DARK MANHATTAN (1937)
Leading man Ralph Cooper also co-produced this ambitious all-Black film about ruthless gangster Curly Thorpe's (Cooper) rise in the numbers racket. This modest yet effective drama emphasizes interpersonal conflict and betrayal over the violence that was surging in mainstream Hollywood gangster films of the day. Renowned Black actor Clarence Brooks plays the mob boss Thorpe pushes aside. Cooper's good looks and charisma led him into cinema as well as a career as originator and master of ceremonies of "Amateur Night" at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Cooper wrote and starred in other race films and served as a "special consultant" for Francis Ford Coppola's film THE COTTON CLUB in 1984. Maya Cade wrote, "This film reimagines the Hollywood gangster film but with an emphasis on the Black gaze." DIR Harry L. Fraser; SCR/PROD George Randol; PROD Ralph Cooper. U.S., 1937, b&w, 70 min. NOT RATED
New DCP restored in 2023 by the Library of Congress in cooperation with the Academy Film Archive. Sound restoration by Audio Mechanics.
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