Body and Soul (1925)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The original production of "Body and Soul" was a nine reel extravaganza but when Oscar Micheaux applied for an exhibition license, the New York Motion Picture Commission denied approval on the grounds that it would "tend to incite crime" and was immoral and sacrilegious. Micheaux had to edit it down from 9 to 6 reels. Paul Robeson, the star, was billed as "the greatest of all coloured actors". He received $100 per week salary plus 3% of the gross after the first $40,000 in receipts. Robeson, by 1925, was already a theatrical star who had been given roles in "All God's Chillun Got Wings" and "The Emperor Jones" by playwright Eugene O'Neil and George Jean Nathan had dubbed him "one of the most eloquent, impressive and convincing of actors".Yes, there are a few problems and the ending is a real let down but Robeson's performance as the charlatan preacher is just so powerful. One astonishing scene shows him calmly preaching, then, with the help of a hidden liquor bottle, whipping himself and the crowd into a frenzy. I know it was a silent film but his performance was so vivid, strutting up and down the pulpit, chanting, singing - completely unforgettable. Robeson plays an escapee who is passing himself off as Reverend Jenkins - his past is about to catch up with him though when his former cellmate "Yellow" Curly Hinds tracks him down and wants him to help recruit local girls for a burlesque show. Jenkins has a nice racket going on in Tateville, the women of the town being mesmerized by his preaching technique - with the result he is never short of cash!! Isabelle, who is engaged to Sylvester who just happens to be Jenkin's estranged twin brother, is unconvinced of the preacher's piousness but unfortunately her mother is one of his greatest fans. It does stretch audience credibility but there is quite a bit missing - Sylvester seems to disappear from the movie after an establishing scene. Isabelle's mother can't understand her antipathy toward the preacher and arranges what looks like an exorcism but when she arrives home it is to find her daughter gone!! - along with her life savings!!Months later her mother tracks her down in Atlanta and there are some really interesting location shots of a city on the rise. She watches in secret as the half starved girl is given food from a sympathetic stranger (who looks suspiciously like one of the preacher's cronies) and goes to her shabby room to collapse - what happened to the money she took!! It takes a lot of persuading and a flashback of a nightmare experience in an abandoned cabin but Martha Jane is finally convinced of her daughter's innocence and the scene is set for a gripping denunciation in the church!!Like a few of these "race" movies the leading actress, this one was Julia Theresa Russell, tended to make only one or two films then return to oblivion but Russell was quite adequate in the role.

This movie is one of the great movies produced during the silent screen era. First, it features a great performance by Paul Robeson who plays a duo role as a con man posing as a preacher and his straight laced twin brother. Second, the movie provides a story in which African Americans are portrayed as complex characters, devoid of the stereotypical depictions typical of the movies of that time. In some respects this movie is a precursor to the 1960 movie Elmer Gantry, especially as it relates to the depiction of the corrupt clergy/con man and how appeals to religion is used to rip off a hapless and clueless public. Further, the story is complex, with a lot of interesting characters, and is well acted. All in all, it is a first class cinematic event.

Some very good films have been made which could be described as talky. I'm a huge fan of Woody Allen, for example, and most of his films are quite talky. And that works for Woody, largely because his films feature sound. But in a silent film like Body and Soul, long static scenes of characters sitting and chatting tend to be a bit dull.The acting, with a couple of female exceptions, is quite good and quite understated for the era. Paul Robeson, in particular, is very effective as the menacing preacher man--that is, his facial expressions are effective, but his body language is stiff and constricted, as though a chalk X had been drawn on the floor and he'd been directed to stand on it and not move, probably to save the cameraman the effort of moving.A handful of creaky pans are all the camera movement we get in Body and Soul. The camera seems absolutely bolted to the floor. The compositions are crude, with the subject of interest generally being dead-center in the frame. It's all very reminiscent of those old tableaux-style films from two decades earlier, except for the editing.As if to compensate for the lame camera work, Micheaux edited the crap out of this film. I didn't do the count, but I'd guess there were about 2-3 times as many cuts as in a typical non-Russian film from 1925, and that would be great if there were some rhythm to it, some reason for it, but it seemed like Micheaux was cutting for the sake of cutting--awkward pointless jump cuts galore. Some of his choices were downright bizarre, most particularly his rampaging, out-of-control use of cross-cutting. He'd cut away repeatedly from some dramatic scene to show us one of his other characters sitting in a chair someplace completely else, staring, or combing his hair, for no reason I could determine. Perhaps he just wanted to keep a handle on his characters in time, check in and see how everyone was doing. Another thing that annoyed me was that the Yello-Curly character was introduced very early in the film as if he was going to have some important function. He was developed a bit, and then suddenly disappeared without a trace. Disappointing, because he was one of the most interesting characters in the film--and one of the ugliest and oddest-looking humans I've ever seen.Despite the many flaws, this story still could have been interesting. An evil manipulative preacher. A mother who probably subconsciously realizes that her daughter is being raped and abused, but who refuses to acknowledge it, or to even listen to her daughter on the subject of the preacher. Although the preacher and the daughter were not blood-related, there were incestuous overtones. In a way, it kinda reminded me of Laura Palmer's story in Twin Peaks. And then just when the story was becoming gripping and tragic, and I was getting into it, Micheaux pulled the rug out from under me. He ended with the worst kind of hackneyed cliche, the kind of ending that was probably boring and stupid even in 1925.Body and Soul is of some interest, probably, as an historical document, but it's not a good watch, and I can't rate it any higher than a 4/10.4/10

This film is about a Jack-Leg Preacher. A Jack-Leg Preacher is a crooked one. He drinks ands rapes women and then condemns people for his own gain. If that isn't Jack-Legged I don't know what is. Luckily for his the people that go to his church, the whole movie is just a dream, and he may not even be all too Jack-Legged. He may be a nice preacher.