Harlem Double Feature: Girl in Room 20 (1942) / God's Step Children (1938) (DVD)

Girl in Room 20 (B&W, 1942): Backwater choir singer, Daisy Mae Walker, leaves her small Texas town of Perryville and ventures into the big city to pursue her dreams of fame. She checks into Old Crown's flophouse where she takes up with a gang of musicians who offer her a chance to perform. An innocent girl with a lilting voice, Daisy is no match for the hardened survivors she meets on the nightclub circuit. Daisy makes an enemy of Madam Mamie Wilson and as a result, her rags to riches quest looks liable to end in murder. Stars Spencer Williams, Geraldine Brock, Mamie Fisher, Celeste Allen, Buzz Ayecock; Directed by Spencer Williams.

God's Step Children (B&W, 1938): A poor, young, unwed mother begs Mrs. Saunders to adopt her baby girl, Naomi. Already raising her own son, Jimmy, Mrs. Saunders accepts the additional burden with a love-filled heart. But Naomi, born bad, is a wicked child who lies constantly and then charms her way out of punishment. As a result of her illicit behavior, the girl is sent away to a convent. Returning several years later as a ripe young woman, Naomi is still as sinful as ever. She takes an incestuous liking to her older stepbrother, Jimmy, and a triangle soon forms between the two and Jimmy's marriage-hungry girlfriend, Eva. Stars Gloria Press, Jacqueline Lewis, Alice B. Russell, Ethel Moses; Directed by Oscar Micheaux.

• drama