Check and Double Check

This early talkie featuring the apparently hugely popular comic act of Amos and Andy would no doubt outrage many of today's enlightened folk, but I don't really want to get into that other than to say that this film at least has worth as a social document. The comedy isn't really particularly funny - not because of any 'bad taste in the mouth' left by the brand of humour, but simply because the standard of the writing isn't that great. Freeman F. Gosden and Charles J. Correll are quite good at what they do, and there's an amiability about their relationship that is clearly a result of the way their characters must have developed during their radio years. A curiosity, for sure, but perfectly forgettable.

It always amazes me to hear all the negative comments about "Amos and Andy," especially concerning their 50's TV series. They may not be the brightest bulbs in the bunch, but they have jobs, they care for others, and are law-abiding guys. In the TV show, other blacks were even portrayed as businessmen, doctors, and lawyers. Where does all that insult blacks? Because they mispronounce some words? Please.

Now of course, in "Check and Double Check" Amos and Andy are played by two guys in blackface, the two white guys who have made Amos and Andy famous up until that point. It is very funny seeing the white guys in blackface, because there is no doubting they are indeed white men (Kingfish is white too). Seeing this film was especially interesting for me because I have the two Amos and Andy cartoons from 1934 (the only ones ever made) which use the voices of these two actors.

The movie itself is pretty good, Amos and Andy get mixed up in some society plot, involving some well-to-do white people from Westchester. Back in Harlem, the duo run their taxicab company, and there are some nice shots of New York City in 1930. And for train/subway fans, there is a particular treat, as we go into the original Pennsylvania Station for some shots! There are some funny scenes in the film, with Andy's deadpan lines making me laugh the most. Maybe the thing that would surprise most new viewers of this film, is just how much the actors underplay their roles as Amos and Andy as far as black stereotyping from the 30's goes. As all old film fans know, black actors in these old movies were usually put in for comic relief, making funny faces and noises, looking bug-eyed, running scared at the slightest sound, jumping around with arms flailing if they were scared, etc. But these two guys really don't do any of that. Sure, they play for comedy, but even though they are in blackface, they actually avoid all that kind of stuff, and just play the comedy straight. This may disappoint anyone looking to blast and tear the film apart concerning the two actors as Amos and Andy, but it's the truth, they really don't make an effort to make blacks look silly, they are really playing a comedy while happening to be in blackface.

Most don't understand just how huge the characters of Amos and Andy were in those days. This film is an unbelievable artifact of the era, an entertaining excursion into 1930's comedy. The quality of the print is also downright excellent on the DVD I viewed. I highly recommend this film for entertainment as well as historical study.

This was an attempt to bring the radio sensations Amos & Andy to the big screen, from director Melville W. Brown and RKO. The overly-convoluted and sloppy plot concerns young Richard Williams (Charles Morton), just up from down south to visit some old family friends in New York, and to see about a possible inheritance that will help set him up in life. This becomes even more important when he falls for the daughter of the family friends, Jean Blair (Sue Carol). Meanwhile, two inept Harlem taxi cab proprietors, Amos (Freeman F. Gosden) and Andy (Charles J. Correll) are sent by their social lodge to a creepy abandoned house to fulfill an annual obligation concerning the memory of their order's founder. They run afoul of a shady character (Ralf Harolde) after Richard's inheritance. Also featuring Russ Powell as the Kingfish.

This is of course the infamous, original incarnation of Amos and Andy, with white actors Gosden and Correll in black face playing the leading roles. They aren't as mean spirited as some of the other caricatures of the time, but it's a sad sight, nonetheless. The decision was also made to have all other black characters with a speaking part also be white people in black face, although extras were cast with actual black performers. The nature of Amos and Andy is enough of a drawback, but what really killed this for me was that it is just not funny in the least. Actors like Willie Best and Mantan Moreland could often be hilarious despite the insensitive portrayal of their characters. But the comedy here is non-existent. The "old dark house" set-up seems tacked-on and unexploited for the inherent comedy, and none of the supporting players are very good at all, either. Gosden was said to have been unhappy with how the film turned out, and there were no other Amos and Andy features. This is surprising since the film was extremely profitable, and was the biggest hit in RKO's history until King Kong.

The movie does feature one stand-out scene of Duke Ellington's band performing some songs (even using Bing Crosby's voice for one). It raised the entire film's rating by one star, in my humble opinion.

CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK (Radio Pictures, 1930), directed by Melville Brown, marks the feature movie debut of radio comedians, Amos 'N Andy (by arrangement with the National Broadcasting Company). Introduced in 1928, the characters of Amos and Andy were the rage of the radio airwaves, and what better way to get to see as well as hear them than on the motion picture screen. Though Amos and Andy were black taxicab drivers from Georgia living in the Harlem district of New York City, these characters were actually performed by white actors, Freeman F. Gosdon (Amos) and Charles V. Correll (Andy) convincingly playing blacks speaking in Negro dialect. CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK mixes comedy routines between Amos and Andy along with an extended sub-plot revolving around a socialite white family of Westchester County.

The story opens on a New York City street during a traffic jam where John Blair (Edward Martindel) and his wife (Irene Rich) await patiently in their limousine while on their way to pick up a family friend, Richard Williams (Charles Morton) at Pennsylvania Station. Holding up a line of cars is the run-down Model T cab by owners of the Fresh Air Taxi Company, Amos (Freeman F, Gosden) and Andy Brown (Charles V. Correll). Obtaining a taxi leading to the Blair estate in Hartsdale, New York, Charles meets with the Blair daughter, Joan (Sue Carol), whom he had seen since childhood, horse riding with her suitor, Ralph Crawford (Ralf Harolde). Ralph becomes jealous of their relationship and schemes on keeping them apart. Later, the Blairs hire Duke Ellington and his Cotton Orchestra to perform at their social function, but arrive two hours late due to their slow taxi transport by none other than Amos and Andy. "Check and Double Check" finally serves its title purpose as Amos and Andy attend their lodge club, "The Mystic Knights of the Sea." Their fraternity brother and mystic leader, Kingfish (Russell Powell), selects them as to spend the night in an old abandoned estate in Harlem acting as night watchmen and locate a piece of paper labeled "Check and Double Check," that's to be returned to the lodge the following morning. While the home has a reputation for being haunted, Amos and Andy are unaware the noises are being made by Ralph and assistant searching for an unclaimed deed of Richard's deceased grandfather needed in order for Ricjhard to marry Joan. Roscoe Ates (Roscoe); and Rita LaRoy (Elinor, Ralph's sister) are also seen in the cast. While Amos and Andy's girlfriends, Ruby Taylor and Madame Queen, are discussed, they do not appear.

Anyone familiar with the television series, "The Amos and Andy Show" (1951-1953), would be disappointed by this sole motion picture venture based on the same radio characters. Being an early talkie, certain sequences are drawn-out and stiffly played. Much of the story devotes more time on the Blair family than on Amos and Andy. Although there's no singers, the Blair function does present Duke Ellington's Band playing the hit tune to Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby's classic, "Three Little Words." Ellington, unfortunately, is glimpsed piano playing either by back of head or side facial profile, only gets his facial view in long shot.

With Hal Roach having Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and RKO Radio having Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, the same studio (RKO) gambled on the success by acquiring another comedy team, Amos and Andy. Reportedly successful in 1930, with viewers getting a full glimpse of the popular dual, interestingly there were no future follow-up Amos and Andy features nor comedy shorts. They did appear on screen once more, doing a guest spot in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 (Paramount, 1935). As it appears, Amos and Andy were probably more popular and funnier on radio than on the silver screen. When Amos and Andy were transferred to television, the two-season comedy series featured natural black actors (Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams) in their title roles, yet they were mostly secondary players to its actual star of that program, Kingfish (wonderfully played by the scene-stealing Tim Moore).

Though Amos and Andy could be said to be black replicas to Laurel and Hardy, with Amos the thin and sensible partner to Amos's fat, loafing, cigar smoking character sitting back to think while Amos does all the work, their comedy routines include mix-up telephone conversation, their new math method with Kingfish; tire changing, and race against time taxi driving to Pennsylvania Station, which unfortunately lacks comedy scoring and obviously staged in front of a rear projection screen.

Who knows if CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK might have stood the test of time had Amos and Andy been played by actual black actors as Sam McDaniel and Clarence Muse, as opposed to white actors in blackface. Yet with them doing the same exact thing might still stir up controversy by the way how blacks obtain laughter rather than getting laughter.

Having turned up on television around 1979, CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK, a public domain title, did become available on video cassette (1980s) and years later on DVD. It has turned up sparingly on cable television's Turner Classic Movies, notably in 2006 as part of its subject matter, "Black Images on Film." As in 1930, this comedy would be seen today more as a curiosity than a comedy classic. (**)

"Check and Double Check" has been kicked around as one of the worst examples of racism extant in a film. While the characterizations are not exactly enlightening, there is some humor in the film, which would directly be related to fans of the radio series. The main problem most people have is the blackface of the lead actors from the radio show. One must remember that this was the number one radio show of it's era. Yes, the characters are portrayed as somewhat stupid bumblers, but so are a lot of white and ethnic characters from other radio and television series. Think "Gilligan's Island", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Ma and Pa Kettle" or "Dagwood Bumstead". I have seen only a few samples of the TV series "Amos and Andy" but what I have seen is a truly funny and very warm-hearted series. Also, the characters get treated with respect by other, more sophisticated characters within the stories in both the TV and film versions. The most truly disgusting racial stereotypes I have ever seen in a film are in "Birth of a Nation," the truly appalling portrayal of the KKK as heroes in this wins hands down for me as the low point in portrayal of racial stereotype.