Ten Minutes to Live

This movie is excellent, also gives a great glimpse into Harlem Nightclubs and their Entertainers and Black Life in the 1930s. I'm sure Oscar Micheaux wanted us to understand something. But with his films, you have to watch them 3 or 4 times before you actually get it. But its a watchable film. I thank God for these Black cast productions showcasing Black talent that would of never been seen if it wasn't for these films. They were too good for Hollywood and was too talented for Whites to understand. Sometimes I think what ever happen to these people. I want them to know I enjoyed their work. Its sad Hollywood didn't take into consideration these Black talents and want to make them stars. Some of these women and men were just as beautiful and talented as the White stars.

Willor Lee Guilford is a brown beauty, voluptuous and sweet and a fine actress. She has a lot of appeal. She's a combination of sex appeal and girl next door type. You can't help but feel her emotions through the movie. She seems to be a real actress, not someone Micheaux picked off the street like most in his movies. Willor is a natural. You forget color and look at the talent and person and that's what Black Cinema is all about. Mabel Garrett is so cute, she has much spunk, and is quite wonderful and sexy. Carl Mahon, one of the best actors of Black Cinema isn't his best in this movie but his presence is always welcoming. This movie isn't bad at all. I think you will enjoy it. I like this movie because its not a racial story but a movie about people from all walks of life.

I learned of Oscar Micheaux from Melvin Van Peebles's documentary "Classified X", about the roles of African-Americans in cinema over the years. He noted that Micheaux was the first prominent African-American director, decades before Spike Lee. While a number of Micheaux's movies have gotten lost, most have survived, including the oddball "Ten Minutes to Live".

The movie has a somewhat scattershot plot, mainly centering on a dance hall. I should note that some of the performances are unpleasant to watch, since they feature racial stereotypes. Not even Micheaux had a perfect record. I guess that the movie works if you want to hear some great music. There's not much to remember about it other than that.

Laura Bowman had an extremely distinguished career. She was hailed as "the Negro Ethel Barrymore", performed at Buckingham Palace before Edward VII and appeared in theaters all over Europe. In 1916 she joined New York's first black dramatic company, the Lafayette Players in Harlem and appeared in over 500 productions. Although she didn't make many films, she always made an impression - whether as a conjure woman in "Drums O'Voodoo" (1934) or as a mad doctor in "Son of Ingagi" (1939).

She was definitely the most prestigious member in the cast of "Ten Minutes to Live", hence her prominent billing. She played the elderly woman in the very first scene, who tells the lecherous film maker where to find Ida. There are two Idas - I'm not sure which is which but they are both singers in the Libya Club.

Like an episode of 'Police Squad' this film immediately establishes the level of incoherence it intends to maintain throughout by announcing in its main title that it's drawn "from three short stories" before just moments later posting a Producers Note listing the two "short stories of Negro night life in Harlem" from which it says its been adapted.

Having made some reasonably competent silent films, poor Oscar Micheaux is plainly finding sound a serious millstone around his neck, since the dialogue is often almost inaudible and he goes to impressive lengths to get round this obstacle with extensive use of captions and notes; even making one of the characters a deaf mute so he can write down his dialogue rather than speak it.

No matter. It's only 58 minutes long, is full of wonderful period detail and the frequent shot mismatches, captions like "WITHIN THE HOUR" to propel the narrative and the incongruous use of Beethoven's 5th on the soundtrack give it a certain 'nouvelle vague' vitality.

Oscar Micheaux turned out four movies in 1932, and Ten Minutes To Live is one of them. It is comprised of two stories stuck together, and even so it doesn't come out to a full hour. In the first half a night club dancer is solicited for a movie role, and for more than that; the second half concerns the aftermath; it's shot wild, with sound effects and occasional voices added.

Parts of it are interesting. There's a fairly long sequence near the beginning set in a night club in which a couple of songs are sung, a couple of comics do a routine that reeks of minstrel shows, and a line of dancers perform. According to the IMDb trivia for this movie, they are the dancers for the Cotton Club, and when they're moving to "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Digga Digga Do" I can believe it.

The silent segments are actually better than the ones with sound! Even though there are telegrams and letters to substitute for silent titles, at least one is spared the poor line readings of Micheaux's dialogue. Still, I would expect the average movie goer, unversed in silent film techniques, to find it tough going.