In 1925, independent African Amer­ican film producer Oscar Micheaux released his thirteenth film, Body and Soul. One of only three of Micheaux’s surviving silent films, along with With­in our Gates and Symbol of the Un­conquered (both 1920), Body and Soul stands as a key example of the silent era of American race filmmaking: films made with predominantly Black casts for segregated African American audiences. Body and Soul also marks the screen debut of famed actor and singer Paul Robeson. Displaying impressive range, Robeson plays twins who have opposite characteristics: a charlatan masquerad­ing as a preacher, and his brother Syl­vester, an upstanding aspiring inventor. The story centers on the lives of Martha Jane (Mercedes Gilbert), a hard-work­ing laundress, and her daughter Isabelle (Julia Theresa Russell). Isabelle is in love with mild-mannered Sylvester, but Martha Jane pushes her toward the Rev­erend, not realizing that he is in fact a con man. The consequences of her blind faith are dire.

As a novelist and filmmaker, Mi­cheaux was unflinching in his critique of hypocrisy and committed to realism over idealism – “to lay before the race a cross section of its own life, to view the colored heart from close range” – as he told the African American newspaper “The Pittsburgh Courier” upon com­pleting filming of Body and Soul in late 1924, “The recognition of our true situation, will react in itself as a stimu­lus for self-advancement.” However, on its release, Body and Soul was sharply criticized in the African American press for its portrayal of a corrupt minis­ter and its inclusion of scenes deemed harmful to the image of Black respect­ability. Further, Micheaux was forced to substantially edit the 9,000ft, nine-reel film to pass state censor boards. The surviving version is based on the heavily censored five-reel release print. Despite the cuts, Body and Soul remains the most coherent of Micheaux’s surviving silent films and, thanks to Micheaux’s powerful storytelling and Robeson’s magnetic screen presence, an unforget­table experience.

Allyson Nadia Field