The Emperor Jones is a 1933 film adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same title, directed by Dudley Murphy, featuring Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, and Fredi Washington. The screenplay was written by DuBose Heyward and filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios. Robeson starred in the O'Neill play on stage, both in the United States and England, a role that had helped launch his career.
The film is based rather loosely on the play...
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The Emperor Jones is a 1933 film adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same title, directed by Dudley Murphy, featuring Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, and Fredi Washington. The screenplay was written by DuBose Heyward and filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios. Robeson starred in the O'Neill play on stage, both in the United States and England, a role that had helped launch his career.
The film is based rather loosely on the play, adds an entire backstory before O'Neill's actual play begins, and includes several new characters that do not appear in it (such as Jones' wife, and a friendly priest who advises him to give up his evil ways). Some people consider the movie to be just a vehicle for showing off Robeson's musical talent (he sings a number of times in the film). However, the film does provide what may be Robeson's greatest dramatic performance in a movie, considered by many to be worthy of an Oscar nomination that it did not receive.
In the film version, the...
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