Murder on Lenox Ave. (1941)
1941 · Feature film · 65 min · dir. Arthur Dreifuss
The rackets exposed!
- Drama
Synopsis
Dramatic events in a Harlem apartment house center around Pa Wilkins, chosen by the Better Business League to replace their ousted, crooked leader Marshall...who wants revenge; and Pa's ward Jim Bracton, a two-timing Romeo whose affairs are coming to a crisis. And hanging around is Marshall's murderous junkie henchman, Lomax. Will it all end in someone's being killed?
Synopsis from TMDb
Details
- Director
- Arthur Dreifuss
- Writer
- Frank Wilson
- Composer
- Donald Heywood
- Cinematography
- George Webber
- Studio
- Colonnade Pictures Corporation
- Released
- 1941-01-01
- Running time
- 65 minutes
Cast & crew
Arthur Dreifuss Director- Mamie Smith
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★ · But why that title? · The_Emperor_Of_Television · 2013-07-24
Lots of plot. Musical numbers are a mixed bag though. Most of the cast seem to do a good job.
★★★ · More Like Soap Opera on Lenox Avenue · Christine Hennig · 2004-08-19
From its title, you would think that this all-black cast movie was a murder mystery, but it isnÂt. ItÂs really more of a soap opera, with more subplots than you can shake a stick at, including several interlocking romantic triangles, and an unwed mother who kills herself, though the main story seems to be about an upstanding fellow who tries to eliminate graft from the Harlem Better Business Society. Although there are several rather stereotyped comic relief characters, and one of the bad guys is a really poorly-done hunchback, for the most part this has a realistic feel. And even though the…
★★★ · Mamie Smith · jimelena · 2005-11-01
The reason to watch this movie is Mamie Smith who plays Hattie. Mamie was the first female to record the blues in the 1920s, "Crazy Blues" for Okeh records. She does not really cut loose in this movie but we do get to hear her wonderful voice. "Crazy Blues" is one the most important recordings for what was known as race records, it was heard on white radios and sold over 2 million copies. So,watching this movie is watching American music history, sort of. Most early blues artists were never caught on film. The film, while investigating crime a racketeering ring is discovered and lots of chaos…
★ · Don't dig this no kinda way · Jahlaune · 2007-04-14
I dont know about any body else but this film was made in the late 1930s early forties. Me and My grandmother ( aged 83) who by the way says it played at the Apollo and she remembers it was kind of draggy then too and that cost her a whole dime! (lol)Aordingtoher and her memeory is sharp. She lived on Edgecombe ave at the time. Mamie Smith was like a has been by the time this movie was out. She was a grown woman when she made Crazy blues and it was old by the time my mother was a teen but mamie, was with the Moe Gale Agency and her and ralph Cooper ( the emee atthe Apollo were always making…
