Eleven P.M.

1928

Drama

5
IMDb Rating 5.8/10 10 198 198

Plot summary

A truly bizarre mixture of sentimentality, spirituality and the supernatural, Eleven P.M. follows an impoverished violinist who tries to protect a young girl from straying into a life of sin -- and features one of the most mind-boggling endings ever (the poster above provides a hint). Produced by the Maurice Film Company of Detroit, Michigan.

Top cast

Richard Maurice as Sundaisy
Sammie Fields as Louis Perry
Orine Johnson as June Blackwell / Hope Sundaisy
Wanda Maurice as Little Hope Sundaisy
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
612.63 MB
956*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 6 min
Seeds ...
1.11 GB
1424*1072
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 6 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by GManfred

Needy Film

I hope it's not true as the previous reviewer asserts, that this " is easily one of the best crafted African-American silent films", because it falls short in several areas. The whole production is borderline in a professional sense, particularly in regard to editing and continuity. As a result, the film often 'loses' its audience with scenes that seem out of order or that do not follow one another. Acting is another matter, with uneven performances by all concerned. Director Maurice's heart seems in the right place in this story of good vs evil. A man rescues two teenagers from a life on the streets, a girl who turns out good and a boy who does not - he becomes a small-time gangster. The man marries the girl. They have a child. All goes well until the boy (now a man) sends his gang out to make trouble of some kind, and they kidnap the daughter (we are left to wonder why), but all turns out well in the end.I suspect the director was underfunded and tried to do too much on a shoestring budget. And so, we can only imagine what he might have done with proper funding.
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Reviewed by boblipton 7 / 10

A Strange And Entertaining Film

Richard Maurice is a street fiddler. When an acquaintance robs him and dies, he asks Maurice to raise his son, get him some education., so he doesn't turn out like his father. Maurice tries to comply. He gives two thousand dollars to the preacher who marries him to Orine Johnson to take the boy with him to Chicago and enroll him in his school. He doesn't know the preacher is a con man, who takes the boy and gives him to "the gang." That will be his education, and twelve years later, he returns as H Marion Williams. He takes Maurice's money, lures his wife to Chicago and kidnaps their daughter.

Unlike some of the better known race films of the era, this is a well produced, acted, shot and edited feature, with a subtext of mysticism and the sense that there are some Black folks trying to build families and communities, and the major threat is not the White man, but the wild beasts within their own midst: the thieves an takers, who destroy all efforts.

Maurice, who wrote, directed and produced this movie believed this. He ran his own movie production company in Detroit; two features are all that is known to have survived. Later, Maurice got involved in union work. He helped organize the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union/ He died in 1955, aged 61.

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