Nationtime – Gary (1972)

Nationtime – Gary: Directed by William Greaves. With Amiri Baraka, Charles C. Diggs Jr., Richard Hatcher, Walter Fauntroy. A report on the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, in 1972, a historic event that gathered voices from across the political spectrum.

“A retiring English country gentleman, Rassendyll, is mistaken for his distant cousin, King Rudolph of Ruritania. When the king is taken hostage by his jealous brother, Black Michael, Rassendyll agrees to act as the king in the coronation ceremony.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt takes a long time for this version of u0026#39;The Prisoner of Zendau0026#39; to get moving. The first hour or so is stodgy and less than riveting film-making, and then it gradually picks up momentum, and the last half hour packs a decent punch, especially action-wise. But all in all, a rather more lackluster, even crude entertainment than I had expected after the exhilarating u0026#39;Four Horsemen of the Apocalypseu0026#39;, also by Rex Ingram.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe script is largely at fault, with the scenes so disjointedly put together that it does not in long stretches make a lot of sense. It has the makings of some interesting psychological insights, but does not explore them. I would have made more – MUCH more – out of the fact that for a long while Black Michael seems a pretty decent fellow, genuinely in love with Antoinette and understandably preoccupied about leaving the fate of his country to his feeble-minded brother. But Ingram makes nothing of it and seems curiously uninspired.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe youngish Lewis Stone is an earnest Rassendyll/Rudolph, and sort of holds his own in the climactic sword-fight with, among others, Ramon Novarro. And now we are getting somewhere. This is Novarrou0026#39;s film. He was hardly a star when it was made, and his role does not take up a lot of screen time, but Novarro eats up the scenery with his monocled, slick diabolism. u0026quot;While youu0026#39;re unhung, Rentzau, hell lacks its master!u0026quot;, Stone says, and right he is. Novarro is pure evil, and a delight to watch.”