Midnight Shadow

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.

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.

Back in the 1920s to the mid-1950s, many movie theaters in America were segregated or were white only. Because of this, a black film industry sprang up--black theaters as well as movies featuring all-black casts for these theaters. Not surprisingly, these all-black productions were extremely low-budget...and were almost always inferior to the Hollywood movies. But, they can be, on occasion, quite interesting and worth your time. Is "Midnight Shadow" one of these productions worth your time?

The story begins with a phony prince meeting with a girl's parents. Her father is a bit dim and begins talking about all the money his daughter will receive when she gets married...and it's obvious that the crook is only interested in her for the money. Will Margaret find out the truth before it's too late or is this jerk destined to run away with her riches? And, exactly HOW does this man plan on bilking her anyway?

The acting is, frankly, pretty terrible. The parents can barely deliver their lines...but it's also true of the main characters as well...with the faux prince and his girlfriend acting as if they'd never even seen a movie nor knew anything about acting in one....and they are incredibly low energy and flat. Some black actors of the day, such as Spencer Williams and Mantan Moreland could really act...but not the folks in this film.

Overall, a pretty typical low-budgeted film that is about as bad as its current 3.2 on IMDB would indicate. Amateurish and only a curiosity and not much else.

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.

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.