Main Cast: Spencer Williams, Herb Jeffries, Mantan Moreland, Connie Harris, Maceo B. Sheffield
Release Year: 1938
Country: US
Run Time: 54 minutes
Plot
As indicated by the title, Harlem on the Prairie was aimed at the "all-colored" theaters which flourished in the 1930s. The star of this musical western is Herb Jeffries, a former vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra who might have been a major film personality in a more equitable world. Though the film takes place in an all-black west, the plot is indistinguishable from the many "white" B westerns of the era. Jeffries plays a heroic vigilante who hopes to purge the territory of the evil influence of big-city gangster Maceo B. Sheffield. Nightclub singer Connie Harris is the ingenue, Spencer Williams Jr. ("Andy" on TV's Amos 'N'Andy) contributes to the plotline as a glib-tongued medicine show huckster, and the comedy team of Mantan Moreland and Flournoy Miller provide the laughs. Very cheaply made, Harlem on the Prairie is nonetheless very watchable, if only because of the imposing presence of Herb Jeffries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
George Randall; Nathan Curry; James Davis; The Four Tones; Flournoy E. Miller; Spencer Williams
Credit
Sam Newfield - Director, Robert Jahns - Editor, Lew Porter - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ira Hardin - Songwriter, June Hershey - Songwriter, Mary Schneffer - Songwriter, Styker and Lange - Songwriter, Don Swander - Songwriter, Lyle Womack - Songwriter, William Hyer - Cinematographer, Jed Buell - Producer, Fred K. Myton - Screenwriter
