The Girl from Chicago

Undercover Secret Service agent Carl Mahon goes down to Mississippi on a case, falls in love with Starr Calloway. When that case is completed, they head to Chicago for his next assignment.

Like most of Oscar Micheaux' sound films, I find it important but not very good. A great deal of its badness can be laid at the feet of a budget too small to sustain a good movie: no money to rent decent equipment, no money to rent studio space for long enough to manage set-ups, no money to take the time for rewrites and rehearsal. So the leads are awful. In fact, when you hear Frank H. Wilson speak, his naturalism gives you hope. But no one else has it. You may, if you wish, use this reason as an escape for its badness. I fear I don't. I'm afraid that people have to spend some time being bad before they can be good. They have to learn their craft, in this case, the craft of moviemaking.

I note that by this time Micheaux was a competent silent film maker. The exterior sequences at the beginning of the movie are well composed. But movie making had moved into the sound era, and Micheaux had to start all over again.

Oscar Micheaux tried to be realistic in his films. He tried to show Blacks could act and could have emotions and feelings. He wanted to show that Blacks could tell stories too. You can tell Micheaux did his homework. At first you might think its boring like I did, but I rewind it back and watched it again and I understood it better and was moved by the acting. These actors, actresses, and entertainers weren't able to crossover and make it in Hollywood or on the White-Time. But thank God for these films because we get to see black entertainment that we would have never seen if wasn't for these black cast productions. These actors and entertainers were known in the Black community and were featured in The Black Press. But sadly these people are forgotten. For a while these films were lost, but their being found again and are selling like hotcakes. But, they were very good and people are starting to see that. Whites didn't view these films much, but now their the main ones watching now. These films also shows Black that Blacks did try to do their own and make their own movies. Beautiful women, handsome man, good acting. Don't expect Hollywood lighting and filming. Its not the best in some of these Black cast films. But their watchable. Enjoy these and others films by Spencer Williams and Ralph Cooper and many others. These movies are great Black entertainment. Hollywood did black cast films but they wouldn't allow certain things. These black cast films hold nothing back, they show what Black Life was and all about.

Carl Mahon (Alonzo White) is a Federal secret agent who goes to Mississippi on a case, meets and falls in love with Star Calliway (Norma Sheperd) and rescues her from the evil local bigshot John Everett (Jeff Balinger). They then go to Harlem and get involved in the murder of the Cuban head of the numbers racket (Vano Hernandez as Gomez).

A patchy script and minimal production values can make the movie hard to follow. The sound track is typical of early talkies, with the actors stopping to talk at the camera.

Mainly interesting for the music and dance acts, especially the chorus line and the dance duo in a nightclub and as a view of the black acting style of the period.

Let's get the bad out of the way.

It's not a very good movie. If we review this on an even playing field with mainstream low budget dramas of the day, it really is lacking in watchability.

The movie drags on and often loses the plot and instead veers off into segments with women playing the piano and singing, dance routines, musical interludes. Just seems like a lot of filler to me.

The acting, as well, is very, very poor. At least with movies that Ed Wood made in the 50's we can laugh at how bad they are but still watch them. This movie is just bad, and it makes you want to turn it off.

Now the good.

Micheaux was an interesting dude. Father was a slave and somewhere along the line he got himself to Chicago and decided to make movies. This was 1919 when he and some other black men started a film company with the name of Lincoln, interestingly.

I've seen a number of his movies over the years and none of them are especially good. Seems like he had a talent for independence, but not movie-making.

The best I can say is that his films are serious movies about serious issues, not stereotyping the black community into buckets like Steppin Fetchit.

His characters were middle and upper middle-class blacks. His movies played at all black movie theatres back in the day. I used to pass one of them in NYC all the time when I lived there. It was on Broadway in the hundred and thirties. Right smack in Harlem, not far from an area called Sugar Hill where the wealthy blacks lived.

So, from a historical viewpoint he certainly is an interesting person worthy of attention. Unfortunately the output was less than ideal.

Having a shoestring budget, The Girl From Chicago could not afford the top black actors and experienced technicians. Nor could it afford the luxury of the directors yelling cut and reshooting scenes. But the film has heart and is entertaining. An important note is that the film must be seen for its historical value as it demonstrates an early black writer and director's struggle and determination to produce exciting black films. I love the positive images of blacks along with its villains. In Girl From Chicago, there are brave black heroes determined to bring the villains to justice. There are charming black women from small towns and gangster's girlfriends from the big city (One of the gangster's girlfriends is a frustrated masochist who can't get sexually aroused unless a man beats her.)