Vintage "Black Movies"...

**GrtGzu** · 03-06-2013, 12:00 PM

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a movie channel dedicated to VINTAGE black movies like Cabin in the Sky?

TCM shows old classics...In fact, a few months ago they aired a BUNCH of really OLD black movies I'd never heard of, much less had seen....Especially the ones with Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington etc...What had me captivated was the jazz music and the dancing I saw ....Early Soul Train perhaps?

Didja see the one about the Black preacher who was telling a bunch of kids the story of Jesus? What was the name of that one again? And as much as some of us loathe those Shirley Temple-movies-with-slaves, you gotta admit the singing was splendid! The kids who sang "Dinah" on the Little Rascals were called "The Cabin Kids", I found out....and didja know that Lincoln Perry started the first Black Actor's school?

**Methuselah2** · 03-06-2013, 03:33 PM

Not to change the tone of the thread
but if they showed ABBY, I'm there!

ABBY - 1974 - The trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLX6BnmtWS4

[[Oh, what THE EXORCIST hath wrought!)

And here's the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MckW5bcHNDs

It's vintage, alright.
But not exactly like a fine wine.

**soulster** · 03-06-2013, 05:57 PM

That's part of what BET was supposed to be before they decided they were a music video channel. And TMC should shouldn't have to wait until February or June to show these movies.

**Jerry Oz** · 03-06-2013, 06:30 PM

I saw "Uptight!" at the drive-in when I was a boy and didn't appreciate it. Miraculously, it came on the USA Network in the early '80s and I watched it as a young man and it is easily my favorite "black film" from the late '60s and '70s [[other than "Uptown Saturday Night" and "Let's Do It Again"). If you ever get a chance, you should check it out. It was much better than almost all of the movies that followed it. Here is a horribly uploaded scene from somebody's VHS copy of it.

**marv2** · 03-06-2013, 08:25 PM

The now defunct WGPR, Channel 62 in Detroit use to show classic black films regularly.

**Kamasu_Jr** · 03-07-2013, 05:30 PM

Uptight is on DVD. IT has also aired on Bounce, a cable channel out of Atlanta. Bounce airs programs aimed at Black viewers. There is also Aspire, a cable channel owned by Magic Johnson. So TCM no longer has an exclusive on Black films. I've never seen Abby. I dislike films about the devil and exorcisms. The devil is busy trying to impress the world that he has power. But his time is running out. That's my sermon for the day. I do enjoy films with black actors.

smark21 · 03-07-2013, 09:25 PM

The pioneering Black film producer and director was Oscar Micheaux, who made a number of films in the 30s and 40s. Back in the 80s BET would sometimes show them and from time to time TCM will do a night of Oscar Micheaux. They’re not exactly masterpieces of cinema, but they are important from a historical/sociological standpoint. But alas Micheaux never became a Berry Gordy of the movie world.

**Kamasu_Jr** · 03-07-2013, 09:44 PM

TCM doesn't salute black films in February any longer and has not in a while. It still holds the rights to many of these films, but they air them along with the other films it shows.

smark21 · 03-07-2013, 10:11 PM

Since the Oscars moved to February, TCM dedicates the month of February and the couple of days of March to its annual 30 Days of Oscar programming playing exclusively films that received some sort of Academy Award Nomination. Truth be told, Oscar month is my least favorite month of the year on Turner Classic Movies.

**Kamasu_Jr** · 03-08-2013, 01:31 AM

Moving the Oscars to February gave TCM a reason to drop the Black history month tribute. I watched some of the Oscar programming because those are the best films.

**reese** · 03-08-2013, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by Kamasu_Jr

TCM doesn't salute black films in February any longer and has not in a while. It still holds the rights to many of these films, but they air them along with the other films it shows.

Last year, I believe they showed some films during the MLK holiday. They did a night featuring Dorothy Dandridge. But instead of going with the predictable CARMEN JONES or ISLAND IN THE SUN, they showed BRIGHT ROAD, THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS, THE DECKS RAN RED, and TARZAN'S PERIL.

**GrtGzu** · 03-08-2013, 11:18 AM

Yup, that's correct - TCM shows some of these movies without the need for a "theme"...And I caught some of the ones they showed for the MLK holiday....

We just got Aspire a couple months ago, so I haven't seen any vintage movies from the 30s, 40s etc yet....Bounce is ok, but I'd like to see movies other than the ones shown from the 70's...