Cee Pee Johnson And His Orchestra, American Search this
Medium:
acetate film
Dimensions:
Duration: 75 Minutes
Length (Film Reel 1): 900 Feet
Length (Film Reel 2): 1000 Feet
Type:
sound films
black-and-white films (visual works)
release prints (motion pictures)
feature films
16mm (photographic film size)
Place depicted:
Harlem, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
Place filmed:
United States, North and Central America
Date:
1940
Description:
A 16mm release print of the feature film Mystery in Swing. It consists of two reels of positive 16mm acetate film (a) and (b), is in black-and-white and contains sound. The film opens with newspapers printing. The next scene opens in a media house where a man sitting hands another man a piece of paper and tells him to go over to the Penguin Club and interview Prince Ellis (Robert Webb). The recipient of the paper asks if he must go through with the assignment. His boss responds with “You get a story out of Prince Ellis and make it good before I fire you again.” The man exists the room and has a conversation with a woman about interviewing Prince Ellis. The rest of the film follows a local detective who investigates the murder of Ellis, a Harlem-based trumpeter. During his investigation, he develops an extensive list of suspects as he learns of Ellis' unpopularity.
