Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist (Criterion Collection)

Four-disc salute to the pioneering singer/actor/activist includes Robeson's film debut, as an escaped con posing as a preacher, in Oscar Micheaux's silent all-black drama "Body and Soul" (1925). An interracial affair rocks a small town in the silent "Borderline" (1930). Robeson plays the title role of Eugene O'Neill's Pullman porter-turned-Caribbean despot, "The Emperor Jones" (1933). Leslie Banks is "Sanders of the River" (1935), a British official in colonial Africa, and Robeson is his loyal native aide. Court-martialed Army corporal Robeson escapes and flees into the North African desert, where he becomes a ruler, in "Jericho" (1937), with Henry Wilcoxon. AKA: "Dark Sands." A Welsh coal mining town is the setting for tense drama in "The Proud Valley" (1941), and Robeson narrates the wartime propaganda film "Native Land" (1942), a series of vignettes affirming the basic rights of all Americans. Also included is the documentary "Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist" (1979). 9 3/4 hrs. total. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; audio commentary; interviews; more. Four-disc set.