Clarence Brooks

An all-Black gangster film produced by and co-directed with its star Ralph Cooper, Dark Manhattan reimagines the Hollywood gangster picture through a Black gaze. Cooper plays Curly Thorpe, a ruthless numbers racketeer who rises to power in Harlem by pushing aside mob boss Larry Lee (Clarence Brooks), only to face betrayal and violence as he pursues nightclub singer Flo Gray (Cleo Herndon). Produced by Randol-Cooper Productions for Black audiences, the film emphasizes interpersonal conflict and betrayal over the spectacle of violence that characterized mainstream gangster films of the era. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama

A U.S. Army documentary produced under Frank Capra's supervision and directed by Stuart Heisler, The Negro Soldier was a landmark in the portrayal of African Americans in the military. Framed as a sermon in a Black church, it traces the contributions of Black soldiers from the American Revolution through the Spanish-American War and into World War II, intercut with footage of training and combat. The film was made to recruit Black soldiers and to push back against segregation within the ranks, and it was required viewing for all U.S. Army troops. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary