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]

The Brute
Newspaper advertisement for the film
Directed byOscar Micheaux
Written byOscar Micheaux
Produced byOscar Micheaux
Cinematography"Whitie" [Note 1]
Production
company
Micheaux Film Corp.
Distributed byMicheaux Film Corp.
Release date
  • 1920 (1920)
Running time
7 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Plot

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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

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See also

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Notes

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

References

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  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.
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