Dutchman **** (1966, Shirley Knig ht, Al Freeman Jr, Frank Lieberman) – Classic Movie Review 10,517

Neurotic white woman Lula (Shirley Knight) humiliates black New Yorker Clay (Al Freeman Jr) on a subway train, in director Anthony Harvey’s 1966 drama Dutchman, a riveting, intensely played version of LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)’s still timely Sixties allegorical play about racism.

What Dutchman lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in sheer power and passion. Gerry Turpin shoots in startling black and white images. The film is short (at 55 minutes) and extremely effective.

Knight won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival (1967).

LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) also writes the screenplay.

Also in the cast are Robert Calvert, Frank Lieberman, Howard Bennett, Sandy McDonald, Dennis Alaba Peters, Keith James, and Devon Hall, all as subway riders.

It is made at Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, with some shooting on the New York City subway.

It is Harvey’s first film as director, and it is also edited by him.

Anthony Harvey, editor and director, who most notably made The Lion In Winter, among a dozen features, died at 87 on 23 November 2017.

Oscar nominated star character actress Shirley Knight died on 22 April 2020, aged 83. She was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).

Dutchman is directed by Anthony Harvey, runs 55 minutes, is made by Dutchman Film Company, Gene Persson Enterprises and Kaitlin Productions, is released by Continental Distributing (1966) (US) and Planet Film Distributors (1967) (UK), is written by LeRoi Jones, is shot in black and white by Gerry Turpin, is produced by Eugene Persson [Gene Persson] and Hy Silverman, is scored by John Barry, and is designed by Jim Morahan.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,517

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