Moon over Harlem (1939)

Melodrama | 1939

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HISTORY

Screenplay writer Sherle Castle was the wife of producer and director Edgar G. Ulmer, and was also known as Shirley Ulmer. Unidentified contemporary news items in the George Johnson Collection at UCLA indicate that the picture was produced by Benjamin F. Resnick, manager of the Brooklyn Regent Theater, which also exhibited the film. According to modern sources, the running time is 67 minutes. Modern sources also indicate that Frank Wilson authored the story; that the cast included Patrina Waples; and that the film featured a chorus of twenty girls, a forty-voice choir and a mixed sixty-piece symphony orchestra. According to a modern interview with Ulmer, the film was shot in four days--two days in a studio in New Jersey, and two days at actual locations in New York. The file for the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library contains a letter, dated 1 Jun 1939 and addressed to Mercury Film Laboratories, in which the PCA stated that it could not approve the picture because the film's two murderers are "left unpunished." ...

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Screenplay writer Sherle Castle was the wife of producer and director Edgar G. Ulmer, and was also known as Shirley Ulmer. Unidentified contemporary news items in the George Johnson Collection at UCLA indicate that the picture was produced by Benjamin F. Resnick, manager of the Brooklyn Regent Theater, which also exhibited the film. According to modern sources, the running time is 67 minutes. Modern sources also indicate that Frank Wilson authored the story; that the cast included Patrina Waples; and that the film featured a chorus of twenty girls, a forty-voice choir and a mixed sixty-piece symphony orchestra. According to a modern interview with Ulmer, the film was shot in four days--two days in a studio in New Jersey, and two days at actual locations in New York. The file for the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library contains a letter, dated 1 Jun 1939 and addressed to Mercury Film Laboratories, in which the PCA stated that it could not approve the picture because the film's two murderers are "left unpunished."

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PERSONAL & COMPANY INDEX CREDITS
HISTORY CREDITS
CREDIT TYPE
CREDIT
General (mod):
Corporate note credit:
Personal note credit:
SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
The Exhibitor
26 Jul 1939
p. 355
CAST
PRODUCTION CREDITS
NAME
PARENT COMPANY
PRODUCTION COMPANY
PRODUCTION TEXT
Edgar G. Ulmer's Production
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
NAME
CREDITED AS
CREDIT
DIRECTORS
Asst dir
Asst dir
PRODUCER
Assoc prod
WRITERS
Sherle Castle
Scr
Orig story and dial
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photog
ART DIRECTOR
Settings
FILM EDITOR
Film ed
MUSIC
Mus score and numbers comp by
Score arr by
Score arr by
Orch and choir cond by
PRODUCTION MISC
Prod mgr
Scr supv
SOURCES
SONGS
"One River to Cross," music and lyrics by Uncle Dave Macon; "Teach Me How to Sing Again," music and lyrics by Donald Heywood and other songs.
SONGWRITER/COMPOSER
DETAILS
Premiere Information:
New York opening: 31 Oct 1939
Production Date:
at Meteor Studios
Copyright Info
Claimant
Date
Copyright Number
Meteor Productions, Inc.
26 June 1939
LP8950
Physical Properties:
Sound
Variray Blue Seal Recording
Black and White
Length(in reels):
8
Country:
United States
SYNOPSIS

After ardent wooing, Dollar Bill Richards finally marries widow Minnie, a maid and an excellent cook. The wedding reception is a disaster, however, when Dollar's uncouth friends act disdainfully toward Minnie's family. When a picture of Minnie's first husband is thrown to the ground, their daughter Sue picks it up. Sue is adored by Bob, a handsome young political organizer who loves Harlem and is planning to clean up the city's graft. When Sue and Bob announce their engagement, Dollar accuses Bob of paying for his education by living off women, and the two men fight. Dollar pulls a gun, and to save Bob, Sue promises never to see him again. Sue then finds work at Broadway Slick's Plantation nightclub, where Minnie works. Later, a man known as Wallstreet demands that Dollar, who is chasing a young girl named Connie and giving her money, increase the take at the club, instead of squandering Minnie's life insurance money at the races. Although Minnie is warned of Dollar's true ways, she believes that he is an honest grocer. When Sue needs sixty-nine dollars to pay her college tuition, Minnie persuades her to take the money from her hated stepfather. While Bob speaks to a ladies' group, urging them to help clean up the rackets in Harlem, Dollar is ordered to assert his gang's authority by killing someone. Dollar makes a pass at Sue, but Minnie blames her daughter rather than her husband, and demands that Sue leave home. Sue goes to the home of Jackie and Alice, two of her schoolmates, and decides to leave school for a career on Broadway with the ...

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After ardent wooing, Dollar Bill Richards finally marries widow Minnie, a maid and an excellent cook. The wedding reception is a disaster, however, when Dollar's uncouth friends act disdainfully toward Minnie's family. When a picture of Minnie's first husband is thrown to the ground, their daughter Sue picks it up. Sue is adored by Bob, a handsome young political organizer who loves Harlem and is planning to clean up the city's graft. When Sue and Bob announce their engagement, Dollar accuses Bob of paying for his education by living off women, and the two men fight. Dollar pulls a gun, and to save Bob, Sue promises never to see him again. Sue then finds work at Broadway Slick's Plantation nightclub, where Minnie works. Later, a man known as Wallstreet demands that Dollar, who is chasing a young girl named Connie and giving her money, increase the take at the club, instead of squandering Minnie's life insurance money at the races. Although Minnie is warned of Dollar's true ways, she believes that he is an honest grocer. When Sue needs sixty-nine dollars to pay her college tuition, Minnie persuades her to take the money from her hated stepfather. While Bob speaks to a ladies' group, urging them to help clean up the rackets in Harlem, Dollar is ordered to assert his gang's authority by killing someone. Dollar makes a pass at Sue, but Minnie blames her daughter rather than her husband, and demands that Sue leave home. Sue goes to the home of Jackie and Alice, two of her schoolmates, and decides to leave school for a career on Broadway with the help of Slick. Meanwhile, Faron, a man from Detroit, has moved in on the Harlem rackets. When Dollar sends his men to get money from a Jamaican, they beat up his wife instead. Faron, who knows that Dollar spends more than he makes, demands $15,000 from him and then shoots Minnie. Despite the tragedy, Sue performs that night, and when she arrives home, hymns are being sung because her mother has died. Dollar soon announces his intentions to marry another woman, but when Wallstreet arrives, a shootout ensues and both men are killed. To everyone's relief, the gangs are then broken. Bob and Sue are now free to resume their romance and appreciate the moon over Harlem.

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Legend
Viewed by AFI
Partially Viewed
Offscreen Credit
Name Occurs Before Title
AFI Life Achievement Award

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