The Emperor Jones



Adapted by DuBose Heyward from a Eugene O'Neill play and directed by Dudley Murphy, The Emperor Jones is one of Paul Robeson's earliest and most powerful leading roles. Robeson, a railroad porter and notorious swindler, gets into a fight over a crap game and murders his friend Jeff (Frank Wilson). He ends up on a chain gang, but escapes to Haiti where the white trader Smithers (Dudley Digges) buys his freedom. He and Smithers become shady business partners, and Jones becomes rich by tricking the natives into believing he is immortal. Jones declares himself emperor, ruling with an iron fist until the natives revolt and chase him into the jungle where he hears voices and sees visions...

The Emperor Jones was added to the National Film Registry in 2000.