirical portrayal of Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, who was convicted of fraud in 1925 and was deported to his native Jamaica following the commutation of his sentence by President Calvin Coolidge. Stars A. B. Comethiere and Vivianne Baker were well-known stage players. According to contemporary sources, the movie was produced by the white-run Southland Pictures Corp. as the first in a series of films with "all-colored casts." The company made no further pictures following the failure of The Black King.
Miscellaneous Notes
b&w
"Black King", produced by an independent white-run film company, satirizes the "Back to Africa" movement begun by shipping enterpreneur Marcus Garvey.
