The Darktown Revue (1931)
With a series of long takes and frontal camera set-ups, Micheaux provides a record of several cabaret acts, using intertitles to separate the individual numbers. This quietly outrageous film begins with the high-toned Heywood Choir singing "Watermelon time" and concludes with Amon Davis playing a preacher using heavy blackface. Amon Davis was known as "the Back Biting Comedian, Par Excellence", and his sermon is one of Micheaux's many notable send-ups of the clergy.
- Date of release
- 1931-01-31
- TMDB
- 4.3 / 10 (6)
- Runtime
- 18m
- Genres
- Comedy, Music
- Director
- Oscar Micheaux
Casting
Interesting facts
Darktown Revue (1931) is an 18-minute American Pre-Code short film by Oscar Micheaux, his first short venture into sound film. The dances and ensembles were co-directed by Leonard Harper and the picture was shot along with their feature-length all-black talkie, The Exile. As in many early talkies, the camera-work is extremely static. The film included choral singing and several vaudeville acts, including the comedy duo of Tim Moore and Andrew Tribble doing a routine about a haunted house.
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