The Girl from Chicago

After having written almost 16000 reviews on IMDb, I hope you're willing to cut me some slack on this one. This is because try as I might, I was unable to finish watching this film--and I think you'll probably have the same reaction. It is simply horrible.

Now I am not trying to be nasty and I do understand why the acting, direction and production values were horrible. At the time, black movie patrons in the US were often not allowed into white movie houses. So, they went to segregated theaters that either showed mainstream films or they would show black-produced films. BUT, the black productions simply had no funding and no real pool of talent because Hollywood wouldn't allow most of these folks to work as writers, directors and actors. So, historically speaking, this is an interesting film from Oscar Micheaux. But sloppy camera work, bad acting, the most god-awful singing in the history of film and a dull plot make this a serious chore to watch.

Oscar Micheaux tried to be realistic in his films. He tried to show Blacks could act and could have emotions and feelings. He wanted to show that Blacks could tell stories too. You can tell Micheaux did his homework. At first you might think its boring like I did, but I rewind it back and watched it again and I understood it better and was moved by the acting. These actors, actresses, and entertainers weren't able to crossover and make it in Hollywood or on the White-Time. But thank God for these films because we get to see black entertainment that we would have never seen if wasn't for these black cast productions. These actors and entertainers were known in the Black community and were featured in The Black Press. But sadly these people are forgotten. For a while these films were lost, but their being found again and are selling like hotcakes. But, they were very good and people are starting to see that. Whites didn't view these films much, but now their the main ones watching now. These films also shows Black that Blacks did try to do their own and make their own movies. Beautiful women, handsome man, good acting. Don't expect Hollywood lighting and filming. Its not the best in some of these Black cast films. But their watchable. Enjoy these and others films by Spencer Williams and Ralph Cooper and many others. These movies are great Black entertainment. Hollywood did black cast films but they wouldn't allow certain things. These black cast films hold nothing back, they show what Black Life was and all about.

This was almost like watching a home movie. I mean that in a couple of ways, the first of which relating to the things many have pointed out about the film, that its acting is poor, the editing is choppy, the lighting is awful, and simple things like framing a shot without chopping part of a head off is surprisingly challenging. I also mean it in the sense that it was simply not made for me, sitting at great distance from it in every sense of the word, 91 years later. It was representing an audience at a particular time, and I also can't ignore the constraints Oscar Micheaux was under. I feel I should tread lightly in my criticism, but should also be honest to be viewing experience, and how little I enjoyed this.

The highlight for me was a little conversation around a table where one of the characters related a story about a black man being imprisoned on a trumped up charge so that he could be used as free labor, a second form of slavery that was highly relevant to the audience in 1932, and to some extent still true to this day. I also liked the shift to Harlem midway through the film, because the nightclub performances felt so much more authentic and breathed some much needed life into the film, but even they are not of a quality to make me recommend checking them out. It was very slim pickings here, and a tough way to spend 70 minutes.

Let's get the bad out of the way.

It's not a very good movie. If we review this on an even playing field with mainstream low budget dramas of the day, it really is lacking in watchability.

The movie drags on and often loses the plot and instead veers off into segments with women playing the piano and singing, dance routines, musical interludes. Just seems like a lot of filler to me.

The acting, as well, is very, very poor. At least with movies that Ed Wood made in the 50's we can laugh at how bad they are but still watch them. This movie is just bad, and it makes you want to turn it off.

Now the good.

Micheaux was an interesting dude. Father was a slave and somewhere along the line he got himself to Chicago and decided to make movies. This was 1919 when he and some other black men started a film company with the name of Lincoln, interestingly.

I've seen a number of his movies over the years and none of them are especially good. Seems like he had a talent for independence, but not movie-making.

The best I can say is that his films are serious movies about serious issues, not stereotyping the black community into buckets like Steppin Fetchit.

His characters were middle and upper middle-class blacks. His movies played at all black movie theatres back in the day. I used to pass one of them in NYC all the time when I lived there. It was on Broadway in the hundred and thirties. Right smack in Harlem, not far from an area called Sugar Hill where the wealthy blacks lived.

So, from a historical viewpoint he certainly is an interesting person worthy of attention. Unfortunately the output was less than ideal.

Undercover Secret Service agent Carl Mahon goes down to Mississippi on a case, falls in love with Starr Calloway. When that case is completed, they head to Chicago for his next assignment.

Like most of Oscar Micheaux' sound films, I find it important but not very good. A great deal of its badness can be laid at the feet of a budget too small to sustain a good movie: no money to rent decent equipment, no money to rent studio space for long enough to manage set-ups, no money to take the time for rewrites and rehearsal. So the leads are awful. In fact, when you hear Frank H. Wilson speak, his naturalism gives you hope. But no one else has it. You may, if you wish, use this reason as an escape for its badness. I fear I don't. I'm afraid that people have to spend some time being bad before they can be good. They have to learn their craft, in this case, the craft of moviemaking.

I note that by this time Micheaux was a competent silent film maker. The exterior sequences at the beginning of the movie are well composed. But movie making had moved into the sound era, and Micheaux had to start all over again.