Dark Sands

Typical Robeson film. Well intentioned as hell but with poor writing, acting, cinematography and direction. The only thing exceptional about it as a Robeson film is that the songs suck.

Great entertainment with several interesting aspects. Tailored for Robeson's self-preferred Black Superman persona, this movie has scenes of Robeson ordering Wallace Ford ("Old Pa" from Patch of Blue) to tend to his camel, and Robeson commanding an army into battle. All this is done with a genial sense of humor that keeps it fun! Robeson is a man on the run, who is also a college-educated doctor. Remember, this was 20 years before Sidney came along.

In this film, Paul Robeson is Jericho, a black soldier who is condemned to die after accidently killing a superior officer whilst carrying out a heroic feat in rescuing fellow black soldiers trapped aboard the same ship that has been torpedoed. The army has no sympathy and he gets an unfair punishment. He has an ally in Henry Wilcoxon (Captain Mack) who allows him one last moment of freedom to attend a concert whereupon he escapes. Wilcoxon is held responsible and gets 5 years in jail. On his release, he is determined to seek out Robeson and arrest him so he can clear his name.

The film has a different setting as we find ourselves in the African desert following a salt caravan. It's basically a camel train of around 20,000.00 camels where different tribes meet up for a market place trading in salt. There are warring factions within these tribes and it's educational. I knew nothing about these salt caravans. I just thought a caravan was a dodgy home on wheels. No, this is the original caravan idea.

It is nice to see a black actor in a mainstream lead role - I can't think of any other film from this period that does this. It is a bit forced, though when Robeson says to his white desert companion "Look after the camels, boy" without any hint of humour. That's just tacky, I'm afraid - not revolutionary. It can be seen as petty racism that is what the film is trying to fight against. Very dumb thing to include in the dialogue.

The film loses its way for a bit in the 2nd half but the different setting makes it memorable and unfortunately, whilst Robeson has a good voice, the songs he sings aren't up to much. Watch out for the worst beginning to a film ever as news headlines are flashed quickly during the credits inducing epileptic fits and migraines for everyone watching and Kouka has the weirdest accent you will ever hear. She is the woman Robeson meets in the desert.

A plot so arbitrary that it's not possible to mistake, for a moment, that this is anything but a Paul Robeson vehicle: for worshipful fans only.

Putting the opening scenes aside, this film turns most of Hollywood's favorite racial conventions upside down. Robeson is the one and only action hero in this film, he has a tiny white sidekick who provides comic relief and he gets the girl. The girl is played by a dark skinned actress while her "Arab" brothers are all white, but otherwise it is less groan worthy than many modern films. It has few pretensions, is well written and has lots and lots of footage of camels. Even the plot twist that another reviewer complains of is sort of plausible. And Robeson sings "Mammy's little baby loves shortnin' bread" to a baby and leaves out the "pickaniny" lines, so even that isn't really objectionable.