The Darktown Revue

Even if it is a simple 18 minute film, there is something pleasing about seeing this beautifully dressed group perform a medley of choral tunes. Despite the primitive audio technology, there are wonderful voices here, in solos and together, singing to us from the past. You can see why filming this classy group was a target for Micheaux's first sound film, and I thought it was neat that in "Is That Religion?" he satirized preachers who were less than enlightened. Look at all the grimaces in the background while this man speaks (black and in blackface); they are a combination of annoyed and embarrassed by his ignorance and theatrics, and the contrast seems to signal a desire for a new image and new era for black people. To me it's remarkable that it was shot in the format of a minstrel show, not a liability, saying something about subverting and redefining the stereotype, and providing a new direction.

The vaudeville performance of "Why Leave by the Window" from Tim Moore and Andrew Tribble about a willfully unemployed man's experience in a haunted house provided a further contrast, and the pair dropping corny puns amidst their wordplay was harmlessly amusing to me. After describing how he fled the house through a window, for example, one of them says "The window got well." The other asks, "What you mean, the window got well?" And he replies, "...Got rid of its panes." Despite the simplicity of this skit and the overall production, with its static camera simply capturing these performances, it's fascinating to think about the satire and messages Micheaux got in here, and how ambiguous it is to some 92 years later. There is an element of it that seems direct and representational, and there is another element that seems elusive, and I like that about it.