Gun Moll (DVD)

Laura Jackson is a tough-as-nails lady cop masquerading as a glamorous singer in a Harlem nightclub. Secretly, she is gathering evidence to convict 'Gat' Dalton, the city's top gangster. Posing as the racketeer's gun moll, she covertly records conversations between him and his goons. But when Dalton learns her true identity, Laura must toss aside her silk stockings and jump into action...

Chorus girl Nina Mae McKinney (1912-1967) made history when she was chosen to star in the first Hollywood film with an all-black cast, King Vidor's Hallelujah! (1929). Afterwards she signed a five-year contract with MGM, becoming the first African-American performer to do so with a major studio. But prevailing racial attitudes meant she rarely got to make films. William Wellman's Safe in Hell (1931) was one of her few notable appearances during this period. After all her scenes in Reckless (1935) were deleted, she fled to Europe. Touring cabarets and nightclubs, she was hailed as "The Black Garbo" by appreciative French and British audiences. Heading back to America as World War II erupted, she began starring in independently-produced films made exclusively for black audiences. Gun Moll (a.k.a Gang Smashers) was one of several "race" films in which McKinney was finally allowed to receive star billing. Eventually tiring of the motion picture business altogether, she returned to Europe after World War II. Beloved comedic actor Mantan Moreland (1902-1973) had a much more prolific career, starring in eight pictures alongside Frankie Darro between 1939 and 1941. He is best known as chauffeur Birmingham Brown in Monogram's popular Charlie Chan series (from 1944 to 1949). Moreland was still working in Hollywood, playing small roles in movies and on TV, at the time of his death in 1973.

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