Harlem on the Prairie (1937) User Reviews

Well worth seeing, if only for Herb Jeffries and Mantan Moreland

[morrisonhimself · 8/10 · 6 October 2022]

In many ways, "Harlem on the Prairie" is just a standard B Western. However, it has more music, and real music, than other Westerns.

With Mantan Moreland's presence, well, we know there will be comedy. He is partnered with F. E. Miller, billed here as Flournoy Miller, who apparently was better known at that time, 1937.

Jeffries, billed as "Jeffrey," made a series of "Bronze Buckaroo" movies, mostly very low budget, and showing it, but his singing made them all worth watching.

Most of the other players aren't well known today, but the actor playing the villain in this entry, Maceo Bruce Sheffield, would be a scene-stealer in any A picture from a bigger studio. He gives an excellent performance.

By no means a great movie, it is still much more than just watchable. The singers are among the best I've ever heard on film, the direction is good, as in fact are the production values generally.

The script gives the players some clever dialogue, too.

I couldn't help shaking my head while watching, thinking about the stupidity of racial separation. So many show biz and sports performers never given the chance to show just how talented they were, depriving them of their rightful place, and depriving everyone else of the chance to see and admire quality, skill, and professionalism.

"Harlem on the Prairie" played on TCM Wednesday evening, 5 October 2022, and naturally there were the usual divisive comments. I've learned that often, maybe usually, these days it's best to ignore the TCM host comments and just watch the movie.

"Harlem on the Prairie" is iconic. It gives us a taste of what could have been. I hope you get a chance to see it.

Good B Western

[boblipton · 6/10 · 6 October 2022]

Herb Jeffries stars in the first of four oaters. He faces off against Maceo Bruce Sheffield and his henchmen to rescue pretty Consuelo Harris. Musical accompaniment is by two quartets, including The Four Tones, a Mills-Brothers type of group. Comic relief is a two-act of F. E. Miller (who also gets a writing credit) and Mantan Moreland. Moreland sees a bit overawed by Miller, who had quite a resume on Broadway, including writing the book for "Shuffle Along"; with his partner, Aubrey Lyles, he had his Broadway debut in 1907.

The camerawork by William Hyer is good, and the dialogue is far more naturalistic than most race films. Except for the all-black cast, it's simply a good B western. With it, it's a bit of a landmark.

Giving this movie a 10 is like buying a Dior dress for a pig!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 6 December 2008]

HARLEM ON THE PRAIRIE is an interesting film since few today realize that in America in the 1920s, 30s and 40s there was a small Black film industry that made films for Black-only theaters. Unfortunately, Hollywood had no interest in making films for Black Americans and Blacks were also not allowed in many municipalities to enter White movie theaters. To make things worse, the Black-owned theaters often had a hard time getting Hollywood films as they were the last theaters to receive Hollywood films. So, because of availability problems and the Black audience's desire to see Black actors, hundreds (if not thousands) of low-budget Black films were made for this niche market. Today it is very, very rare to see these films on TV and the last time any serious effort was made to make them available to the public was in the 1980s when the BET network showed them regularly. So at least historically speaking this is an important film and one that might have some interest despite its cheap production values.

The style of HARLEM ON THE PRAIRIE is much like that of its contemporary White B-Westerns. Here, the very light-skinned and tall Herb Jeffries plays a character much like Gene Autry, Tex Ritter or John Wayne in his B days (as either "Singing Sandy" or one of "The Three Mesquiteers"). In fact, the film's plot and structure are all right out of the B-Western play book! The problems are that these Hollywood Westerns are pretty forgettable AND that HARLEM is significantly cheesier and, well, dumber. The acting (apart from Jeffries) is generally terrible and the film seems like it was made by complete amateurs. Plus, the inclusion of Mantan Moreland and dark-skinned villains didn't do much to improve the self-image of Black America.

Now I noticed that there is one other review and they gave the film a 10. Now I usually don't criticize other reviewers, but this seems like a good time to make an exception to my usual rule. As my summary says, giving this film a 10 is like buying a Dior dress for a pig--it's THAT inappropriate since it's such a bad film. While it's not quite as terrible as Harry and Michael Medved say in their book "The Golden Turkey Awards", it sure is poor and is only of interest for its historical value or perhaps to laugh at the ineptness of the project. Heck, even if this was a decent film (which it's not), giving any series B-Western a 10 seems ridiculous.

Amazingly, even though this is a rather dreadful film, Jeffries went on to make several more Westerns. As for his abilities, he was an excellent actor and you wander what sort of career he would have had if prejudice didn't limit his career options. Also, while perhaps hard to believe, last I checked Jeffries is still alive and well--and 97 years old! Good luck Mr. Jeffries--you were a great trailblazer.

Mantan Moreland & Herb Jeffries

[hhbooker2 · 10/10 · 5 May 2002]

Greetings & Salutations! Who can ever forget the 6'7" African-American cowboy actor and singer, Herb Jeffries alongside 5'2" actor and comedian, Mantan Moreland who plays a cook in "Harlem Rides the Range," "Harlem On the Prairie," "The Bronze Buckeroo," and "Two Gun Man from Harlem," along with Spencer Williams, Junior? Herb knew that there needed to be black heroes for African-American youth as it was a fact historically that there were many black cowboys in the old American West, so he created a cowboy character in the mold of Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, Spade Cooley, and others. While Herb made four all-black cast and directed movies, Mantan was in "Frontier Scout" (1938), "Viva Cisco Kid" (1940), "Drums of the Desert" (1940), "Mystery of the Riverboat" (1944), and many others. Both Herb and Mantan deserve stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!