Reol Productions
The Eyes Of Youth,
Quality Amusement CORP
1920. Silent; Black-and-White; 35mm
The Eyes of Youth was the first film made by Robert Levy and his last production under the banner of Quality Amusement Company. The film was produced from the stage play with the original Lafayette cast. The story involves a young woman who must choose between several romantic suitors. Unsure what to do she turns to the paranormal, seeking guidance through a medium and a crystal ball. It starred Abbie Mitchell.
The Sport Of the Gods,
Reol Productions
April 23 1921, silent, black and white, 35mm, 7 reels.
Reol’s first feature production was based on a novel by renowned African American author, Paul Laurence Dunbar. Levy hired Clarence Muse, his favorite actor, to adapt the screenplay from the novel.
Cast: Elizabeth Boyer, Edward R. Abrahams, George Edward Brown, Lawrence Chenault, Edna Morton Wilson. A black Virginian man, falsely accused by his white employer of stealing money, is sentenced to life imprisonment. In his absence his family falls into a state of dysfunction, his son becoming a criminal, his daughter a cheap singer, and his wife remarrying without his knowing. The story emphasizes the destruction that racism can cause not just to an individual, but to an entire family. The cast was not entirely black and the presence of white actors in unusually minor roles was a break through in race representation.
The Call of His People,
Reol Productions
Sept 14 1921, silent, black and white, 35mm, 6 reels.
The second of Reol’s productions, this film is a drama that addressed the critical issue of race passing. Adapted from Aubrey Bowser’s novel The Man Who Would Be White.
Cast: G. Edward Brown, Edna Morton, Mae Kemp, Lawrence Chenault, Mercedes Gilbert, James Stevens, Percy Verwayen.
Nelson Holmes, an African American man, is employed by a Brazilian-American coffee company and manages to ascend from office boy to general manager. The only catch is that Nelson has been pretending to be white. He spends the duration of the film in fear of being discovered for what he truly is until he eventually finds it intolerable to pretend any longer. After revealing to the President of the corporation the truth about his racial identity the President declares that it is not the color of a person but the quality of that person that really matters.
Jazz Hounds,
Reol Productions
September 1921, silent, black and white, 35mm, 2 reels.
Cast: Edna Morton, Sherman Dudley. The Jazz Hounds is a short narrative comedy production that deals with African American jazz culture. The film was shot using the same cabaret set as was used in The Sport of the Gods at Tolden Studios, Bronx, New York.
The Secret Sorrow,
Reol Productions
September, 1921, silent black and white, 35mm, 6 reels
Written by black author J.C. Brown.
Cast: Edna Morton, George Edward Brown, Percy Verwayen, Lawrence Chenault, Inez Clough, Ida Anderson.
A recently widowed young woman is thrust into terrible poverty. Unable to care for both of her children she persuades a prominent black doctor to adopt one of the boys. The doctor raises the young boy well and he grows into a successful lawyer. Unaware that they are brothers the two meet again as men- one as a prisoner falsely accused of murder, the other as the district attorney at the trial. Almost too late, the truth of the crime and their family relationship is discovered and the two men are united again as brothers.
Parts of this film were shot at the famous Irvington- on-Hudson estate of the recently deceased black millionaire Madame C.J. Walker.
Ties of Blood,
Reol Productions
1921, silent, black and white, 35mm, length unknown
Cast: Inez Clough, Arthur Ray, Henry Pleasant.
Little information is known about the nature of this film.
The Burden Of Race,
Reol Productions
10 December 1921, silent, black and white, 35mm, 6 reels
Cast: Percy Verwayen, Edna Morton, Lawrence Chenault, Elizabeth Williams, Mable Young and Arthur Ray.
The drama follows an illustrious and successful young black man who falls in love with a white woman for whom he would risk everything. While she returns his love a great chasm stretches between them. Would their love be able to overcome the social barriers that prevented biracial relationships?
Easy Money,
Reol Productions
March 1922, silent, black and white, 35mm, 6 reels.
Cast: Edna Morton, Inez Clough, Sherman H Dudley, Alex K. Shannon, Percy Verwayen.
A comedy melodrama set in Millbrook, a thrifty little southern town. It featured the classic character of an intelligent and kindhearted community constable by the name of Andy Simpson. In the story Andy has to face his nemesis J. Overton Tighe, a swindler and a crook that has wormed his way into the heart of Andy’s love, Margie Watkins. When Simpson overcomes Tighe and exposes him for what he is the tables are turned and Simpson is able to win back the stolen wealth and the heart of his love.
The Leader of His Race (documentary),
Reol Productions
1922, silent, black and white, 35mm,
Commissioned by the Tuskegee Institute, this was the story of the life and achievements of Dr. Booker T. Washington, founder and president of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama from 1881 to 1915. The documentary utilized reenactment, with a young Paul Robeson featured in the lead role. Washington had passed away in 1915 and Tuskegee revered his memory. The fact that Reol was chosen for the production of this film on Washington’s life speaks volumes about the esteem that Levy’s work held in popular circles.
Spitfire,
Reol Productions
July 24 1922, silent black and white 35mm, 5 reels.
Cast: Edna Morton, George E. Brown.
Spitfire is a melodrama about the potential for love to bloom from dark places, starring Guy Rogers, our protagonist, is the son of a renowned African American publisher who has been the subject of racial attacks. Guy Rogers believes in the Booker T Washington philosophy that education was essential to the elevation of the black race. He decided to move to a Maryland Hills town where through his efforts a school and a library are built. He falls in love with a woman called Ruth Hill; a union that is conspired against by Ruth’s violent and untrustworthy guardian.
The Schemers,
Reol Productions
August 19 1922, silent, black and white, 35mm, 6 reels Cast: Edna Morton, G. Edward Brown, Laurence Chenault
This melodrama follows the struggle of a young black chemist called Paul Jackson to protect his intellectual property. When Paul discovers a chemical compound that can replace gasoline, two crooks, Juan Bronson and Miguel Anderson, conspire to steal the formula from him. Upon failing they turn to other forms of trickery and kidnap Paul’s love Isobel. Paul manages to overcome the evil of his aggressors and rescues Isobel.
The SIMP
Reol Productions
1921, silent, black and white, 35mm, length unknown
Cast: Inez Clough, S. H. Dudley, Edna Morton, Alex Shannon, Percy Verwayen.
Little information is known about the nature of this film.
A Tuskegee Pilgrimage,
Reol Productions
1922, silent, black and white, 35mm
This was the second documentary commissioned by the Tuskegee Institute. The film was a montage of interview with students and faculty, a marketing device still popular with universities today. The choice of Levy again for this documentary demonstrated the respect that was held for Levy’s contributions to the black community. On occasion, the documentary was screened in accompaniment with the narrative film Spitfire, also produced by Reol Productions.