The Darktown Revue

Donald Heywood's Choir performs four numbers amidst a couple of comedy shorts in Oscar Micheaux's first sound film.

Not taking any chances, Micheaux offers a short revue, a selection of musical and comedy acts. The choir is quite good, and the two comedy skits -- Tim Moore and Andrew Tribble doing a two-act that shows their skill in performing together; later, Amon Davis performs a mock sermon -- also show considerable skill. This despite the fact that if anything like this were attempted today, there would be riots over the racism shown.

But while the material has aged disgracefully, the talent is considerable. It's a pity that the sound is buzzy and unclear. However, unless someone is willing to pay to have this cleaned up, that's what we have.

The Darktown Revue (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Director Oscar Micheaux had already made several dozen features by the time he shot this two-reeler. This eighteen-minute short has the Donald Heywood Choir performing a handful of songs and we also get a couple comedy acts.

If you're a fan of these early race films then you'll certainly want to check this out. Hollywood and the major studios were pumping out countless shorts like this that showed off various acts. Most of these acts appeared in the one film and never got back on the big screen, which is basically what we've got here. Tim Moore would go on to appear in a few Micheaux movies and Amos Davis would appear in the television show Amos and Andy. As far as the comic acts go, there's nothing here overly funny but it's still nice to get to see them. The same is true with the choir. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking or excellent about them but it's still nice to get to see them.

Even if it is a simple 18 minute film, there is something pleasing about seeing this beautifully dressed group perform a medley of choral tunes. Despite the primitive audio technology, there are wonderful voices here, in solos and together, singing to us from the past. You can see why filming this classy group was a target for Micheaux's first sound film, and I thought it was neat that in "Is That Religion?" he satirized preachers who were less than enlightened. Look at all the grimaces in the background while this man speaks (black and in blackface); they are a combination of annoyed and embarrassed by his ignorance and theatrics, and the contrast seems to signal a desire for a new image and new era for black people. To me it's remarkable that it was shot in the format of a minstrel show, not a liability, saying something about subverting and redefining the stereotype, and providing a new direction.

The vaudeville performance of "Why Leave by the Window" from Tim Moore and Andrew Tribble about a willfully unemployed man's experience in a haunted house provided a further contrast, and the pair dropping corny puns amidst their wordplay was harmlessly amusing to me. After describing how he fled the house through a window, for example, one of them says "The window got well." The other asks, "What you mean, the window got well?" And he replies, "...Got rid of its panes." Despite the simplicity of this skit and the overall production, with its static camera simply capturing these performances, it's fascinating to think about the satire and messages Micheaux got in here, and how ambiguous it is to some 92 years later. There is an element of it that seems direct and representational, and there is another element that seems elusive, and I like that about it.