Oscar Micheaux's place in history is slowly becoming clear to me. He is obviously an incredibly important film maker who has not gotten his due for the unfortunately obvious reason of his race. Watching these films, I have to wonder what he might have done with, say, a big budget and a lack of censors to deal with. I'm amazed his films got made at all, and I am amazed that he continued making films after making one that so openly mocks religion at a time when no excuses were needed to destroy (or take) the life of an African-American.

Due to a long history of mockery, the dialogue in this film comes across as caricature. As I watched, I…

Good liquor.

I am not the first nor will I be close to the last to relay the fact to you that Hollywood has a history of blatant racism at worst and, at the very least, a preference towards primarily white stories and storytellers that shuts out avenues for people of color to showcase their own works of art to the masses. It's a trend that is at least now having an effort to get it reversed, but if you really want to look at it in full display, the first era of silent filmmaking will give you a bottomless pit. I say all of this to frame how interesting it is to see a movie released in 1925 written…

Film School Drop Outs - Weekly Challenge 2018
Week 9 - (2018) - Auteurs - Oscar Micheaux - Filmography

Spritzig erzählte Story
um Bigotterie, Schwindel und Machtmissbrauch.

What may ‚hongry‘ and ‚suppah‘ mean? The language, used in intertitle since the film is silent, is funny at times, with an ounce of fantasy, though, you make it through easily. The slang adds to the specific flavour of Body and Soul, to its humour.
It's definitely a fun watch despite the grim core subject: a (fake) clergyman takes advantage of his position… Ah, smells already like censorship, indeed. No spoilers: The end was different initially.
Civil rights campaigner, sportsman and actor Paul Robeson in a twin role is top-notch entertaining as well…

A more subtle Micheaux effort this time around, with better technology coming more nuance. Micheaux puts up a great effort, but it is not him who dominates this film. Despite Micheaux having great personality, style, and a swaggering visual flair, it's our leading man, Paul Robeson, that leaves the biggest impact. Robeson is most often known for his music, but his demanding presence reminds me of Lon Chaney Sr.

He rolls through rooms so frequently visited and explored, they grow familiar and comforting, even in the midst of peril. It's a slow film, much of which is depicted by subtle actions, faces, and occasionally cityscapes, among other establishing shots. Say what you will about these early black films, they had…

Black Lives Matter!

Thoughts :
I apologize for not having reviews in “review” format. Sometimes I just don’t have the time to properly shape my thoughts into something more streamlined. But here are the thoughts I jotted down while watching (with some research afterwards).

Body and soul is more than meant to entertain but speak on issues in the black community with integrity. 

Music playing in the beginning - “Black Carl !” can be heard as part of the lyrics who was a known magician at the time. Along with the newspaper clipping makes it clear the man we will be following is of very ill repute and a con of sorts.

Central theme is about the church. Robeson was…

Paul Robeson’s name and life story have been rotating in my mind this entire year, so I decided I’d check out his (oddly unacknowledged) screen debut. I don’t really have a review for this. It inspires a lot more reading, for me, than it does writing. A few observations though:

• Paul Robeson is a fucking movie star.

• Micheaux is experimental with his use of seamless flashback, intercutting and casting. But what I most enjoyed from a technical standpoint was his power to suggest in scenes like Isabelle’s assault. 

• I don’t really abide by Micheaux’s politics (himself a Booker T. Washington conservative), but I have to give due to his emphasis on speaking truth to power here. One…

Was my goal to start watching more silent films once I got my record player up and running. Was so close last night, but alas the needle I ordered (allegedly for the exact model I have) doesn't fit :'(

Still at that point I was too psyched up too not watch this anyway, paired it up with Miles Davis' "In A Silent Way" and a chunk of "Get Up With It". Absolutely gorgeous, stark and surreal morality tale about the facade of religious moral superiority, and Paul Robeson is an absolutely earth shaking presence. Went in pretty blind had no clue he was in this, playing in bands with my dad a few back we used to cover this one…

This is the second film I've seen from Oscar Micheaux, who as far as I know is the first Black director to make feature films. As well as just purely being a Black director, his work stands out for its progressive subject matter, especially for the time. The plot is about an escaped convict who poses as a priest to swindle money. It's a simple set up but Micheaux uses it to comment on Christianity in some pretty heavy ways that makes me surprised it survived until today. As well as that there's some progressive feminist values the film has which made the experience even better. Like Within Our Gates, which came out 5 years earlier, this film's main protagonist…

At the crossroads where Christianity and capitalism intersect. Paul Robeson's screen debut and his only silent role, yet the nuances and depth of expression of his face is electrifying. As anti-clerical as anything you'd see in Soviet cinema at this time.

There is in particular the scene when Robeson steals the money from the old mother and there is a series of shots where Michaeux shows the money in his hands and then the hands of the old mother ironing laundry and then black hands picking cotton before cutting back to the money in his hands as he smiles sinisterly. Only Eisenstein was able to convey as much through the juxtaposition images. As much as Michaeux's films are generally acknowledged…

This film had me in awe in terms of the addressed subject matter. I know little about the Silent Era (hence, why I'm taking a class–to learn), so I've always assumed a level of predictability resulting from the general avoidance of certain topics that –to my knowledge– seem to be more comfortably addressed in media today than they ever have been before.

Suffice it to say, every single time I have underestimated a silent film, I get proven wrong and find myself surprisingly engaged. And THIS silent film, existing and prevailing through time despite the segregated efforts of when it was made and through the lack of existing preserved films by Black Americans from this period, extends itself even deeper…

CRITERION CHALLENGE 10/52 -- Featured in the "Pioneers of African American Cinema" Series

Body and Soul [3/4]
- I wish the nine reel cut still existed, this is interesting but it feels compromised at times, especially with that awful ending. I guess that wasn't as much of a trope in 1925 so you can't blame it too much but even then it just thematically and tonally feels like a total divergence from everything the movie is trying to do.

But still! This is really solid. I still have trouble engaging with silent films but the ideas here of religious hypocrisy and manipulation are very ahead of their time which makes it easier to get into. It was super interesting seeing…