Black History Month: Body and Soul

BODY AND SOUL
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux, based on his novel
Starring Paul Robeson, Mercedes Gilbert and Julia Theresa Russell
USA, 1925

Let’s end my Oscar Micheaux series and start my Paul Robeson series with my favorite film from both of them, Micheaux’s best silent feature, BODY AND SOUL, starring Paul Robeson in the dual role of a con man posing as a preacher and his estranged twin brother.

This “favorite” stuff may not be an altogether fair assessment, because part of my enjoyment of this flick comes from the contemporary score by DJ Spooky that was on the print I watched. If you can find this version, I recommend it. DJ Spooky goes above and beyond on this score, providing something really worth listening to, which is great since a lot of these silent films just get any old music slapped on them.

My favorite part of the movie that is not a contemporary edition, however, is Paul Robeson in the starring role(s). His formidable presence puts this movie above any of Micheaux’s silent efforts before it or sound efforts after it. Robeson was already a successful stage actor (and singer) when this film was made, but hadn’t made it on the big screen yet.

The story involves Robeson as an escaped convict who hides out as a preacher, fleecing the townspeople and forcefully “romancing” a local girl. The girl’s mother loves the preacher and believes he can’t do any wrong, so doesn’t believe the girl when she warns about his devious ways.

The film runs longer than most of Micheaux’s works and yet is still incomplete, having been edited down by censors before its release. My only complaints about it are first that any time Robeson is not on the screen, the movie drags a little, and even though he plays two roles, there’s still not enough of him. The mother and daughter scenes seem to go on and on by comparison to the rest of the snappy narrative. Second, the ending involves the old “it was only a dream” cop out when it doesn’t even really need to – I feel like a happy ending could have been contrived even if the tragedies in the rest of the movie really did happen.