Last week, in his baseball movies post, Rob Neyer said "and by the way, we're still waiting for the first great documentary about the Negro Leagues."Too soon to tell if it will be great, but we at least now have a candidate:
"The Untold Truth" focuses on the history of black baseball from 1865-1947, when Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player in the major leagues.The film's director, Gregg Champion, said the film will not only focus on the story of the Negro Baseball Leagues but also "how jazz and baseball came together, how women influenced baseball at that time and how the economics of baseball played into black Americans succeeding in all walks of life."
The filmmakers, who have an exclusive rights contract with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., plan to release the film during this year's World Series. A distribution deal has not been secured yet.
Sounds ambitious, but there's nothin' wrong with a little ambition. Here's hoping it turns out well.
3 comments:
William Rhoden, amongst others, would disagree strongly with, "...how the economics of baseball played into black Americans succeeding in all walks of life."
Rhoden is in the camp who thinks that black Amercians would have been better served by NOT integrating into MLB. He argues that they were better off owning and operating their own leagues rather than supplying only some of the "muscle". Given the drastic decline in the number of black Amerians playing MLB.....
The film is about "Black Baseball" and the communities that thrived during from early 1900's to 1947.
Agree with you and W. Rhoden on the point addressed -- and the film will show that.
Stay tuned.
Thanks for the teaser, Gregg. I look forward to the film!
(and if you want to give certain bloggers with a growing audience a sneak preview . . . ;-)
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