Reform School (restored)

(USA/1939—directed by Leo C. Popkin) 

Louise Beavers gives a commanding lead performance as the crusading Mother Barton in this race film long believed to be lost. Beavers plays a probation officer who comes to the defense of young inmate Freddie (Reginald Fenderson) and his pals (the Harlem Tuff Kids) who are subject to constant harassment at a corrupt reform school. The film’s director, Leo Popkin, is one of the three co-founders of the Million Dollar Productions company that produced and distributed films for Black audiences. Its other co-founders were Popkin’s brother Harry and writer-producer-actor Ralph Cooper, “The Dark Gable.”

This screening will be introduced by special guest Rhea Combs, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and co-curator of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. (68 min.) Free with museum admission. 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.