The Spider's Web

The Spider's Web is a 1926 Oscar Micheaux film starring Evelyn Preer. It was remade in 1932 as The Girl from Chicago. The film is about a beautiful young woman from Harlem in New York City who travels to a small town in Mississippi where she receives unwelcome courting. She returns to Harlem. Plot Norma Shepard is a teenage Black girl from Harlem in New York City. While visiting her aunt in Mississippi, she is crudely and sexually propositioned by Ballinger, the son of a local white plantation owner. Ballinger later attempts to rape Norma at the aunt's home. Elmer Harris, a Black employee of the U.S. Department of Justice, is investigating illegal slavery in the area. Norma tells him about the attack, and he arrests Ballinger. Norma convinces her aunt to move to Harlem. The aunt loses her life savings playing the numbers racket. With her last dollar, the aunt manages to pick a winning number. When she tries to collect her winnings from Martinez, the racketeer, she finds him dead. She takes her winnings from his safe.