Author Archive: Retro

An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even tougher, and it takes every ounce of Johnny’s love and courage for the couple to make it through their strife, finding redemption in the River Niger.

Louis Jordan and his Tympani Five play a gig at his alma mater, and ends up having to save the school from bankruptcy.

First film shot in South Africa. Stolen ‘magic money’ has strange effects on those who come in contact with it.

Songwriter finds sudden success and abandons his current life for high society.

Secret service agent falls in love while on assignment in Mississippi, but must clear his lover’s name when she is arrested for the murder of a numbers racketeer.

Showtime at the Apollo

A rural girl comes to the big city to pursue a singing career, and is befriended by paternal cab drivers and down-and-out show troupers, and preyed upon by an adulterous pimp.

Art Gilmore narrates an assemblage of jazz greats

A black night watchman at a chemical factory finds the body of a murdered white woman. After he reports it, he finds himself accused of the murder.