The Girl from Chicago

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.

Having a shoestring budget, The Girl From Chicago could not afford the top black actors and experienced technicians. Nor could it afford the luxury of the directors yelling cut and reshooting scenes. But the film has heart and is entertaining. An important note is that the film must be seen for its historical value as it demonstrates an early black writer and director's struggle and determination to produce exciting black films. I love the positive images of blacks along with its villains. In Girl From Chicago, there are brave black heroes determined to bring the villains to justice. There are charming black women from small towns and gangster's girlfriends from the big city (One of the gangster's girlfriends is a frustrated masochist who can't get sexually aroused unless a man beats her.)

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.

The Girl from Chicago (1932)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Secret Agent Alonzo White (Carl Mahon) finds himself in Mississippi where he meets a woman named Norma (Starr Calloway). The two hit it off but the only problem is that a local gangster is also after the woman. After some drama Alonzo and Norma run off to Harlem where more trouble waits for them.

Oscar Micheaux's THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO is a complete and utter failure. There's really no other way to look at it but you can certainly understand because, let's face it, the 30s just weren't a good time for race films. Most black filmmakers were working on extremely low budgets and more times than not they had to use non-actors for the roles. This here will explain why this film has some of the worst performances that you'll ever see and also some of the worst cinematography that you'll ever see.

There are many shots in the film where the actor's heads are cut off. The awful framing is something that I thought might have been an issue with the print I was viewing but I compared two different prints and it was like that on both. As I said, the performances are beyond bad and it's so bad at times that it almost feels like the actor is trying to ruin the film by making their performance so bad. Apparently Micheaux knew it as well as there are a couple times where you can actually hear him directing the cast members? Look around the twenty-two minute mark and you can hear him off camera directing. There's also another sequence where you can see him in a mirror directing.

As I said, THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO is technically very poorly made and the performances are awful. This here pretty much kills any chance for a good movie. The story itself is your typical mystery and it's not overly bad but there's just not much Micheaux could do.