Reviews

Of course, we will never have a chance to see a director's cut of Body and Soul. Were that possible, then we would certainly see a completely different movie.

Many of the obvious flaws in the film were due to Oscar Micheaux's difficulties in getting the production past the censors. Despite the fact that the convict is acting as a minister, the act of showing one in a minister's robes drinking was too much for the time.

Today it would be a matter of getting several million dollars from the studio and re-shooting sections of the movie. Oscar Micheaux did not have this luxury. This meant that he had to use the little money available to him to change a completely unacceptable movie into one that would help pay the bills.

The only way to do this was to add an ending that corrected everything, and cut the sections of drinking, which happened to be crucial to the story. This resulted not only in a lack of explanation for the story and very clumsy movements from one scene to the next.

The drinking scenes have been replaced, which lengthens the film to eight of its original nine reels. This certainly helps, but the alternative ending remains. I am thinking that the director's cut would not have included this and Oscar Micheaux would have a much better movie.

Of course, Paul Robeson drives this movie (his only silent appearance), and moviegoers now know of his brilliant voice. Sans this, his penetrating eyes showed the emotion that must have matched his stage performances, which makes this a movie that can be recommended.

This movie hangs primarily on the eyes of Maria Falconetti, who is able to reflect emotions successfully in this manner. Carl Dreyer's direction heightens this transfer with thoughtful camera angles and character placement. If one is to experience the best of the silent films, this movie provides one of the best examples.

It is interesting to see Dolores LeBeau (Nell Shipman) participate in two roles in this movie, one being the pseudo-nude scene, and other being the role of female heroine. The former was certainly written into the script to draw male viewers to the movie houses. It cannot be seen that she is wearing a body suit, so one is given to their imagination. More importantly, however, is the latter - the female heroine - which was rare during that time.

The movie has several questional elements in the plotline (why does 'Sealskin' Blake have no trouble killing a Canadian Mountie, but cannot bring himself to overtly kill Dolores LeBeau's husband?), but the movie has several special effects (tinted film, scene within a scene) that make it worthwhile viewing.

The movie appears to have been written during production, with lose ends dominating the plot. An example comes when Gentleman Jim Raynor gently lowers Tom Robbins into a rocky area, whereupon Tom easily escapes and returns without incident. Very confusing motivation.

Certainly, this movie was intended for the preschool set, where the primary intention was to protect the child's emotions. Outside of this age group, this movie is not recommended.