Preceding the opening scene of Harlem Is Heaven is a contemporary montage of residents walking and parading on the streets of Harlem, moving images that are accompanied on the screen by a scrolling prologue. Part of that introductory text provides the viewer with a brief history of a special tree in Harlem, an elm that in 1932 still grew next to one of the neighborhood's busy sidewalks:Шаблон:Blockquote
Plot
One evening on a sidewalk in Harlem, Jean Stratton (Anise Boyer]Шаблон:Emdasha young unemployed actress and dancer from West VirginiaШаблон:Emdashstands next to "The Tree of Hope", openly praying and imploring the legendary tree to help find her work. When she stops one passing man to ask how long she needs to stand under the tree to get a job, a nearby police officer thinks she is a soliciting prostitute, so he arrests her. A group of spectators gather around the officer and Jean, including "Money" Johnson (James Baskett), who gets the officer to release her. Money is a local theater owner widely known in Harlem. He is also a racketeer who specializes in "policy games" or gambling, as well as circulating phony investment schemes around New York as well as in Philadelphia and other cities. After the officer and the onlookers leave, Money offers Jean a job at his Acme Theatre, gives her some cash as an advance on her salary, and tells her to report to his office the next day.
At the appointed time, Jean meets Money, who introduces her to Bill (Bill Robinson), Acme's star performer and director of its dance and other stage productions. There Jean also meets another performer, a handsome young actor and dancer named "Chummy" Walker (Henri Wessell). Both Chummy and Bill are immediately smitten with Jean even though she initially refers to them as her protective "big brothers". Money, however, has his own plans to seduce her. After a stage rehearsal, Money warns Chummy that "Miss Stratton" is more than his protégée, declaring her his "personal and private property". He then orders Chummy to invite Jean to a party at the theater after that evening's show. The party in reality will be set up as an intimate dinner with just Money. Chummy warns Jean of Money's intentions, but she ignores him and goes to the office, where the theater boss forces himself on her. As she struggles to leave, Bill enters the office, a fight ensues, and Bill knocks out Money. The next day Bill and Jean learn they have been fired.
Bill quickly gets a new job performing at a nearby nightclub owned by Knobs Moran (Bob Sawyer), Money's bitter rival in both entertainment and crime. Money now seeks revenge, especially against Chummy for divulging his plan to take advantage of Jean. Money then hatches another plan, one to get Chummy imprisoned. Money enlists him as the front man in marketing a bogus new hair-straightening product. Money is careful in arranging the scam so he is not openly involved, while assuring Chummy that the new product is genuine and will earn huge profits for everyone. Initially successful selling the product, Chummy is soon arrested and jailed for fraud after all the investors lose their money, including Bill's close friend John "Spider" Mason, who had committed most of his life savings to the enterprise.
While visiting the police station to see Chummy, Jean learns of Money's role in devising the fraud, so she visits Greta (Alma Smith), one of Money's girlfriends who knows details about the scheme. After a brutal fight with Greta, Jean forces her to provide the district attorney with information proving Money's guilt, which results in Chummy's release from jail. Spider then learns from newspaper reports that it was Money, not Chummy, who had concocted the phony investment. Now seeking his own revenge for the loss of his money, Spider confronts Money in his office. After Money tries to shoot him, Spider uses a razor to kill the crime boss as he pleads for mercy. The story then ends in Bill's apartment, where Bill, his mother visiting from Richmond, Jean, and Chummy have gathered. Earlier, Bill had realized that Jean and Chummy had fallen in love, so he urges them to get married before he cheerfully leaves the apartment to see another friend.[4][5]
Before its release in 1932, the film was issued a tentative review certification number—02816—by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America "pending the production company's adherence to the Hays Office's demands regarding specific changes in the script."[2]
In the film's opening credits, "'The Cotton Club', Harlem" is also acknowledged for permitting "By Special Arrangement" the participation of "Jimmy Baskette", Anise Boyer, Henri Wessell, Alma Smith, and Bob Sawyer in the production.[1]
With a budget reportedly under $50,000, Harlem Is Heaven was filmed in just one week at the Ideal Studios in Hudson Heights, New Jersey, and on location at the stages of several theaters, including the Ideal Theater in Philadelphia and the R.K.O. Kenmore Theater in Brooklyn.[8]
African-American actors, dancers, musicians, and supporting players comprise nearly the film's entire cast, although there is an uncredited white actor with a speaking part, who portrays a district attorney. There are also white extras portraying peripheral characters, including an assistant to the district attorney and an attending officer at a police station.[1]
During its production, the film was identified by the alternate or working titleHarlem Rhapsody.[8][9]
The film's romance-and-crime storyline is interwoven with solo tap-dance and singing performances by Bill Robinson, as well as chorus line productions and other group stage acts in rehearsals. During one scene in a neighborhood bar, Robinson sings a rendition of "Is You Is or Is You Ain't". Accompanying him at the piano and reciting lyrics in the "speak set" is jazz pianist and vocalist Putney Dandridge, although in its 1932 review of the film Variety misidentifies Dandridge as Eubie Blake.[3][10]Файл:Bill Robinson and Putney Dandridge on piano, Harlem Is Heaven, 1932.jpgBill Robinson singing "Is You or Is You Ain't" with Putney Dandridge on piano
Bill Robinson, who was 54 years old when the film was released, demonstrates his remarkable talents and agility as a dancer, especially in one solo number. Tap dancing to the tune of "Swanee River", he playfully and repeatedly moves up and down a set of portable prop stairs. Later, in 1935, he would perform a simplified version of this famous "stair step" routine with child star Shirley Temple in the MGM production The Little Colonel.[11]
The film also marks James Baskett's screen debut as an actor, featuring him as the character "Remus A. Johnson". Fourteen years after his work on this production, Baskett would receive national fame for his portrayal of the controversial character "Uncle Remus" in Walt Disney's 1946 live-action animatedmusical filmSong of the South.[12]
Reception
In 1932, according to the widely read New York-based trade paperVariety, the film made over $4,000 during its opening week at just the Renaissance Theater in Harlem. That financial success led to its run being extended there.[3]Variety in its June 7 edition also provides a lengthy assessment of the production. In its review the paper recommends the film's presentation to both white and black audiences, recognizes the drawing power of Bill Robinson at the box office, and finds Robinson and Baskett's performances to be the strongest elements of the quickly made, low-budget production:Шаблон:Blockquote
In a more recent assessment of the film, in 2011, The World Cinema Review pans its storyline and acting but extols the dance and musical performances, especially those by Robinson:Шаблон:Blockquote
↑ 2,02,12,22,3Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок AFI не указан текст
↑ 3,03,13,2Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок Variety не указан текст
↑The plot summary for this film is composed from multiple viewings of digital copies of the full 1932 release, which are generally available on YouTube and on other streaming platforms. See, for example, "Harlem is HeavenШаблон:EmdashBill Robinson, Eubie Blake, 1932 Film", posted by Alan Eichler, February 14, 2016. Retrieved via YouTube, January 29, 2018.
↑Refer to opening credits in full digital copy of the film available at "Harlem is HeavenШаблон:EmdashBill Robinson, Eubie Blake, 1932 Film", posted by Alan Eichler, February 14, 2016, YouTube. Retrieved vis YouTube, May 6, 2023.
↑Scenes from Harlem Is Heaven and theater posters that originally promoted the film can be viewed at "Harlem Is Heaven (1932)", an entry in the digital library of the Department of Afro American Research, Arts & Culture (daarac.org). Retrieved January 31, 2018.
