Murder in Harlem (1935) User Reviews

Okay crime thriller is a bit too slow and creaky to be enjoyed fully

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 18 August 2007]

Black night watchman finds the body of a dead white woman on the job and is accused of the crime.

Good but unremarkable crime drama set interestingly in a world thats both black and white. Many of the so called race films have casts that are entirely black, here there is a mix, which is rather unique. The problem with the film is that although it was made in 1935 it moves and behaves like a film five or six years earlier. Its slow and creaky nature reminds me of a film like Sinister Hands or The Shadow Laughs.

Its a good little story but there is a good chance you'll get bored with it and start speeding through it (I did)

basically pretty bad, but a fascinating time capsule in certain respects

[storyguy · 4/10 · 26 July 2014]

Okay, in spite of what some of the other reviews may tell you, this is basically a really bad movie. But it is blessed with some features that make it sporadically fascinating in spite of its frequent bouts of ineptitude. First of all, the cast is not good. Some of the acting is painfully wooden, particularly from the leading lady. To give them their due, they've been handed some very stiff and unnatural dialogue. The best members of the cast clearly did some ad-libbing rather than stick to the clunky text.

It's also poorly directed and edited. This has nothing to do with the fact that it needs some significant restoration. It's also obvious that it was done on a shoestring budget, but that can't excuse all of its technical and artistic flaws. There is one scene where the camera attempts a simple maneuver, but then chops off the tops of the actors' heads and then jerkily and belatedly returns to a more workable composition. The script is an interesting mess -- very slow and dull in spots, but then weirdly non-linear and unpredictable in others. I couldn't tell if it was an early attempt at a Rashomon or Pulp Fiction- like experiment, or if it was merely disjointed and awkward. Perhaps a little of both.

But it's interesting for a few other reasons, one of which is the excellent musical interlude around the midpoint, when the leading lady visits a speakeasy. Willie "The Lion" Smith is among the performers, and the music is terrific. Surprisingly, the technical quality of the soundtrack is not bad.

I also liked it for some of its fairly raw explanation of the race relations of the era. It's quite up front about the fact that blacks are second-class citizens, and everyone agrees that a black man who turns to the police for any sort of help is basically a chump. None of the many slicker and better movies of the era would have been so blunt about these sorts of things.

Anyway, it's good weird fun to watch, if you can get past the dullest scenes (the endless sequence between the boss at the chemical plant and the watchman he bribes comes to mind). Some of the bad acting is hilarious enough to be worth the effort.

Murder in Harlem was an okay Oscar Micheaux mystery drama

[tavm · 6/10 · 9 February 2019]

Just watched this Oscar Micheaux-directed movie on YouTube. Based on the Mary Phagan murder case of which a Leo Frank was the accused one, a black night watchman sees a dead white woman on his rounds, and first tries to call his boss. Somehow the police find out and this particular watchman gets arrested even though he says he didn't do it. I'll stop there and just say the story goes back to before the beginning quite a few times which may get you confused as the narrative goes on if you're not paying enough attention. Some of the performances seem stiff but Alec Lovejoy, playing Lem Hawkins, seems somewhat of a comic relief when he does some of his kowtowing to his white boss or does a good acting turn expressing concern about what his possible fate might be if he doesn't follow orders. There's also some good musical numbers whenever there's a restaurant scene. The print I saw on YouTube skipped some frames but for the most part, I understood what was going on. In summary, Murder in Harlem was an okay murder mystery drama.

Good Race Picture

[Michael_Elliott · 13 February 2017]

Murder in Harlem (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A black watchman is doing his rounds when he stumbles across the body of a white woman. He calls the police but he's eventually arrested for the crime. Soon a lawyer is on his case trying to find out who was really behind the crime.

MURDER IN HARLEM is a fairly entertaining race film from director Oscar Micheaux who was of course the leading black director during this period. A lot of times the race films from this era didn't feature any white people but that's not the case here as the director was allowed a pretty good cast as well as an interesting story to work with.

Obviously, the director was still hampered with a very low-budget that didn't allow much technical advantages. The cinematography is the biggest issue here and especially during a few scenes where the camera zooms towards the actors, cuts off the top of their heads and then has to re-arrange the shot. Of course, normally you'd be asking for a second take but that wasn't possible when you're working with this type of budget.

The one big advantage this film had over several of the early sound films from Micheaux is that the performances were very good. Dorothy Van Engle gets most of the praise for her performance as the girlfriend and rightfully so as she comes across quite strong and certainly helps carry the picture. Clarence Brooks, Andrew Bishop and Alec Lovejoy all add very good support.

MURDER IN HARLEM is a very good example of a race movie that could have been so much more had it had the budget and technical advantages of what was going on in Hollywood. As it stands, the film is certainly very much worth watching but one can only think of what it could have been.

The Alpha Video edition is practically unwatchable

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 26 December 2008]

Do NOT assume from my score of 1 that this is a terrible movie. What I saw of it wasn't too bad for a Black-produced film of the 1930s. The problem, however, is that it was released by Alpha Video--possibly the worst producers of DVDs you can find!! Like so many of their other releases, this film is a horrible print and desperately needs to be restored--and Alpha, as usual, has done NOTHING to clean up the print and piece it back together properly. It was really frustrating when again and again, scenes would "chop"--with chunks missing and the scene abruptly changing. I know the original film couldn't have looked like that!! And yet, this happens throughout the film and makes viewing and enjoying it next to impossible. I sure hope that some other video company releases the film after some restoration work--it was interesting and I really wanted to finish it, but couldn't because the print was THAT bad.

By the way, HARLEM RIDES THE RANGE is also on the same DVD. While its print is very fuzzy, it is watchable and doesn't have chunks missing like in MURDER IN HARLEM. It's one of five Black Westerns starring Herb Jeffries in an attempt to create an African-American version of Gene Autry for Black-owned theaters. It's not an especially good film, but very important historically and worth a peek.

Also, some time back MURDER IN HARLEM was on DVD from Westlake Entertainment and I assume their copy must be better. Sadly, Westlake is no longer selling the DVD according to Amazon.

Murder In Harlem

[a_baron · 7/10 · 1 December 2015]

Before watching this film and certainly before judging it, there are things you should bear in mind. First, the quality of the actual celluloid leaves much to be desired, and the film jumps in places. Secondly, although by 1935 blacks had already made an enormous impact on American popular culture, this was primarily through music. Oscar Micheaux, who made this, was a rarity, so although by 2015 standards this low budget monochrome leaves much to be desired, it was not a bad effort for the son of a slave, even if he had been making films for more than a decade.

Yes, the script is a bit wooden, and the extended absurd cameo at the beginning about the book salesman is superfluously irrelevant and then some, but this was based on Micheaux's own experience. The film itself is a thinly veiled reworking of the murder of Mary Phagan by Leo Frank. Although there have been repeated attempts over the past hundred years to absolve Frank of this crime and put the blame on his Negro sidekick, the complete documentation from the case has now been placed on-line, and it is difficult to conclude otherwise than that fanciful as Jim Conley's story may sound, he was telling the truth.

That being said, certain agenda-driven special interest groups continue to beat the drum of anti-Semitism, with the absurd implication that in 1913 a low class Negro was higher up the food chain than a white, college educated businessman. Those same mischief-makers were very active when this film was made, so it is possible that the twist in the end of the story was formulated by Micheaux to avoid problems with distribution.

Curio Piece with a Lot to Unpack

[arfdawg-1 · 2/10 · 14 February 2023]

This is a film you'd want to watch only as a curio piece. It's not very well acted or directed. It's been recently restored, and in the public domain, so you can get your hands on a very clean copy if you so desire.

Most people don't know this: the story is based on a true story, only the guy was a white Jew engineer who in 1912 was wrongly convicted of killing a 16 year old girl at his shop. His sentence was ultimately commuted, but then he was lynched by some prominent people -- like the former governor of Georgia and a former mayor!

The affair spurred on the creation of the Jewish anti-defamation league! Now, this movie obviously appropriated a lot of the true storyline and compacted it into a detective sort of movie.

It's very slow, and somewhat boring, overall, but the historical value is that it was made by an all black film company which made maybe 45-ish films over the years targeted to the US black population and shown in black only movie theatres.

An interesting observation for these films is that the black population is nearly always depicted as a rainbow of different character types, middle class, hucksters, family oriented, etc, -- not a bunch of thugs like most black themed movies of today.

Sort of refreshing, even if the movie itself is relatively boring.

Micheaux's take o the Leo Frank murder case

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 19 July 2023]

"I'm all by myself, free, sugar-cured, and single." "Hot diggity dog, right down my alley."

Oscar Micheaux's take on a real-life murder case from 1913, in which Leo Frank, a factory manager in Georgia, was convicted of the murder of a recently laid-off machine operator, Mary Phagan, who was just 13 years old (and had been working since age 10). The case was notorious in its era, especially when a mob of some of Georgia's prominent citizens kidnapped Frank from prison and lynched him, outraged over his death sentence having been commuted. He was Jewish, you see, and antisemitic sentiment ran high. Adding to the ugly event, the murderers and those around them brazenly sold postcards and souvenirs from the lynching afterwards, which apparently sold like hotcakes. Woven into the case were a couple of African American men, Newt Lee (the night watchman who discovered the body), and Jim Conley (the janitor who was convicted of being an accomplice after the fact, but who many modern day historians believe may have committed the crime).

It's certainly a fascinating case on which to base a film, and Micheaux had done so previously in his lost silent version, The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921). As disentangling the conflicting accounts of what had happened from the principals was complicated in real-life, Micheaux shows us multiple versions of the events ala Kurosawa's Rashomon. While the recounting of the murder in flashback was tediously drawn out in places, overall the storytelling was reasonably good, and helped considerably by the acting and costuming were a step above some of Micheaux's lower-budget efforts in the sound era. The women in particular were strong, starting with the sister of the night watchman (Dorothy Van Engle), who showed great range in a role that was intelligent, empowered, and sweetly seductive. Also wonderful in smaller parts were the sassy prostitute who lived next door (Bee Freeman), the wise maid (unknown, argh), and the murder victim herself (sadly also unknown).

As with many of Micheaux's other efforts, there are breaks with little musical interludes to liven things up, something I love about his films. Here, look for the tap dancer whose shiny satin outfit is set off by the dark background at 46:14, and Eunice Wilson performing "Harlem Rhythm Dance" at 53:36.

One of the things the films captures is just how much danger black people faced at the hint of being involved in violence against whites. The night watchman (Lorenzo McClane) is immediately suspected and understands the grave potential consequences early on. Later, the janitor (Alec Lovejoy) is shown to be coerced into helping cover up the crime for the factory manager (Andrew S. Bishop). While his character snivels annoyingly and even does a little jig when tossed a quarter, we feel how powerless he is, and how Micheaux sympathized with him. As part of his extended flashback while on the witness stand, he's in his boss's office with him for literally 13 minutes, which was far too long, though I did smile when he broke the fourth wall to tell the viewer "That white man's got something up his sleeve." That also mirrored the night watchman breaking the fourth wall to stare at the viewer when he finds the body early on, conveying a knowing sense of dread over the trouble he could be in as a black man standing over a dead white woman.

The fictional framing device of the author turned detective (Clarence Brooks) and his encounter with night watchman's sister in the first half hour felt weirdly glued on to this story, and was probably unnecessary. More unfortunate was making Phagan older, and inventing a vindictive, jealous boyfriend, one who says "D*** b****, you" upon finding her, and then strangles her unconscious body. It was ludicrous and muddled the story, even if I liked the little Leopold and Loeb reference slipped in by the boy who initially informed the detective about him.

The biggest sin, however, was in making Leo Frank white instead of Jewish, and by making him ultimately not guilty of anything beyond covering up the crime, finding a way of leaving out the horrific real-life lynching. Just imagine if Micheaux had confronted the antisemitism as bravely as had confronted the racism against black people, and had told the story in a simpler way, true to the facts (and accepting his view that the night watchman and janitor were both innocent). This could have been a masterpiece. Maybe he had conflicted feelings about Frank's conviction, and that's why he invented the character of the boyfriend. Regardless, I think he missed the most compelling part of the story, the lynching, sacrificing it for lesser things.

More qualities than drawbacks in this crime film by black pioneer Oscar Micheaux

[guisreis · 7/10 · 25 February 2023]

The script is not tight, as there are unnecessary long parts and it is sometimes confusing. However, the general crime story is amusing and quite important, as it addresses serious issues together the parallel (and underdevelopped) love story: structural racism that make the black and the poor as being seen as suspucious and not owners of civil rights. Oscar Micheaux was a black pioneer in cinema in the United States, and his cinegraphy does matter. I may add that this particular film by him is much more interesting than most of the early mainstream white-made flicks produced in Hollywood under authoritarian Hays Code then and through subsequent years. The casting (mostly but not entirely black, what was interesting and unusual those years) has an acceptable, but not very skilled, performance. Sometimes, they seemed artificial and mechanic while saying their lines, and that includes the actors and actress in the leading roles: Clarence Brooks, Dorothy Van Engle and Andrew Bishop. There is, however, a great exception: Alec Lovejoy did a great job, with a very expressive and convincing performance, mostly as a comic relief but als with drama moments.

Murder in Harlem by Oscar Micheaux is a must see!!!

[Immanuel-6 · 8/10 · 2 January 2006]

I believe that Oscar Micheaux is one of the most prolific and uncredited Director of our time. Today, many do not know about this African American Director who became the First Independent African American Movie Director. Oscar Micheaux had his own marketing machine when it came to production of his movies. Beginning in the 1920s, Oscar Micheaux began to create a new market, the African American movie goer.

Not only did he make "Murder in Harlem" on a shoestring budget, he also made movies that dealt with the era. Oscar Micheaux singlehandedly got African-American movie goers into the movie houses. Oscar Micheaux taught the new cinema goer what they should expect from a movie. Micheaux addressed African American life in his movies and gave the viewer something to be proud of. Yes, in some of his movies we saw characters such as Lincoln Perry (the lazy servant character), but we also saw strong professional characters such as: Robert Earl Jones (Father of Actor James Earl Jones),William Graves (The Attorney Actor), Lorenzo Tucker (Movie Heartthrob) and Francine Everett(Our African American Beauty).

Too some viewers, "Murder in Harlem" isn't one of Micheaux' best efforts, however, to me, Micheaux played to the themes of life in Harlem. Affluence and Poverty, Professional Life and the Underworld. Good vs. Evil. See this movie when you get a chance!!!

Valuable from a history-of-film perspective

[steiner-sam · 7/10 · 6 February 2023]

It's film noir from an early African American movie producer. It's set in 1932 and 1935 in Harlem, New York. It tells the story of the murder of a white woman initially blamed on an African American watchman at the factory.

In 1935 Arthur Vance (Lorenzo McClane) was one of two African American watchmen at a chemical company in Harlem. The company's director, Anthony Brisbane (Andrew S. Bishop), asks him to come to the office briefly in the afternoon but then sends him home and tells him to return at 6:00 pm. Later on his shift, Vance discovers the body of a young white woman. The police and several notes at the scene point the finger at him.

The film then flashes back to 1932, where we meet African American Henry Glory (Clarence Brooks) selling a novel he authored door-to-door. Misunderstanding the directions of a buyer who recommends a potential purchaser across the street, Henry arrives at a different door and meets and is attracted to Claudia Vance (Dorothy Van Engle), a good-looking young woman who also buys a book. Unfortunately, next door to Claudia's apartment is a place run by the Catbird (Bee Freeman), a shady operation. On a later visit, Henry is robbed and thinks Claudia has set him up.

Back in 1935, we learn that Claudia is Arthur Vance's brother. Henry Glory is now an attorney, and Claudia asks him to represent Arthur. Together, they try to solve the mystery. We meet the other watchman, Lem (Alec Lovejoy), the white woman who was murdered, and her volatile boyfriend.

"Murder in Harlem" is valuable from a history-of-film perspective. The acting is clunky, and the surviving film has a few gaps that make some scenes choppy. But the movie includes some awesome African American music of the era. Oscar Micheaux is the earliest essential African American movie producer, beginning in the silent film era.

Dorothy Van Engle is tops. She was the first "lady" on the screen not Lena Horne!

[msladysoul · 8/10 · 17 December 2004]

An interesting movie. You may have to watch it a few times to really understand and seem interesting, it took quite a few times because at first it seemed boring but since I'm understand Micheaux and his actors and actresses...I get it.

The movie is about a black night watchman who's accused of killing a white girl which he didn't do but the watchman and his boss(who done it) try to put it on another watchman which is Claudia's brother played by Dorothy Van Engle and she along with Henry Glory try to bring her brother justice. Dorothy provides Henry with the determination and will to clear her brother and in love all the time, Henry and Claudia profess their love.

Dorothy Van Engle light shines throughout all this movie. She's the most appealing and most beautiful of Black Cinema and movie history period. Dorothy could of rivaled the leading white ladies of Hollywood if Hollywood wasn't so afraid for Dorothy fit the beauty standards and acting talents of Hollywood. Dorothy Van Engle was the first black woman on screen to be glamorous and elegant not Lena Horne, a coincidence is Lena and Dorothy were friends as children. If I was to compare, Dorothy Van Engle, I would say is the Black Dolores del Rio or vice versa. Dorothy has the sweetness of Ruby Keeler, the glamour and impeccable dressing of a Kay Francis(Van Engle made her own clothes for the movies she was in) and appeal, charm, and naturalness of a Myrna Loy. Dorothy Van Engle was the first positive black woman on the screen. Intelligent, smart, ambitious, sure, spoke proper English but wasn't snooty and still possessed the Black heritage. Dorothy's body language, gestures, attitudes were right on time. You forgot her color and look at her talent, the same you would a white actors and actress. The best parts are the nightclub scenes where Van Engle really is exuberant and sensational Eunice Wilson who is always a treat to see sing and dance and in her few scenes, she was called, the best of the female dancers in the 1930's. She also was in a few black cinema movies, especially in the first movie made in color by blacks. Clarence Brooks plays his role fine. All this wasn't seen in Hollywood or even today with Blacks. So audiences were very appreciative of Black Cinema and its actors and actresses for providing them with role models. These types of films gave Blacks chances to play substantial roles and sparked an interest in wanna be actors and actresses in Black Cinema instead of begging Hollywood for a chance they never would get. Most didn't make a lot in Black Cinema but became movie stars with the Black Press giving them publicity, but the best parts were they could be dignified, respectful, classy, beauty, able to tell a story and challenge the stereotypes in a movie which would use their talents favorably.

Before you judge....

[tnrcooper · 8/10 · 6 November 2013]

This is the first movie directed by an African-American man. Done in 1935, it was exceedingly difficult for him to find places to film it, to put together financing, and to get any sort of distribution. See the movie for its historical importance.

The theme of the film, based on the case of Leo Frank, deals with a black man being railroaded for a murder he didn't commit. There is some great acting in the film, particularly from Alec Lovejoy as the man who covers for his boss. The heroine of the film, Claudia, played by Dorothy Van Engle is graceful and cool as the sister who rightfully believes in her brother's innocence and will fight for it. In a just world, she would have been a massive star. She shines effortlessly in every scene she's in. Also noteworthy is the woman at the end of the film who is bursting with a desire to tell detectives what she knows. She offers a powerfully restrained confession.

There is some excellent work here. The version I downloaded from Archive.org was poorly lighted in places and had some skipping in the middle, but it's still a powerful indictment of the cynicism of a white factory owner who will sell his black employees out in a New York minute, regardless of their involvement. The greatest credit should go to Micheaux who had to move heaven and earth to get this film made and distributed - an honor which cannot be taken from him.

The 51 Year Old Oscar Micheaux

[Single-Black-Male · 30 October 2003]

This film was the inspiration for Micheaux to write 'The Story of Dorothy Stanfield' eleven years later. The story is actually about her husband, Nathan Stanfield, who is living in hard times as a black medical doctor. It touches some very sensitive issues.

Entertaining Race-Based Mystery

[gregberne11 · 8/10 · 31 August 2019]

This is a good story with surprisingly good acting in it. A black night watchman finds the body of a white woman, and after he reports it he becomes a suspect in her murder. Not the best mystery ever but a good one for its time.