Slideshow
VEILED ARISTOCRATS
Preceded by trailers for Micheaux's HARLEM AFTER MIDNIGHT (1934) and TEMPTATION (1936), both considered lost.
U.S., 1932
Written and directed by Oscar Micheaux
Starring Lorenzo Tucker, Laura Bowman
Approx. 44 min. 4K DCP restoration by the George Eastman Museum.
“Micheax’s 1932 sound remake of THE HOUSE OF THE CEDARS (1925), based on Charles Chesnutt’s novel. One of Micheaux’s most controversial films, VEILED ARISTOCRATS addresses the question of the price of success in a middle class black community through the story of racial “passing.” Lorenzo Tucker (known as the ‘Black Valentino’) stars in this story of a lawyer who returns home to find that his light-skinned sister is about to marry a dark-skinned man, while his mother has picked a more suitable candidate.” – Harvard Film Archive