Lucky Ghost (1942)
5/10
Mantan Moreland
11 February 2020
Mantan Moreland and F.E. Miller promote a pair of dice into a good car and cash, and thence into a casino. The old,owners are about to do something dire, but the ghosts in the cemetery out back don't like that.

True enough, some very stereotyped situation, but you've got two fine performers in the lead. Moreland was one of the leading cross-over Black comedians of the era, and if his comedy became old fashioned in the post-war era, his comedy timing is on display here. As for Miller, he started one of the first Black legitimate theater companies in the Country during the Mauve Decade, and was one of the writers and performers of the landmark Black Broadway show, 1921's SHUFFLE ALONG, with songs by Eunice Blake and Noble Sissle.

This cheap movie was intended for the all-black theaters, one of many "race films" of the era. It's directed by William Beaudine, a director who could handle anything from sentiment, Mary Pickford, on down to the Bowery Boys. This one is nearer the bottom of that list than the top, but the leads are fine comic actors.
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