The Brute (1920 film)

The Brute
Newspaper advertisement for the film
Directed by	Oscar Micheaux
Written by	Oscar Micheaux
Produced by	Oscar Micheaux
Cinematography	"Whitie" [Note 1]
Production company	Micheaux Film Corp.
Distributed by	Micheaux Film Corp.
Release date	1920 (1920)
Running time	7 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent

The Brute is a 1920 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by Oscar Micheaux. No print of the film is known to exist and the production is believed to be a lost film.[2] The original version of the film included a scene where the boxer defeats a white rival, but Micheaux was forced to remove the scene by censors.[3]

Plot

Herbert Lanyon is thought to be dead after a shipwreck, and his fiancée Mildred Carrison is forced by her money-minded Aunt Clara into marriage with "Bull" Magee, a gambler and underworld boss who mistreats Mildred. After Herbert returns, Magee undergoes financial difficulties that he blames on Mildred and Herbert, and seeks revenge. Herbert and a repentant Aunt Clara, however, free Mildred from Magee, and the lovers are able to marry. A subplot involves boxer "Tug" Wilson, who is ordered by his manager Magee to lay down in the seventeenth round of a prizefight at the film's climax. No other information concerning the plot has been discovered.

—American Film Institute

Cast

• Evelyn Preer – Mildred Carrison
• A. B. DeComathiere – Bull Magee
• Sam Langford – Tug Wilson
• Susie Sutton – Aunt Clara
• Lawrence Chenault – Herbert Lanyon
• Laura Bowman – Mrs. Carrison
• Mattie Edwards – Guest in "The Hole"
• Alice Gorgas – Margaret Pendleton
• Virgil Williams – Referee
• Marty Cutler – Sidney Kirkwood
• Floy Clements – Irene Lanyon[4]
• Louis Schooler – Klondike
• Harry Plater
• E. G. Tatum
• Al Gaines

See also

• List of lost films

Notes

1. In the records of the George P. Johnson Negro Film Collection, the cameraman was identified only as "Whitie."[1]

References

1. "The Brute". American Film Institute.
2. “Progressive Silent Film List: The Brute,” SilentEra.com
3. “The cutting gaze of Oscar Micheaux,” UWM Leader, February 8, 2006 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
4. Foster, A.L. (November 22, 1958). "Other Peoples Business: A Proud First". Chicago Defender – via ProQuest.

External links

• The Brute at IMDb
• The Brute at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Brute at the TCM Movie Database