The Emperor Jones

 (1933)
Directed by Dudley Murphy
Written by DuBose Heyward, based on the play by Eugene O'Neill
Starring Paul Robeson, Dudley Diggs, Frank H. Wilson
IMDB Entry

Some actors are legends, and in some cases, this is because few have seen them. Paul Robeson was certainly the best Black actor of the 1930s and 40s,* but Hollywood of that era being what it was, he didn't get many opportunities to star. The Emperor Jones, while technically not a Hollywood film, is one of those few, and he shows how spectacular an actor he could be.

Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson) is hired to be a Pullman porter, but he quickly goes onto the wrong path, gambling and carrying on with various women. During a crap game, he accidently kills Jeff (Frank H. Wilson) and is sent to work on a chain gang.  He strikes and kills a guard who is beating another prisoner, and goes on the run, getting a job as a stoker on a steamship. When it passes a Caribbean island, he jumps ship and joins up with the trader Smithers (Dudley Digges) who helps him to become ruler of the Island. Power goes to his head, until he is deposed and his descends into madness.

The movie is a classical tragedy of a man destroyed by his hubris. Robeson is definitely impressive and you get the impression he would have made a great heroic actor if times were different. Digges is also impressive and the scheming trader who realizes that Jones has gone too far -- but can't convince him of that.

Despite its origin as a play by one of America's greatest playwrights, Hollywood wasn't interested in filming it due to the all-Black cast,** so a couple of independent producers took it up. The movie flopped, though, probably because it wouldn't play in Southern theaters. There is also some scenes and words that are problematic these days.

On a larger level, there is a lot on condescension and clear racial attitudes of the time that wouldn't fly today (and shouldn't have flown even back then), so it can be difficult to watch these days.***  But Robson is a compelling presence throughout and it was worth it to see him in a leading role.

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*He also was an All-American football player.

**Smithers is the only white character of note.

***Though not even in the same ballpark as Wonder Bar.