| The Dungeon | |
|---|---|
 Contemporary newspaper advertisement for the film | |
| Directed by | Oscar Micheaux |
| Written by | Oscar Micheaux |
| Produced by | Oscar Micheaux |
Release date |
|
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent |
The Dungeon is a 1922race film directed, written, produced and distributed byOscar Micheaux, considered the African-AmericanCecil B. DeMille due to his prolific output of films during the silent era, one of his greatest works beingBody and Soul (1924).The Dungeon was his first horror effort, an earlyblaxploitation take on theBluebeard legend.[1]
Micheaux was criticized byD. Ireland Thomas, a columnist with theChicago Defender, for his casting of light-skinned African Americans who could pass for white, attempting to make his films more commercially successful. Thomas questioned whether Micheaux was "relying on his name alone to tell the public that it is a race production; or maybe he is after booking it in white theaters."[2]
No print of the film is known to exist and it is presumed to be alost film.[3]
The film focuses on Myrtle Downing, anAfrican-American woman who is coerced into marrying a corrupt would-be politician named Gyp Lassiter even though she is really in love with Stephen Cameron, a young lawyer. When she discovers that her husband has conspired to support segregationist policies in exchange for support by white political power brokers, she objects to his crooked dealings and gets herself imprisoned in a secret dungeon where her husband had murdered his previous wives.[4]
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