Spencer Williams

Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy

The history of the television version of "Amos and Andy" and the public outcry to cancel it.

Black Shadows on a Silver Screen

Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.

Rhapsody of Negro Life

Film by Spencer Williams.

Juke Joint

Bad News Johnson, a con artist from Memphis, Tennessee, arrives in Dallas, Texas, accompanied by his dim sidekick July Jones with only twenty-five cents between them. The duo arrange to become boarders at the home of Louella "Mama Lou" Holiday, who is fooled into believing Johnson is an acting teacher from Hollywood. Mrs. Holiday agrees to give the men free room and board if they will provide poise lessons to her daughter, an aspiring beauty queen named Honey Dew.

Beale Street Mama

The film is set in Memphis, Tennessee and focuses on a street sweeper who comes upon a large parcel of money. He uses the newly acquired wealth to go on a spending spree, with the hope of getting back at an old girlfriend who dumped him for another man. However, complications arise when it is discovered the money is counterfeit.

Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A.

A Harlem nightclub entertainer arrives on the Caribbean island of "Rinidad" to perform as the headliner in a revue at the Paradise Hotel. She quickly attracts the attention of several men.

Girl in Room 20

Daisy Mae Walker is an aspiring singer from a small town in Texas, who comes to a Big City to pursue a show business career. A kindly cab driver and a troupe of down-and-out musicians staying at her hotel provide her advice and support; but she falls prey to a sleazy nightclub owner who promises her stardom and makes her his "kept woman". NB: There is no "The" in the title of this film.

The Negro Sailor

US Navy produced short stars Joel Fluellen as a draftee from his civilian job at a black newspaper through boot camp and an assignment in the Pacific. Completed after the surrender of Japan, the film celebrates the teamwork, diversity, and the actions of several distinguished African American sailors.

Go Down Death

The owner of a juke joint arranges to frame an innocent preacher with a scandalous photograph, but his scheme backfires when his own adoptive mother interferes.

Of One Blood

After losing their parents in a flood at a young age, two brothers grow up to become a police officer and a lawyer, working with a local newspaper owner to help rid the city of bootlegging gangsters.

Brother Martin: Servant of Jesus

An uncle discusses the life of Martin de Porres with his niece. de Porres was a late sixteenth-century Peruvian who was elevated to sainthood in 1962 by Pope John XXIII.

The Blood of Jesus

Razz accidentally shoots his wife Martha when his hunting rifle drops on the floor and discharges. The church congregation gathers at Martha’s bedside to pray for her recovery, and during this period an angel arrives to take Martha’s spirit from her body, but she is tempted by the slick Judas Green, who is an agent for Satan.

Son of Ingagi

A newlywed couple is visited by a strange old woman who harbors a secret about the young girl's father.

Bad Boy

Johnny Fraser leaves his mother in their small home town and sets out for the big city. He obtains a job with a large firm of architects. Steve Carson, a fellow employee, is constantly flaunting the money he has won at the race track. Johnny also bets the races, but loses heavily and takes some of the firm's money to cover his losses.

Harlem Rides the Range

A wandering cowboy and his sidekick try to resolve a murder.

The Bronze Buckaroo

Bob Blake and his sidekick and four singing cowboys arrive at the Jackson ranch where Bob learns from Betty Jackson that her brother, Joe, is missing. Bob investigates and learns that there is gold on the Jackson ranch, and the neighboring rancher has kidnapped Joe in order to get his land.

Two-Gun Man from Harlem

A cowboy is wrongfully accused of murder. He winds up in Harlem, where he assumes the identity of a preacher-turned-gangster who looks like him. He infiltrates the gang to catch the men who framed him.

Harlem on the Prairie

A cowboy helps a pretty young woman find lost gold. Restored by the Academy Film Archive with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Hot Biskits

Virtually unseen for more than eighty years, Spencer Williams’s first film is a one-reel comedy short in which a rivalry between two men is played out in a high-stakes game of mini golf.

Georgia Rose

Musical film with an all-black cast.

Brown Gravy

A musical short starring Sam McDaniel and Spencer Williams.

The Lady Fare

"Willie Dime," a big, bad taxi driver, is very jealous of "Miss Eva" and it burns him up to see any fool Jelly-bean "carrying on flirtatious flirtations with her." He gets madder and "badder" as the story gets "hummier" and funnier, while smooth, suave Florian Slappey gets mixed up in all kinds of complications.

The Widow's Bite

Spencer Williams' comedy feature.

The Framing of the Shrew

Privacy Robson is a downtrodden husband who takes advice from his friend Florian Slappey. He eventually gets the upper hand after starting divorce proceedings, pretending to have a new girlfriend and refusing to eat anything she cooks him.

Melancholy Dame

A nightclub owner's wife, jealous of his attentions to his star singer, schemes to get her fired.