The Grand Illusion

50th anniversary!

Diahann Carroll is radiant in an unforgettable, Oscar-nominated performance as Claudine, a strong-willed single mother, raising six kids in Harlem, whose budding relationship with a gregarious garbage collector (an equally fantastic James Earl Jones) is stressed by the difficulty of getting by in an oppressive system. As directed by the formerly blacklisted leftist filmmaker John Berry, this romantic comedy with a social conscience deftly balances warm humor with a serious look at the myriad issues—from cycles of poverty to the indignities of the welfare system—that shape its characters’ realities. The result is an empathetic chronicle of both Black working-class struggle and Black joy, a bittersweet, bighearted celebration of family and community set to a sunny soul soundtrack composed by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips.

This film is Unstreamable! You’ll have to watch it with us or rent or buy the physical release to see it (legally!).

“Claudine is a valuable document of ’70s-era Harlem lives that pays admirable respect to the neighborhood’s grim realities. It’s a compelling watch and it boasts performances that leave impressions upon the heart long after the film is over.” Imran Khan, PopMatters

“[It] changed my life… it’s one of the first slices of Black life that I saw that made me want to be a filmmaker because something about it said, ‘Now, that’s real.’ Those other films … didn’t really resonate with me, [but] that one really did.” actor/director Robert Townsend, as heard on KCRW’s The Treatment, hosted by Elvis Mitchell