Emperor Jones
About Emperor Jones
Brutus Jones, a Pullman porter, kills Jeff in a fight, goes to a chain gang, and strikes a white guard. His girlfriend Dolly helps him long enough to reach a ship. On a Caribbean island he joins the trader Smithers, tells the people that only a silver bullet can kill him, and makes himself emperor. When they revolt he runs into the jungle, the hallucinations close in, and he is killed.
Cast & crew
More about Emperor Jones
Dudley Murphy directed. DuBose Heyward adapted Eugene O'Neill's 1920 play and added the Harlem and chain-gang opening. Gifford A. Cochran and John Krimsky produced it outside the studio system, for $263,000, and United Artists released it on September 29, 1933. Ernest Haller photographed. Most of it was shot at the Astoria Paramount studio; the beach scene was at Jones Beach.
Themes
Look
Ernest Haller shot the Astoria interiors and the Jones Beach landing. Jungle scenes were tinted blue; most circulating prints have lost the tint.
Music
J. Rosamond Johnson and Frank Tours wrote the music. Robeson sings spirituals, including material associated with the stage production.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 1999. In 2002 the Library of Congress restored cut footage of the violence; the two dream sequences remain missing. A shorter 73-minute version also circulates.
Notes
- Paul Robeson repeats the role he had played on stage in the United States and in Britain.
- Dudley Digges plays Smithers, Frank H. Wilson plays Jeff, Fredi Washington plays Undine, and Ruby Elzy plays Dolly.
- Jackie "Moms" Mabley plays Marcella. Harold Nicholas dances in a club. Rex Ingram is the court crier.
- United Artists did not renew the copyright, so the film is in the public domain.
- The Library of Congress restored a version in 2002. Two cut dream sequences were not found.
- Criterion issued a DVD in 2006.
Awards
- National Film Registry (1999)
Scenes
- Jones tells the island that only a silver bullet can kill him.
- He stumbles through the jungle as the drumming and the hallucinations build.
- The 2002 restoration put back censored shots of Jones striking the white guard.
Influenced by
- Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones (1920)
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheEmpererJones)
- Criterion Collection DVD (2006)
- Library of Congress
