- [Narrator] On this IMDbrief,
presented by Cricket Wireless,
we celebrate four unsung Black heroes of film history,
and four films to watch to get to know them better.
The silent film days of Hollywood
offered no chance for a burgeoning Black writer
to break into show biz,
but Oscar Micheaux was never one to be discouraged.
So he opened his own company
to produce a feature adaptation of his first novel,
"The Homesteader."
Although it was not preserved for posterity,
and no copy exists, the 1919 silent film
made an indelible mark on history,
for confronting issues of race and miscegenation.
Cementing Micheaux's legacy
as the first Black film director, ever.
(jazz music)
Our first watch list recommendation
is his 1920 film 'Within Our Gates,'
a retort of sorts to D.W. Griffith's racist depictions
of African Americans in 'Birth of a Nation.'
Later, Micheaux made even more history
by being the first Black man to produce a talkie,
a romantic post-World War I drama, 'The Exile.'
(orchestral music)
Our next unsung hero was forging her own path in Hollywood
around this same era.
Hattie McDaniel had already written and performed songs
for Chicago record labels Okeh and Paramount,
before moving to L.A. to make it on the big screen.
She broke out in small yet impactful roles
alongside Mae West and Shirley Temple,
before landing a major part
in John Ford's 'Judge Priest,' starring Will Rogers.
♪ Yes, Lord, ♪
♪ tomorrow he's got to be like Mr. Samson ♪
McDaniel was usually relegated
to playing stereotype maid and servant roles,
but her vocal performances and onscreen presence
transcended her time and place,
like in the Broadway blockbuster, Showboat,
or our second watch list suggestion,
her Oscar-winning role in that Civil War epic
of classic Hollywood, 'Gone With the Wind.'
- Mammy, darling
- No use to try to sweet-talk me, Miss Scarlett,
I knows you ever since I put the first pair
of diapers on you.
- [Narrator] After McDaniel's 1940 win,
a person of color didn't take home an Oscar for eight years.
And it was and honorary award
for James Baskett's portrayal of Uncle Remus
in 'Song of the South.'
Despite a popular attraction based on the film
being in three parks,
Disney has rightfully locked this offensive musical
in its vault.
Even if the film's Oscar-sinning song
will never leave our collective unconscious.
♪ Zip-a-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay ♪
♪ My, oh, my, what a wonderful day ♪
However, there was a trail blazer for inclusion
in the mouse house within the next decade.
Our third unsung hero, Floyd Norman,
who became Disney's first Black animator in 1956,
starting as a cleanup artist on 1959's 'Sleeping Beauty.'
♪ I know you, ♪
♪ I've walked with you once upon a dream ♪
When Walt Disney spied a cartoon Norman doodled
to amuse his co-workers,
he promoted the animator to the story department
for 1967's 'The Jungle Book.'
♪ Ooh-be-doo, I want to be like you-hoo-hoo ♪
Over a six-decade career that is documented
in the incredible and watch list worthy
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life,
he drew boards and wrote stories for everything
from 'Josie and the Pussycats' to 'Alvin and the Chipmunks,'
and received screenplay story credit
for two beloved 90's Disney features,
'Mulan' and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'
♪ That's the way on Topsy Turvy Day ♪
We stay in the 1990's for our fourth unsung hero,
Julie Dash, the first Black woman director
to have a widely-released film in theaters.
Our final watch list rec, 'Daughters of the Dust.'
- Morning, we'll begin a new life
for my chil'en and me.
- [Narrator] While other pioneer directors
like Safi Faye and Kathleen Collins
have released features in the years before,
Dash's 1991 release of 'Daughters of the Dust'
is the very first to be available
to a general theatrical audience.
Since then, Dash as helmed films in T.V. movies,
several music videos,
and two episodes of Ava DuVernay's "Queen Sugar."
- You don't have to live in a community to support it.
- But it helps.
- [Narrator] Although these four
barely scratch the surface of unsung heroes,
we put together this watch list as a place to start.
Micheaux's 'Within Our Gates,'
McDaniel's 'Gone with the Wind,'
documentary 'Flyd Norman: An Animated Life,'
and Dash's 'Daughters of the Dust,'
as well as a trio of trail blazing films,
like the Charles Burnett-directed dark turn
for Danny Glover, 'To Sleep with Anger,'
Madeline Anderson's incredible South Carolina strike doc,
'I Am Somebody,'
and Gordon Parks' badass blaxploitation sensation, 'Shaft.'
- Right on!
- [Narrator] Thanks to our friends at Cricket Wireless.
For more trending tales and heroes of cinema,
stay glued to imdb.com/imdbrief.