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Movie Description
Spencer Williams's 1946 race film, DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM U.S.A., is a low-budget adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham short story "Rain," which had been filmed twice before, as SADIE THOMPSON and RAIN, starring Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford, respectively. In this all-black version, Francine Everett stars as Gertie La Rue, a famous Harlem performer who takes her troupe to Trinidad in order to escape a former boyfriend who has vowed to kill her out of jealousy. But Gertie seems to seek out trouble, so despite warnings from her right-hand woman, Stella Van Johnson (Kathrine Moore), Gertie leads on Diamond Joe while also flirting with a marine she calls Big Boy (Shelly Ross) and a sailor she calls Tight Pants (Hugh Watson). Meanwhile, a preacher named Jonathan Christian (Alfred Hawkins) has vowed to prevent the "painted trollope" from going on with her lewd, lascivious "exhibition of filth," and the island piano player (Piano Frank) thinks he recognizes her from a dark part of her past. Director Spencer Williams, who went on to play Andy in the AMOS 'N' ANDY 1950s television show, also makes a cameo appearance as Old Hager.
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