Title from disc container

In this unprecedented undertaking, Kino Classics, in cooperation with the Library of Congress and several international film archives, pays homage to one of cinema's most historically important artists: Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951). Operating on shoestring budgets completely outside the studio system, Micheaux explored the Black experience with nuance and depth, often challenging the negative stereotypes so commonly portrayed in films of the era. This five-disc collection showcases the director's entire surviving body of work, including seven new restorations: Within Our Gates, The Symbol of the Unconquered, Body and Soul, God's Step Children, Veiled Aristocrats, Murder in Harlem, and The Notorious Elinor Lee. It also showcases Micheauxs rarely seen genre films, such as Lying Lips, Underworld, and Swing! from the best surviving film elements

Full screen (1.33:1)

Disc One. Within Our Gates: When Sylvie Landry gets swept up in the great migration from rural South to the city, she makes discoveries about her own identity. The Symbol of the Unconquered: Eve, a young light-skinned African American woman, travels from Selma, Alabama to the Northwest to claim the mine willed to her by her grandfather. Hugh, an African American man who falls in love with her but thinks that she is white, discovers oil, provoking the greed and anger of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan attacks but is driven off. Finally, Eve and Hugh resolve their misunderstanding. Body and Soul: In Body and soul Paul Robeson, in his first screen role, plays two parts, an evil preacher and his good brother, who wage a personal war for the body and soul of the heroine. The film follows the exploits of an escaped prisoner who seeks refuge in the town of Tatesville, Georgia, by passing himself off as a reverend. He is joined in town by a fellow criminal, and the pair scheme to swindle the phony reverend's congregation of their offerings

Exile: Based on the novel by Oscar Micheaux

Disc Two. The Darktown Revue: Michaeux' first talkie is a musical variety short that assumes the form of a traditional mintrel show, but with an all-black cast. Exile: A young man in post WWI Chicago fall in love with a beautiful girl named Edith. Jean proposes to her, but realizes she's involved in the criminal racket's and won't leave. The Girl from Chicago: In this film by director Oscar Micheaux, a Secret Service agent and the woman he loves get mixed up with a numbers runner and a murder and find themselves on the run. Ten Minutes To Live: A mystery-musical built around a threatening note which gives the heroine who sings and dances in a Harlem nightclub only "ten minutes to live." There is much nightclub entertainment as the mystery unravels with song and dance numbers and a stand up comedy routine

Girl from Chicago: Based on the silent film, The spider's web

Disc Three: Veiled Aristocrats: Twenty years after leaving home, John Walden returns, having achieved his ambition to become a lawyer. He and his mother, Molly, discuss the marital situation of his sister, Rena, and the racial complications it poses. Molly asks John to break up Rena's romance with Frank because she disapproves of him and wants her daughter to marry a man of more refinement. Eventually, after trying to live the life her family desires for her, Rena renounces trying to pass for white, and is reunited with Frank. Murder in Harlem: Micheaux's remake of his own The Gundaulus Mystery (1912), is based on the true-life murder of Mary Phagan, a 13 year old Altanta factory worker. Underworld: A young Black man who recently graduated from a Southern college is persuaded to come to Chicago with a gambler. He travels in Black underworld circles, falls for a vamp and is framed for murder before finding a better life

Veiled aristocrats: Based on the novel The house behind the cedars by Charles W. Chesnutt

Disc Four: Swing! : Ted Gregory is trying to become the first black producer to mount a show on Broadway but his star singer is getting in the way. God's Step Children: A light-skinned girl is abandoned by her mother and is sent by her foster mother to an all-Black school. She grows up and has a hard time fitting in to Black society. Birthright: An idealistic Harvard grad returns to tthe segregated South to esablish a grades school, encountering oppeosition from both races

Underworld: Based on the story Chicago after midnight / Edna Mae Baker

Within our gates: Music by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky

Symbol of the unconquered: Piano score composed and performed by Andrew Earle Simpson

Body and soul: Music by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky

Evelyn Preer, Iris Hall, Paul Robeson

Within our gates: Evelyn Preer, William Starks, Flo Clements

Symbol of the unconquered: Iris Hall, Walker Thompson

Body and soul: Paul Robeson, Mercedes Gilbert, Julia Theresa Russell

Darktown revue: Celeste Cole, Amon Davis

Exile: Eunice Brooks, Stanley Morrell, Celeste Cole, Katherine Noisette, Charles Moore, Nora Newsome

Girl from Chicago: Carl Mahon, Star Calloway, Alice B. Russell, Eunice Brooks

Ten minutes to live: Lawrence Chenault, A.B. Comathiere, Carl Mahon

Veiled aristocrats: Lorenzo Tucker, Laura Bowman

Underworld: Bee Freeman, Sol Johnson, Slick Chester,

Swing: Cora Green, Hazel Diaz, Carmen Newsome, Dorothy Van Engle, Alec Lovejoy, Larry Seymour

God's stepchildren: Jacqueline Lewis, Ethel Moses, Alice B. Russell, Carman [i.e. Carmen] Newsome

Birthright: Carman Newsome, Alec Lovejoy, Ethel Moses

Lying Lips: Edna Mae Harris, Carman Newsome, Earl Jones

Notorious Elinor Lee: Gladys Williams, Carman [i.e. Carmen) Newsome, Edna Mae Harris, Robert Earl Jones

Rating: Not rated

Blu-ray; all regions; 1920x1080p fullscreen (1.33:1); requires Blu-ray player

Silent film

English dialogue; English subtitles

Closed captioning in English

Disc One: Within our gates / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1920 : 73 mins) -- The symbol of the unconquered / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1920 : 59 mins) -- Body and soul (1925 : 93 mins) Disc Two: The darktown revue / directed by Oscar Micheaux (1931 : 18 mins) -- The exile / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1931 : 78 mins) -- The girl from Chicago / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1932 : 70 mins) -- Ten minutes to live / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1932 : 58 mins) Disc Three: Veiled aristocrats / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1932 : 44 mins) -- Harlem after midnight trailer (1934 : 3 mins ) -- Murder in Harlem / written and directed by Oscar Micheaux (1935 : 95 mins) -- Temptation trailer (1936 : 3 mins) -- Underworld / directed by Oscar Micheaux ( 1937: 76 mins) Disc Four: Swing! / directed by Oscar Micheaux (1938 : 68 mins) -- God's step children / directed by Oscar Micheaux (1938 : 70 mins) -- Birthright / directed by Oscar Micheaux (1939 : 73 mins) Disc Five: Lying Lips / witten and directed by Oscr Micheaux

(1939 ; 73 min.) -- The Notorious Elinor Lee /

witten and directed by Oscr Micheaux (1940 : 72 min.)