Chloe, Love Is Calling You

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

A black voodoo priestess comes out of the Louisiana swamps to take revenge on the white plantation owner she believes killed her husband.

This was produced by some small independent company called Pinnacle. It's a production company that distributed a handful of these plantation movies in the 20s and 30s. Some other reviewer here who obviously has an ax to grind, claims the black actors are played by white people.

He probably thinks the Amos & Andy TV show featured white actors in blackface too. To be fair, there are two characters who are supposed to be black but are white.

The title character, Chloe is supposed to be of mixed race and she is played by a famous silent film star. This is her last picture. Her star had dimmed and she wound up first joining the army (WACS) after this film and years later was found scrubbing floors for a living. In 1947, at the age of 40, she died of a "stomach ailment" at the Sunshine Mission - a home for destitute women on Los Angeles' Skid Row.

One of her two love interests is white too, playing a black man.

If you really examine the film, the white characters are all stereotypes -- rich, sauntering around in white suits drinking frilly drinks talking about their deals. While a few others are working class with hillbilly accents. The black characters are largely silent and working plantation. Except for the voodoo priestess who has a fair amount of dialog. This women was up for the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

What I'm saying is this: the film is far more complicated than just a knee jerk response of saying all the blacks are stereotypes. Everybody in this movie is a stereo type of some sort.

And casting a white actress (probably because she was a real star at one time, hence an audience draw) would make it hard back then to cast a true black man as a romantic interest. Conversely, how could they cast a black actress with a white love interest in 1934?

To a degree you can almost make the case that this movie is an allegory for the unfairness of race relations. In today's world of political correctness I suppose few are willing to look beyond a kool-aide drinking response to the content of the movie.

Chloe and white Reed fall in love because of what's inside, not because of race or wealth or anything else.

So is it a good movie? To be honest, the available prints are bad. The focus is off and the sound is poor, so it's a wee bit difficult to follow the story. At some point we find out that Chloe is actually the colonel's lost daughter who disappeared at birth. But the Colonel welcomes her with open arms, and that's likely not to happen if she was half black in those times.

The women in the film are the ones to question whether or not Chloe is really the colonel's daughter, saying "she's so dark." Again a comment on racist mindsets and small minded people.

I found the movie to be very watchable despite to poor print quality. I think it deserves a new look, perhaps with a complete print. The DVD prints have 8 minutes cut out of them and one wonders what's in those 8 minutes!

Some reviewers have said it's typical that the white man comes out on top in this movie, but the real moral of the movie is that love comes out on top.

If you have an open mind and are sick of people with an agenda, take a look at this movie. It's not a great film, but it's an interesting curio piece that probably deserves to be restored.

CHLOE, LOVE IS CALLING YOU is an interesting curio from 1934, set and filmed in the Floridian swamps. The story is about an old woman and former slave who puts a curse on a plantation owner and actively goes gunning for his daughter, who has no idea about her mixed roots. As a very early black/slavery-themed horror film this is minor stuff indeed, a climactic ritual about the only content here that could be classed as horrific. At the same time, the cast is well drawn and the performances a bit less mannered than you'd expect from the era. It's heavily dated, of course, but for connossieurs of the era there might be something of interest. For everyone else, the 1974 minor classic SUGAR HILL is a much better bet.

"A young woman of mixed parentage lives in the bayou, raised by a black voodoo priestess who looks to avenge the death of her husband, lynched by an angry white mob. As the tension rises due to the evil plans of the priestess, the young woman finds herself torn between two cultures. Hoping to break free from the control of the woman who raised her, the young woman finds she must confront the priestess in order to save her own life, as well as those the priestess intends to harm," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Voodoo… Hocus-pocus… Racist… Trash!

The most astonishing thing about "Chloe, Love Is Calling You" is that it was directed by Marshall Neilan. One of the most well-known filmmakers of the 1920s, Mr. Neilan's films were once eagerly anticipated. He was especially successful in partnership with Mary Pickford (see "Stella Maris"). Beautiful star Olive Borden ended her ten-year film career as "Chloe", unfortunately. It also offers a good look at handsome Reed Howes (as Wade) and handsome Philip Ober (as Jim), who was Vivian Vance's volatile husband (off-screen) during "I Love Lucy".

** Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934) Marshall Neilan ~ Olive Borden, Reed Howes, Philip Ober