Body and Soul

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.

Two escaped fugitives bring ruin to an African-American community. One passes himself off as Rev. Isaiah T. Jenkins (Paul Robeson) and the other is his cellmate Yello-Curley' Hinds. The fake reverend corrupts a member of his congregation, Isabelle Perkins, who happens to love Sylvester, Jenkins' long-lost identical twin brother.

First, I don't like some of the text which tries to use colloquial black speech. It's downgrading but also makes it harder to understand. Maybe the black audience of the day feels more comfortable with that. This is to be black cinema made for a black audience. I'm willing to accept it for what it is. On the other hand, I don't think some of the plot points make sense.

The mother wouldn't buy Sylvester revealing himself as a reverend right after telling her daughter to find herself a reverend. The mother would assume that the young couple is faking it. I also don't think the twin brother idea works in this plot. Apparently, this movie was chopped up to satisfy the censors and maybe the longer version functions better. The main aspect that really works is the great Paul Robeson. He is the magnetic lead and he delivers compelling performances.

Its nice to see there was a Black director (Micheaux) with the gumption to take on difficult themes (like a crooked preacher and sexual abuse). Unfortunately his mastery of technique wasn't very good; this movie resembles the sort of thing D.W. Griffith was doing in 1913, both in form and tone (cf. A Girl and her Trust). Cinema had evolved by 1925.

There is one great comic sequence that is worth the price of the movie, an over-the-top sermon (on the valley of dry bones) in which the whiskey-guzzling preacher has his congregation in such ecstasy that they do what looks suspiciously like break-dancing. Robeson, usually the good guy, here proves that he is equally adept at playing a sleazebag when required. There is a similar "sermon" in The Blues Brothers that was surely inspired by this one. The comical stereotypes would normally cause us to cry "racism", but this movie was made by and for blacks.

Body and Soul explores serious issues and has moments of great fun, but is mainly of historical interest.

A very moving film for its time.I'm a big Paul Robeson fan and I'm glad TCM shows a lot of films with all Black casts.I think it should be shown along with the 1929 film "Hallelujah".It also has an all Black cast and has religion as its theme but it's not a silent film.This film ran a little too long but I never stopped watching.Touchy subject matter even today.Right on point even today!Even though Robeson found fame who knows what talent the others had that skin color stopped from them also becoming well known.That's why I love these films.The Black Church must have shunned this type of film back them and the actors couldn't have had an easy time of it.I'd call this a silent soap opera.The mother really loved her daughter a whole lot.Mercy!The daughter was the ultimate tragic figure.The Minister.One word-Sinister!

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.