Murder on Lenox Avenue

Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

I'd be the biggest liar in the world if I told you that I knew what this movie was about. There seems to be at least four different story lines going on as well as various musical numbers. One subplot deals with a couple men fighting after who knows what. There's another subplot about a girl torn between two men and of course her father wants her to marry the one she doesn't love. Then there's some union propaganda going on to close things out.

MURDER ON LENOX AVENUE has the title and the poster of some sort of crime film but the crime doesn't happen until the closing seconds so I'm pretty sure people in 1941 were probably just as confused by this film as those watching it today would be. Basically this is another extremely low-budget race film that doesn't have too much going for it outside the fact that it might appeal to those who are interested in watching these types of movies.

The biggest problem with this one is that it has all the bad things that most of these movies have. That's the fact that there simply wasn't any sort of budget and very little talent involved. Not only that but you've also got a story-line that makes very little sense and there's no question that it's all over the place in regards to what it's trying to be about. There are a couple interesting music numbers and I'd also say it was interesting seeing the style of clothing that was being worn but outside of that there's not much here.

Considering that it was made in 1941 without any major studio backing, don't expect very much in the way of professional Hollywood production standards. It would appear that many of the cast members had never been in front of a movie camera. On several occasions members of the cast can be seen breaking the "fourth wall" by looking into the camera. It also looks like several of the cast are reading from cue cards off camera. What was a point of interest was the dialog that called for a 'rallying around the race' as a point of pride. Not one of better "race movies" but worth the time to understand what it was like to be a black actor in 1941.

The direction is abysmal with little continuity of the plot line.

"Murder on Lenox Avenue" (1941) is a Harlem based "race film" starring Mamie Smith, Alec Lovejoy, Norman Astwood, Augustus Smith, Alberta Perkins, Edna Mae Harris, Sidney Easton, and many others. This tries to do too many things for its own good, but compared to many of this ilk, this is actually pretty good. Acting is severely stage-bound; so is cinematography, which honestly at times is stagnant. Opening scene is a nice montage, with odd angles, etc., but photography for the most part is claustrophobic and uncreative. Story regards the black race and white grifting and grafting, the rise of black business in a black community, but mostly this is about a black man who promises women his love and forfeits his promises over and over, leading to one pregnancy and suicide and eventually...well, that would be a spoiler.

Fascinating from an historical view. Not the best film ever made, but certainly better than a lot of others of its type that were made almost strictly for black theaters in black neighborhoods and starring nearly an all-black cast and made on the cheap-cheap. Music here alone would make this worthwhile. It's performed off-the-cuff, actually raw in some numbers with mistakes and all, though the jazz numbers with Smith and one or two others are quite okay, if not smooth. Musical numbers pervade the film. For the record, though I'm not sure it's really accurate, Mamie Smith has been listed as "the first recorded American female black blues artist." In 1920 she recorded "Crazy Blues".

The Better Business League throws out crooked leader Norman Astwood. He plots his vengeance. The League works at recruiting Gus Smith to lead them. He has his own problems. He wants his daughter, Dene Larry to marry two-timing Ernie Ransom, and to pursue her career as a teacher in Harlem. She is in love with Earl Sydnor, and wishes to go with him to teach down South.

This film -- they were called "race films" in this period -- is a good one. Although I am often bothered by the poor line readings in these movies, director Arthur Dreifuss deals effectively with this problem, by having a lot of the lines delivered as speeches, or while the characters are angry, motivating the actors to put more fire into their words. In addition, the musical numbers in this movie -- a common method of filling out such works -- are very well performed. The comedy is well done and naturalistic, an unidentified bass player struggling to carry his heavy instrument upstairs, and Alec Lovejoy puzzling over how to make a mixed drink he doesn't know how to, stand out.

Race movies usually played only in Blacks-Only theaters in this period, and had to be produced with the low box-office totals of that in mind. They were hampered by low production budgets, which revealed themselves in bad set decoration and the type of performance that revealed untrained and under-rehearsed actors. This movie had to deal with the same financial restrictions, but largely overcomes them to produce an entertaining and passionate movie.

A sad fact about movies in the USA, is that in many places, black patrons were not allowed in the same movie theaters...or were forced to sit in 'colored only' sections of theaters. Because of this, many urban theaters began opening up specifically for black audiences. But because these were mostly second-rate theaters, they couldn't afford many of the first-run movies. And, in some other cases, black Americans just wanted to see films featuring people like themselves. So this led to a small industry which produced movies exclusively for these theaters, though the budgets were minuscule for these 'race films' compared to the Hollywood movies of the day. And, for the most part, the films they made are pretty dreadful...well intended...but still very dreadful artistically speaking. One such film is "Murder on Lennox Avenue".

Wet clothes.

Despite the title, the murder takes a VERY long time to occur...only in the last minute of the movie. Until then, the plot concerns control of a business association for black businesses in Harlem. Some want control so they can exploit their fellow citizens, while others really want to make the organization a positive force in the community.

As I said above, most of these films, including this one, are pretty dreadful...mostly because the folks making the movies didn't have access to better writers, actors, directors and budgets. The only very positive thing I noticed in this film was the music. Otherwise, the acting seemed amateurish and the direction seemed lacking (at best). Not 100% terrible...but pretty bad.

Despite saying all this, I am very glad this and other race films still exist, as they are important historical and cultural documents. After all, how could we remember this cottage industry unless we watch and preserve these pictures?