Chloe, Love Is Calling You

Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934)

BOMB (out of 4)

Incredibly bad film and I'm really not sure what the hell it was suppose to be about. Chloe (Olive Borden), a mixed race girl, returns to the swamp with a voodoo priestess who might be her mother. The voodoo priestess then wants to use Chloe to kill the man who lynched her father. The side plot deals with Chloe not knowing if she should be black or white or something like that. The biggest issue with the film is that it's confusing as hell and nothing ever really happens. Everything leads up to a voodoo sacrifice, which is just downright silly. This didn't ever make it into theaters back in the day. Instead the producers would go around to black neighborhoods and show it. This was apparently done because it was a "black film" but perhaps they just didn't want people seeing something this bad.

Chloe Love Is Calling is an interesting low-budget drama from 1934. The plot is about a mixed-race woman named Chloe who desperately wants to pass as white. When she finds out the truth about her family she is nearly killed in a voodoo ritual. The movie deals with some topics that were considered very taboo in 1930s Hollywood - racial identity, violence against women, and lynching in the South. Critics will complain that the black characters are all stereotypes but this is typical of movies made at the time. We can't judge a movie made in 1934 by today's standards - this was an era when even Judy Garland was wearing blackface. Olive Borden gives an enthusiastic performance as Chloe and even gets to show off her skills as a "scream queen". She was once a popular silent star but couldn't make it in the talkies. Sadly this would be her final film and she would die a penniless alcoholic in 1947. Chloe is worth watching just to see Olive's final performance. It's not a great film but it's an entertaining look at a certain time in the American south.

I agree that the plot and presentation are flawed, however, there is value in seeing how some people perceived certain social situations during an earlier era in our history. Not all people at that time, of course, saw things the same way, nor would they have made the movie in the way that it was done, but I appreciate all the old films because each gives us a short look at things through other eyes.

As for the complaint that the NAACP would not like the film, I am not sure about that. Maybe they would see some value in the enhanced exposure of certain attitudes, maybe not.

Having grown up in Louisiana, I do think that the voodoo scenes were overdone and the man wrestling with an already dead alligator was pretty hokey, but I was pleased to see some clear water for a change. (I suspect that scene may have been filmed in Florida because by the 1930's we had pretty much ruined our bayous already.)

Mike

This was a movie that I found when looking through Letterboxd for horror from 1934 for my Foray through the Fours. On the Internet Movie Database, it isn't listed as such there. They have it as a drama. Now I found this on Tubi so that made it easier. I'm not sure if there are different cuts or if footage is lost as I think the version that I watched was several minutes shorter.

Synopsis: a black voodoo priestess comes out of the Louisans swamps to take revenge on the white plantation owner who believes killed her husband.

We start in a boat coming down the river. Rowing is Jim Strong (Philip Ober). In front of him is Chloe (Olive Borden) and her mother, Mandy (Georgette Harvey). This older woman fled the area after her husband was lynched. He was accused of a crime that she claims he didn't commit. This has her out for Col. Gordon (Francis Joyner). He's the richest man in the area, owning a plantation and a business.

It then takes us over to meet him. He is visited by his niece, Joyce Gordon (Molly O'Day), and her cousin, Wade (Reed Howes). Wade is there to help with the business. It sounds like there are missing supplies, so he wants to figure out who is stealing it or what happened to them. This leads him to butt heads with Mose (Augustus Smith) and Hill (Jess Cavin). They both work for the colonel.

I should include here that Mandy is priestess from the synopsis. She is back to get her revenge. Mandy meets with Wade and tells his fortune for money. She then uses this to send her daughter into town. It is there that she is attacked by Mose. Jim and Wade come to her rescue. The latter falls in love with Chloe, but they can't be together since she is partially black. Jim doesn't mind and wants to marry her too. This causes Mose and Mandy to work together since she doesn't want her daughter to be with Wade. Mose wants revenge on him. Col. Gordon is also a good target due to his standing in the area as well.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is a movie of the era. There are themes we will see past this, so I'm not shocked to see them starting this early. There is the idea of race and not marrying outside of people who look like you. We also get class issues between Col. Gordon and his family as opposed to Mandy along with those that live near the swamp.

Where I want to start then would be that I'm not fully sure I consider this to be a horror film. I'll still include it since it is listed that way on Letterboxd. If this was made today, it would be a drama. I get the idea that being made in the 1930s, featuring voodoo and a ritual being done to harm characters put it here. Plus, there is a dark reveal as to why Mandy fled the area. I'm not going to spoil what it is, but it makes sense and cleared up my confusion. I was glad for that. It is still problematic.

Let me explain more and as a disclaimer, I'm not going to give this a low score just because of it. I did want to give the reasons though. I don't have an issue with Col. Gordon being rich. He should figure out who is stealing from him and having Wade helping is fine. The problem is that they're looking at Mandy and Mose for doing voodoo as problem. They are the villains for it. The issue there is that they're both black. There is also Ben (Richard Huey), who is a butler. He sides with his boss and they have film being a simple character. What I'll say is that the time this came out, it makes sense. I'm also glad that they hired actors of color, so there's that as well.

I think then I'll shift over to filmmaking. The cinematography is fine. The best part is just capturing where this takes place. It is out in the country, close to bayous. I do love that. It also makes sense why supplies would go missing or if they're out doing rituals. It takes time to find and you'd need to know where you are going. We don't get much in the way of effects. We did see a guy wrestle with an alligator which I wasn't expecting. A perk in its favor comes with the sound design. We get drums that we're told are calling followers of voodoo to know they're being called. This is working with a low budget so none of this was bad in my opinion.

Let's then finish with the acting performances. I thought that Borden was fine as Chloe. She isn't given a lot to work with and she's there as the catalyst for Wade to find for her. Howes was fine. O'Day is interesting in her role since she questions something that gets revealed. This did come off as racist to me. I also don't know if the reactions make full sense. Joyner is fine as the colonel. I hate that Harvey is our villain, but I also think she plays it well. Other than that, Cavin, Smith, Ober and the rest of the cast worked for what was needed.

In conclusion, this one wasn't for me. This doesn't do enough to go into horror for me. It is more of a drama. There are problematic things story wise here that felt like they were done with a lack of just knowledge of the subject. The acting though was fine across the board. No one stands out aside from Harvey for me. I'm glad they did hire actors of color. This is also made well enough with the cinematography to capture where it is set and the drums to build atmosphere. Not one that I can recommend though unless you're watching horror from the era. In that case, it has an interesting place in history.

My Rating: 4 out of 10.

It isn't just that it's the most racist movie I've seen in a long time. It's just not very good. You have major parts played by white actors. In black and white, they don't even look dark. Then you have the ridiculous premise where the woman of "white blood" has longings she just can't explain. She is tilting toward her whiteness. Of course, it's obvious who the superior race is here. They lounge with their juleps and order the servants around. The "hero" is a monumental jerk, but he is a white guy. There's lots of talk about the problems of mixing with other races and it's a given, of course. The blacks also dance around doing their voodoo rites, totally "out of control." It's up to the landholder and his rich friends to take care of them. Also, Chloe was raised and loved by these people, but when she is revealed as a one hundred percent white woman, well, you can imagine what they're thinking. I realize how unenlightened people were (and how hateful). But it must have been viewed as a horrible depiction, even back in the 30's. I know that there is an historical perspective that applies here. Maybe we should all see this kind of stuff once in a while.