The Betrayal

The Betrayal (1948)

The Unforgettable story of Martin Eden, young Negro man of Conquest, who built an agricultural empire in the Dakota Wilderness - with the strangest love story ever told!

In this film, African-American Leroy Collins struggles with the onus placed on him by Society when he falls in love with a white woman.

Date of release
1948-06-24
TMDB
9.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
3h 3m
Genres
Drama
Director
Oscar Micheaux

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Fort Lee

The Betrayal is a 1948 American race film written, produced, and directed by Oscar Micheaux. He adapted it from his 1943 novel The Wind From Nowhere.

Production

The Betrayal was adapted by Micheaux from his novel The Wind From Nowhere (1943), although the plot regarding racial identities in rural South Dakota was borrowed from The Homesteader (1919), Micheaux’s first film. The Betrayal marked Micheaux’s return to filmmaking after an eight-year absence following the release of The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940).

Micheaux shot The Betrayal at a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with location filming in Chicago.

Micheaux named his male lead Martin Eden in honor of the eponymous hero of the Jack London novel. Leroy Collins, a non-professional actor, was cast in the role when he came to the Chicago set seeking work as a stagehand and was spotted by one of Micheaux’s assistants. This was Collins’ first and only film appearance. Collins (1923-2013) later worked as a Chicago Public Schools administrator.

Myra Stanton, who played the role of Deborah Stewart, had modeled since the age of five. She had appeared in Ebony magazine in her teenage years and had only acted in school plays when Micheaux's wife, Alice B. Russell, called Stanton's mother with an invitation to audition for the film. Collins and Stanton fell in love during the filming and married soon after the film was done. The couple divorced four years later.

The Betrayal was self-financed by Micheaux. The director’s cut ran 195 minutes, however twelve minutes were cut for its commercial release.

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