Eleven P.M.

Richard Maurice is a street fiddler. When an acquaintance robs him and dies, he asks Maurice to raise his son, get him some education., so he doesn't turn out like his father. Maurice tries to comply. He gives two thousand dollars to the preacher who marries him to Orine Johnson to take the boy with him to Chicago and enroll him in his school. He doesn't know the preacher is a con man, who takes the boy and gives him to "the gang." That will be his education, and twelve years later, he returns as H Marion Williams. He takes Maurice's money, lures his wife to Chicago and kidnaps their daughter.

Unlike some of the better known race films of the era, this is a well produced, acted, shot and edited feature, with a subtext of mysticism and the sense that there are some Black folks trying to build families and communities, and the major threat is not the White man, but the wild beasts within their own midst: the thieves an takers, who destroy all efforts.

Maurice, who wrote, directed and produced this movie believed this. He ran his own movie production company in Detroit; two features are all that is known to have survived. Later, Maurice got involved in union work. He helped organize the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union/ He died in 1955, aged 61.

I hope it's not true as the previous reviewer asserts, that this " is easily one of the best crafted African-American silent films", because it falls short in several areas. The whole production is borderline in a professional sense, particularly in regard to editing and continuity. As a result, the film often 'loses' its audience with scenes that seem out of order or that do not follow one another. Acting is another matter, with uneven performances by all concerned.

Director Maurice's heart seems in the right place in this story of good vs evil. A man rescues two teenagers from a life on the streets, a girl who turns out good and a boy who does not - he becomes a small-time gangster. The man marries the girl. They have a child. All goes well until the boy (now a man) sends his gang out to make trouble of some kind, and they kidnap the daughter (we are left to wonder why), but all turns out well in the end.

I suspect the director was underfunded and tried to do too much on a shoestring budget. And so, we can only imagine what he might have done with proper funding.

Easily of the best crafted African American films of the silent era. One could only imagine what Richard Maurice would have done if provided greater opportunities.

Eleven P.M. (1928)

** (out of 4)

Extremely bizarre race film has street violinist Sundaisy (Richard Maurice) agreeing to take in a young girl to protect her from the streets. When the girl grows up she soon finds herself preyed upon by a local gangster.

There's really not too much known about this film or its director/star Maurice. What is known is that the movie was shot in Detroit and that's pretty much it, which is too bad because while this film isn't that good it's certainly very strange and it makes one want to know more about its filmmaker. As far as race films go, there are certainly much better ones out there but this one here is interesting enough in a few ways to where fans of the genre will want to check it out.

I will start off talking about the biggest flaw and that's the fact that it's nearly impossible to follow the story. There are all sorts of characters who just pop up and I must admit that at times I got lost as to what was going on. I think Maurice really struggled to tell a coherent story but perhaps this was due to how much weirdness was also thrown in.

When I talk about the weirdness there are some strange scenes at the end where characters are coming back to life as animals. These scenes are beyond weird and really add a surreal nature to the picture. The effects are pretty poor considering they probably weren't working with much money but at the same time they're interesting. The twist also was quite good. The performances are on the so-so side and that includes Maurice is his lead role.