Body and Soul is a silent movie from 1925 by black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Aside from being an excellent film, it is notable as Paul Robeson's screen debut, in the roles of a crooked minister and his twin brother. Body and Soul is considered Micheaux's masterpiece. Paul Robeson's acting is predictably superb, even without the asset of his famous voice. The rest of the cast, including Mercedes Gilbert as Isabelle, and Julia Theresa Russell as her mother, manage to equal Paul Robeson in screen presence.
The film tells the story of Reverend Isaiah T. Jenkins (Robeson)'s pursuit of Isabelle, who is in love with his brother, Sylvester. Isabelle's mother, Martha, has her sights set the respectable Rev. Jenkins, who frequents speakeasies and accepts bribes from their proprietors in exchange for refraining from preaching against them. Martha refuses to believe Isabelle's description of the preacher.
The film was controversial at its release. Partial nudity, violence, including two rapes committed by Rev. Jenkins, and the hypocrisy of the "man of God" led to condemnation by various groups, and it was edited by the New York Board of Censorship. Little in the movie would be objectionable by today's standards.
The film is notable for having an entirely black cast, save for one miniscule role, and it was also filmed by a mostly-black crew. This was partially done in response to several plays at the time by white authors attempting to depict black life. Ironically, the film has on occasion been deemed racist, in large part due to its use of vernacular dialog and stereotypical images of blacks. Recent scholars have defended the films as subversive use of the racial myth of the era.
The film's age is obvious. Its editing is at times choppy, and it uses visual conceits abandoned after the silent film era. The problem is worsened by the age of the print, but the movie has survived better than many of Micheaux's other works, some of which have been lost, and a number only rediscovered recently in an archive in Spain. The quality, given the age of the film, is actually surprisingly high. It has recently been released on VHS and DVD.
I became acquainted with the film thanks to the new score written by Wycliffe Gordon, a trombonist commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. It opened Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2000-2001 season, and played at the 38th New York Film Festival. I was fortunate enough to see a performance conducted by Gordon and starring several other well-known jazz musicians, along with some of the faculty of my university's Jazz Studies program. The score is wonderful, and the orchestra performed it fabulously. The score includes elements of swing and gospel, as well singing and even the use of the performers' bodies, as they play the rhythm to a work song by slapping their knees and snapping their fingers.
Seeing the film, along with the orchestra, was a fascinating experience. However, even if a jazz orchestra is unavailable, the movie itself is a very interesting piece of history, performed by an immensely talented cast.