Noted documentarist (and experimental film director) William Greaves made this fine short movie about Frederick Douglass, shown recently on PBS as part of Black History Month programming.
Sponsored by the National Park Service, it benefits mightily from a great performance by Hugh Morgan as Douglass, avoiding histrionics and using his stentorian voice to great advantage. For a low-budget project, his wigs and makeup are superior to most Hollywood blockbuster dramas where the aging effects usually are distracting and phony looking.
Told in flashbacks from an elderly white-haired Douglass thoughtful at his desk, the half-hour movie features brief scenes of Douglass with famous personages like Lincoln, John Brown, Harriet Tubman and William Lloyd Garrison, nicely personified by an ensemble cast.
