Spencer Williams Collection - 4 Movies
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Movie Reviews of Spencer Williams Collection - 4 Movies
Movie Review: Pioneer of African American cinema
Summary: 3 Stars
"Race movies," a genre unique to the United States between 1915 and 1947, were quite popular with black Southern audiences and in Northern industrial cities that had large African American communities. After the successful legal desegregation of the film industry in 1948, this type of movie vanished, literally. Today, only a fifth of the original 500 race films still exist.
ABOUT THIS DVD:
Spencer Williams is best remembered as TV's Andy Brown, of Amos 'n' Andy. He appeared on that CBS-TV adaptation of the popular radio sit-com from 1951 to '53. Williams was originally a sound technician in the early "talkie" era. After scripting and acting in the first "all-black" horror movie ("Son of Ingagi"), Williams was hired by a white distributor to write and direct his own films. This arrangement made Spencer Williams the only black of his generation to create movies for a white-owned company. His 1941 directorial debut, "The Blood of Jesus," was inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1991. The rest of his output are average-quality 'B' movies.
SYNOPSES:
"The Blood of Jesus" - The spirit of a woman accidentally shot to death by her husband is accompanied by an angel to the Crossroads of Life. Before reaching this destination, she is tempted by the Devil.
"The Bronze Buckaroo" - A western where not guns but ventriloquism is used to save the day. Rancher Joe Jackson has been abducted by a gang and Bob Blake and friends set out to find him.
"Go Down Death" - A tavern owner who is feuding with a preacher tries to ruin the man's reputation with some salacious photographs. In struggling with his mother for the prints, the bar owner accidentally kills her. The preacher's eulogy for the mother (and a guilty conscience) leads to the schemer's suicide.
"Juke Joint" - Two down-and-out con men get involved in the lives of a small-town family they are boarding with. Spencer Williams' last movie.
Two more Spencer Williams films may be found on this small collection: Race Movies: Harlem Rides the Range/Moon Over Harlem/Big Timers/Dirty Gertie From Harlem USA.
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Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.
(5.1) The Blood of Jesus (1941) - Cathryn Caviness/Spencer Williams/Rogenia Goldthwaite/James B. Jones
(5.5) The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) - Herb Jeffries/Lucius Brooks/Spencer Williams/Artie Young/The Four Tones
(5.8) Go Down Death (1944) - Spencer Williams/Myra D. Hemmings/Earl Sydnor/Edna May Harris
(5.2) Juke Joint (1947) - Spencer Williams/July Jones/Inez Newman/Melody Duncan/Katherine Moore
Movie Review: Fine collection of Pre-Spike Lee Black films
Summary: 4 Stars
Granted, these films are not in top-notch visual conditon and may require some eyestrain, but Spencer Williams (best remembered as Andy of "Amos and Andy") was a director, producer, and star who preserved some pretty good slices of Black American life in cinema in the years around WW2.
"Juke Joint" is a very likeable comedy. Presaging his work with Tim Moore and Alvin Childress of Amos and Andy, Spence teams with July Jones as a couple of goodhearted con men wh help their boarder Mama Lou. The jitterbug contest is the highlight of the film, but unfortunately is shot from a distant and stationary camera. Plus the dialogue skips a bit in the early scenes.
"Go Down Death" has Spence as the bad guy who tries to frame a crusading preacher. Based loosely on the James Weldon Johnson poem of the same name. The scene where the devil goes after Spence is a sight to behold, albeit with stock footage.
"Bronze Buckaroo" has Spence back to villainry again, as the bad cowboy to Herb Jeffries' good guy. Pretty typical western, the fact that it is a black cast being the only distinguishing feature.
"Blood of Jesus" is a sentimental favorite. My mother and aunts saw this film at their church in 1941 when they were teenagers and I fondly saw it with my mother recently and she joyously remembered it! Basically, a Black Southern fundentalist morality play as Spence plays no-so bad sinner man Razz Jackson (he would rather go hunting on Sunday than to church!-Shame on you Spencer!). He and his wife also have to face the choice between "born again" and beelzebub. This has a low-budget, down home charm that keeps it likeable.
Overall, these are great period pieces, though not in the best condition. Enjoy.