John Walton (Lorenzo Tucker), a black man who passes as white, comes
back home to visit his mother after 20 years - and sees his sister Rena
(Lucille Lewis) has grown up to be a beautiful woman that could pass as
white as well. In no time at all, John has taken Rena with him to the city
where he lives a life in luxury - just like a wealthy white man - and has
made arrangements for Rena to marry in a wealthy white family - under one
condition: She must never reveal her black roots, meaning never again
speak with her mother, forget her black lover Frank (Carl Mahon) and the
like ... to which she agrees at first but ultimately, she - who has always
been close to her mother and was always in love with Frank - breaks down
and ends up back in Frank's arms, where she belongs much more than into
white high society.
The whole drama is lightened up by a few musical performances performed
by John's servants.
A sort of early black message film, the whole movie never really lives
up to its lofty goals: It's awfully stagey and awfully talky, at the same
time often reminiscent of silent films concerning directorial style, the
actors are rather below average, it lacks any kind of proper climax, and
the musical numbers, as good as they are taken by themselves, seem rather
out of place.
In a way, this film might still be interesting as an example of early
black cinema, but other than that it's not really worth your while.
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