African-American movies in Criterion

The following was a comment on Daisuke Beppu’s YouTube channel.

At issue was a New York Times article criticising the Criterion label for publishing too few African-American movies.

Where possible, a people’s stories, particularly those of a marginalised group, should be told by, or at least involve that group. Criterion is a prestigious publisher and by and large does a good job at this. I have many films concerning different cultures that are by creators of that culture. In particular I cite the Martin Scorsese World Cinema Project. However I am not aware of many by African-Americans.

I have only one Criterion movie like this, “Do The Right Thing”. I have the BFI DVDs of the “Pioneers of African-American Cinema”. I have “Get Out” by an African-American director and “Moonlight” as well as “I Am Not Your Negro” based on the works of James Baldwin in my collection. That’s not much and it’s due to my ignorance of what is available.

Publishers of prestige brands could take an educative and public interest role here. Or I could stir my stumps and find out what is available and where.

I found a number of films about African-Americans in my collection that were directed by white directors. Two which intrigued me were Jules Dassin’s “Uptight” (1968) and Sidney Lumet’s “The Fugitive Kind” (1960) based on a Tennessee Williams play. “The Fugitive Kind” does not have an African-American hero but there is an African-American in a significant and ultra marginalised role.

It’s been a while since I watched “Uptight” – a retelling and repositioning of The Informer (1929 UK) and (1935 USA), a movie in which the main character informs against the IRA. I remember being impressed by “Upright” but winding up wondering if it was the story that an African-American would have told in 1968, when the film was made in the winds of the events of that year, centrally the assassination of Martin Luther King. The informer of this film informs against an African-American revolutionary.

I am not saying that Jules Dassin should not have made this very fine film. There was certainly a great deal of African-American input – in the screenplay (Jules Dassin, Ruby Dee and Julian Mayfield), the music of Booker T and the MGs and in the shape of a large and mainly African-American cast, which includes Ruby Dee and Julian Mayfield. The movie was directed and produced by Jules Dassin. I got the feeling, though I don’t know for sure, that there was a lot of workshopping by the cast of scenes and arguments presented. It’s so close to an African-American film but the overall direction was Dassin’s and the template was Irish. Nevertheless, the African-American component is so high that it could serve a need that Criterion could serve. The viewer would benefit from the Criterion treatment which would ensure extra information not present on the DVD that I have.

As far as the original point is concerned, I find it difficult to believe that African-Americans were not making films at this time, about that time.

The Fugitive Kind (Criterion) is about a lynching in the Deep South. I wondered whose story was being “ghosted” here. There is more than one possible answer to this.