Midnight Shadow

Midnight Shadow (1939)

** (out of 4)

Margaret Wilson (Frances Redd) has a couple men wanting her affections but after her father shows off an oil well to them, he's murdered. Now the two men are suspects so the daughter hires a private detective to figure out who the killer is.

MIDNIGHT SHADOW stands out because of its all black cast but sadly outside of this there's really nothing too special here. This film follows the "old dark house" theme that ran thought hundreds of films from this period but the majority of the horror elements are watered down in favor of the detective story, which is obviously watered down even more by the attempt at laughter. As with many films, this one goes for laughs as the detective and his assistant share insults and comic falls but this doesn't really work.

I was surprised to see how good the majority of the lead performances were. This includes Redd who was quite believable in the role of the daughter. There are some weak performances to be found in smaller parts but nothing too damaging to the film. I also thought the actual mystery was well-done and at least keeps you guessing a little. MIDNIGHT SHADOW is a fair thriller that will mainly appeal to those wanting to see an example of an all black cast.

Another film from Sack Amusement Company, a distribution company that dealt with the black movie theatre circuit in the 30s and 40s.

A very forgettable mystery that had to have served as a B Movie, supporting a bigger name movie. The acting is generally of the obviously memorized and recited lines variety. By the time the mystery is solved most of the audience won't care, as the mystery has little suspense, the "comedy" falls flat and the ending is so lackluster.

A few notes on this one though. This kind of trivia is what maakes these movies interesting to me beyond the plots. John Criner, the man who played Prince Alihabad had a similar role as a travelling show Doctor in "The Duke Is Tops', he played Doctor Dorando there and it is a better showcase for his talent. Ruby Dandridge, who played Mrs. Lingley, was the mother of Dorothy Dandridge. This movie has the look of a mystery series, had "Lingley and Lightfoot" made a better movie, there may have been more. But Junior Lingley was little more than a bumbler mincing about, and Lightfoot's acting seemed to be majorly the wide-eyed scared black man role.

These "race" movies had such low budgets that it is amazing they did as much as they did with what they had to work with. There are other better movies out there in the genre, if this is the first movie you see of this type, don't be discouraged, there are more out there of far better quality.

A mysterious showman/charlatan arrives at a small town and immediately starts courting a girl whose father owns a valuable deed for land in an oil field. The father is murdered in the night by an unknown assassin and two bungling detectives get on the trail of the murderer.

Midnight Shadow is entirely negligible as a mystery film. It's not very involving and it displays the usual deficiencies that these old poverty row films tend to like an abundance of stupid and unnecessary comedy relief. While its resolution was particularly poor and abrupt (it didn't really explain very clearly why the guilty party was actually guilty). The acting is also below par, even for these types of movies, with at least one actor appearing to be reading his lines off cue cards. However, this movie is best appreciated for reasons beyond all of the above. It's interesting as one of the films of the 30's made specifically for the black movie theatres. Hence the all-black cast. It also explains the strange opening text that tells audiences of lands in the American Deep South that are self-governed entirely by and for black people! This of course goes some way to explaining to audiences why everybody is black, including law enforcers, lawyers and detectives. Naturally, this is completely historically inaccurate! But what the hey – it's the movies, right?

Overall, this is not a good film but it's quite interesting historically and it has a very short running time so its deficiencies aren't really that painful to bear.

The production values that were available even to studios like PRC on porverty row amusing were sure not available to this film Midnight Shadow. This is the story of a murder committed in an all black community in Oklahoma and its main asset is a pair of bumbling correspondence school detectives who actually solve the case quite by accident.

Buck Woods and Richard Bates play the would be sleuths and I don't mind saying they reminded me a bit of Abbott&Costello in their film Who Done It. Imagine if this studio had the facilities of Universal Studios that A&C enjoyed.

I can't rate Midnight Shadow higher, but it's still worth a look.

Comedy mystery with an all-black cast (not pertaining to rugby), with the daughter of a wealthy landowner (Redd) being wooed by the charismatic but suspicious circus mentalist and apparent sub-continent royal heir (Criner), before her father is murdered and deeds to an oil-rich plot of land stolen during the night. Two bumbling detectives join forces with the police to catch the killer whom they believe will attempt to cash-in the stolen land deed, employing their unique brand of detective skills to solve the mystery and claim the kudos.

Swiftly told tale suffers for its amateurish acting (many times do the cast appear to lose character and look off-stage for direction), but also a curiously erratic narrative that never settles whether it's comedy or mystery. Perhaps it's both, and if so, it's a period piece in which the only recognisable face (to me) was Ruby Daindridge in a minor supporting role playing the mother of a bookish novice detective (Bates) who looks and behaves like the Chris Rock of his era.

Classified as a "race" film, it might be worth seeking if you're a film historian, but there's little else to recommend it to mainstream audiences, with a poorly conceived plot, some truly abominable acting and at times, painfully laboured dialogue.