A Reckless Rover (1918)

Starring:

• Sam Robinson

A Reckless Rover (1918) from Bret Wood on Vimeo.

Storyline
Chased from his apartment by a policeman, ne'er do-well Rastus Jones (Sam Robinson) finds refuge in a Chinese laundry, where he wreaks slapstick havoc and has a memorable encounter with an improperly-filled opium pipe. A Reckless Rover pays homage to the slapstick tradition by introducing its own rendition of the Keystone Cops in its grand finale. While the comedy series would suffer attacks by the Chicago Defender for perpetuating racial stereotypes (one factor in their decision to cease production), the buffoonery in the Ebony Comedies was little different from the clowning one finds in the work of their fair-complected contemporaries.

Two Knights of Vaudeville (1915)

Starring:

• Jimmy Marshall
• Florence McClain 
• Frank Montgomery  

Storyline
Two African-American men find three tickets to a talent show. Instead of returning the tickets to the person that dropped them, they decided to go to the show accompanied with a female friend. While watching the show, they are entertained by the talented actors, but their shenanigans gets them kicked out of the theater. Inspired by the talent of the actors from the show they were kicked out of, they decided to start their own talent show. But there is a problem...they're not very talented.  

This film was restored by Kino Lorber which was archived in the Library of Congress and released in a 5 disc box set: Pioneers of African American Cinema.

A Man Called Adam (1966)

Starring:

• Sammy Davis Jr.
• Louis Armstrong
• Ossie Davis
• Cicely Tyson 
• Frank Sinatra Jr. 
• Lola Falana 

Storyline
A star-studded cast invigorates this film of a jazz trumpeter (Sammy Davis Jr.) who experiences both the prejudices of the music industry and terrible guilt following the traffic accident that killed his family, a tragedy he feels personally responsible for. Co-stars include several giants of jazz and popular music: Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, and Mel Tormé, as well as Peter Lawford and Cicely Tyson.