J. Elder Wills

Johnny Zinga, a London dockworker whose constant singing during break time gets him the attention of impresario Gabriel Donozetti (Esme Percy) who offers him a chance to entertain in various concerts. He becomes successful but something pulls him back to his ancestral homeland in Africa and when someone confirms his heritage, he chucks his career to bring himself and his wife, Ruth (Elisabeth Welch) along with servant Monty (Robert Adams), there to claim his inherited royalty.

Loosely based on the novel Banjo by Harlem Renaissance writer Claude McKay. Big Fella is set on the docks and streets of Marseilles. Paul Robeson stars in the leading role, as a street-wise but honest dockworker who struggles with deep issues of integrity and human values. Elisabeth Welch plays opposite him as a café singer in love with him.

A young Englishman abroad, Michael, visits the local low-life spot of Tiger Bay to test his assertion that the spirit of human romance survives even in the most unpromising of circumstances. He intervenes when a local criminal protection racketeer targets a Chinese nightclub, and falls in love with the owner's young English foster-sister. But Olaf's gang have only just started their campaign against Lui Chang, the cultured, elegant woman who owns the premises... (imdb)

Farce of two brothers in a continual trough of financial depression.