Native Land

Native Land

89 mins | Drama, History | May 11, 1942

By the start of World War II, Paul Robeson had given up his lucrative mainstream work to participate in more socially progressive film and stage productions. Robeson committed his support to Paul Strand and Leo Hurwitz’s political semidocumentary Native Land. With Robeson’s narration and songs, this beautifully shot and edited film exposes violations of Americans’ civil liberties and is a call to action for exploited workers around the country. Scarcely shown since its debut, Native Land represents Robeson’s shift from narrative cinema to the leftist documentaries that would define the final chapter of his controversial film career.

Native Land

89 mins | Drama, History | May 11, 1942

Native Land
By the start of World War II, Paul Robeson had given up his lucrative mainstream work to participate in more socially progressive film and stage productions. Robeson committed his support to Paul Strand and Leo Hurwitz’s political semidocumentary Native Land. With Robeson’s narration and songs, this beautifully shot and edited film exposes violations of Americans’ civil liberties and is a call to action for exploited workers around the country. Scarcely shown since its debut, Native Land represents Robeson’s shift from narrative cinema to the leftist documentaries that would define the final chapter of his controversial film career.
IMDb rating 6.3
Producers Frontier Films
Original title Native Land
Directors Paul Strand, Leo Hurwitz
Writers Paul Strand, Leo Hurwitz, Ben Maddow

Cast

Paul Robeson

as Narrator

Fred Johnson

as Fred Hill

Mary George

as Hill's Wife

John Rennick

as Hill's Son

Amelia Romano

as Young Girl in Cleveland

Houseley Stevenson

as White Sharecropper

Louis Grant

as Black Sharecropper

James Hanney

as Mack

Art Smith

as Harry Carlyle

Robert Strauss

as Frank Mason, grocer

John Marley

as Thug With Crowbar

Harry Wilson

as Eugene Poulnot