Body and Soul

I learned of Oscar Micheaux from Melvin Van Peebles's documentary "Classified X", about the history of cinema produced and directed by African-Americans. I recently saw Micheaux's "Veiled Aristocrats", and have now seen his "Body and Soul".

For the most part, it's a good movie, with Paul Robeson playing a con artist posing as a clergyman. However, there's one thing that's grating about it, and this might just be a 21st-century view of it: the dialogue on the intertitles. It sounds like stereotyped depictions of African-Americans. Maybe Micheaux was writing the actors' actual dialects, but to me it sounded like it came from a minstrel show. On that subject, after Willie Mays died recently, Keith Olbermann recalled a phone that he'd had with Mays, where Mays affected what sounded like a minstrel show voice (Olbermann didn't imitate it, noting that for a white person to do so would sound incredibly racist).

Anyway, it's an okay movie on its own, with fine performances all around. Just remember that the dialogue on the intertitles sounds cringey nowadays.

BODY AND SOUL (1925) is the third of Oscar Micheaux's surviving silents, with a cast exclusively comprised of African-American actors. It tells the story of Isaiah Jenkins (Paul Robeson), a phony reverend who preaches to a congregation in a small town in the American South, who is really an escaped convict. The locals look up to him, including Martha Jane (Mercedes Gilbert). Martha tries to push her daughter, Isabelle (Julia Theresa Russell) into marrying the reverend, even though she is already seeing his twin brother Sylvester (also played by Robeson). Isabelle, though, sees that he is not as pious as he appears to be. An incident takes place between Isaiah and Isabelle that drives Isabelle away from home, and Martha Jane is forced to confront an unpleasant truth she never would have imagined...

I felt that this was the best of Micheaux's surviving silent movies. The narrative is straightforward and easy to follow, without being burdened by excess characters or lengthy explanations. As was common with many silents, there are some melodramatic contrivances at times but nothing really insulting. Micheaux's narrative here is well focused and a flashback scene makes the movie more powerful. Paul Robeson is the main standout here, with a very charismatic performance as the fake preacher, alternately charming, intimidating, and aggressive – his acting is very expressive. Mercedes Gilbert, a famed black stage actress of the time, also does some nice work as the mother who has to accept that appearances can be deceiving. Some of her gestures and expressions are very much of her time, but she still projects a magnetism and emotional sincerity that makes her work convincing. Julia Theresa Russell is a bit more low-key, quite naturalistic in her portrayal.

Micheaux has some very effective camera-work here, particularly in the flashback scene which conveys disturbing events well with just a minimum of imagery and skillful editing. Not all of the editing here is superb, though – there are a few awkwardly staged moments, like a poorly choreographed fight scene and occasional repetition of action. However, despite that, the movie has an abundance of outstanding scenes.

BODY AND SOUL is, in conclusion, an advance over Micheaux's previous silents WITHIN OUR GATES and THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED. It succeeds because of a focused, straightforward story, charismatic performances, and skillful production. SCORE: 8/10

Body and Soul is an interesting film. Paul Robeson makes a powerful debut in this film about an escaped prisoner who blends into a small community as a beloved pastor. This film is an interesting period piece and was written, directed, and starred African-Americans in an era where that sort of thing wasn't done. Audiences today would be shocked at the stereotypical performances of the supporting cast and would be shocked that an African-American made this film. Well worth seeing for movie buffs. Robeson gives a great and powerful performance.

According to reports, some censoring body objected to the portrayal of a minister as a villain, so producer/director Oscar Micheaux tacked on another ending, and maybe it satisfied a moronic censor, but it ruined the movie.

Since Oscar Micheaux was and is one of my motion-picture heroes, I would never say "don't watch." As I have noted before and will again, that he got to make movies at all is deserving of our admiration, and that they were all, or nearly all, flawed is secondary.

He had imagination and ability, and he had watched enough films by real masters, including D. W. Griffith, to know what to do. Alas, he never had the budget for good editing, or, apparently, for enough rehearsals. So his cutaway shots, his changes of angle, and other aspects of big-budget and skilled movie-making were too often missing.

Still, so what? He made movies!

He raised the money, usually wrote the original story and the script, hired the actors and crews ... and made movies!

In "Body and Soul," he had Paul Robeson. As I said to a friend, somewhat of a waste, using that magnificent voice in a silent film. Fortunately for us, Robeson went on to make talkies, and recordings, and gave many a live concert.

In "Body and Soul," Micheaux had some other talented actors, many of whom honestly deserved acclaim and a chance to perform more often. For whatever reasons, including ignorance on the part of establishment movie-makers, they didn't get that chance. Our loss, as well as the performers'.

This presentation, shown on TCM 20 February 2022, was further marred by an abrasive noise in place of a music score. It wasn't 1920s-era jazz, just percussive noise. Very distracting.

Never mind. Any time an Oscar Micheaux movie is available, I'll be watching, if at all possible. And I urge you to watch also.

Body and Soul (1925)

*** (out of 4)

Paul Robeson plays a really sinister con man who will dip to any level to get what he wants. He pretends to be a Reverend and soon he sets his eyes on the good girl Isabelle (Mercedes Gilbert). At first her and her mother just see him as a kind-hearted preacher but soon the daughter realizes his evil ways include trying to steal her life savings.

Director Oscar Micheaux had already made several movies but there's no question that this here was going to be his epic. Robeson was already well-known on the stage so the two of them teaming up seemed like a grand idea but apparently the two men fought for most of the shooting time and apparently they hated each other so much that Robeson wouldn't even discuss this film. It's also said that the original version was much darker but the director was forced to cut it down by several reels, which is really too bad.

As it stands, BODY AND SOUL is a very impressive movie and it's really shocking at how well it turned out and especially when you consider that the budget was very low and of course there was the behind-the-scenes issues. There's no question that the greatest thing about the picture is the performance by Robeson who really does do a terrific job at coming off as this holy man. He certainly makes you believe this fake side of his character and it's easy to see why someone would fall for him. The actor also perfectly nails the more sinister side of the character.

The film looks very good, again, for its budget and the editing is also good. The entire movie looks very professional, which wasn't always the case for these early race movies. I'd also argue that the story itself was quite good and it really wasn't too often that you'd see any movie taking a look at religious figures in a negative way. BODY AND SOUL is certainly another winning film from the director and a great start for Robeson.