Big Fella is a 1937 film directed by J. Elder Wills

J. Elder Wills

James Ernest Elder Wills was a British person who had a lengthy career in the film industry.He mainly worked as an art director, but he also worked in other roles, including director....

, loosely based on the novel Banjo by Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...

 writer Claude McKay

Claude McKay

Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance and wrote three novels: Home to Harlem , a best-seller which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo , and Banana Bottom...

.

Plot

Big Fella is set on the docks and streets of Marseilles. Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...

 stars in the leading role, as a street-wise but honest dockworker who struggles with deep issues of integrity and human values. Elisabeth Welch

Elisabeth Welch

thumb|right|200pxElisabeth Welch was an American born singer, actress, and entertainer whose career spanned seven decades, many years of which she was based in Britain....

 plays opposite him as a café singer in love with him. Robeson’s wife, Eslanda Robeson, appears as the café owner.

Reception

The movie received high praise, particularly for the music, featuring Robeson and Welch, Robeson's performance.

Cast

• Paul Robeson
  Paul Robeson
  Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
  
   - Banjo
• Elisabeth Welch
  Elisabeth Welch
  thumb|right|200pxElisabeth Welch was an American born singer, actress, and entertainer whose career spanned seven decades, many years of which she was based in Britain....
  
   - Amanda 'Manda'
• Roy Emerton
  Roy Emerton
  Roy Emerton was a British film actor.He was a sailor, cowboy, stoker, stevedore, railroader, miner, etc and served in World War I. He played in a great number of popular London stage shows, including Shakespeare as well as film work....
  
   - Spike
• James Hayter - Chuck
• Lawrence Brown - Corney
• Eldon Gorst
  Eldon Gorst
  Sir Eldon F. Gorst, KCB , more commonly known as Sir Eldon Gorst, was Consul-General in Egypt from 1907-1911.He was the son of Sir John Eldon F. Gorst, Solicitor General for England and Wales and Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education. Born in New Zealand but reared in London,...
  
   - Gerald Oliphant (as Eldon Grant)
• Marcelle Rogez - Marietta