Race Films Double Feature

Go Down Death! (1944) & Sunday Sinners (1940)

The confrontation in today's today's two films is classic: congregation vs. juke joint, church vs. jazz club. It does make sense. These two institutions are central in African American culture of the middle part of the twentieth century, and at times they would certainly be at odds. The central conflict in both films is between a club that's breaking the Sabbath and a Reverend who condemns the practice -- probably not an uncommon conflict when these films were made. Since the Civil War and Reconstruction, churches had played a central role in African American life, not only in the area of faith but also of community and social life. But as ragtime, blues, and jazz grew as musical forms, clubs to celebrate those forms grew as well and began to compete with the church for a role in the hearts and minds of many.

Go Down Death! opens with a rather solemn title card: “Alfred N. Sack Reverently Presents Go Down Death! A Harlemwood Studios Production - This Story of Love and Simple Faith and the Triumph of Good over Evil was inspired by the Poem “Go Down, Death!” from the Pen of Celebrated Negro Author James Weldon Johnson, Now of Sainted Memory” with the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” playing as the soundtrack.

We then see a club with drinking and dancing and women wearing slacks (it stops short of dogs and cats living together). The owner of the club, Big Jim Bottoms, is outraged by the new preacher in town who has condemned his club for being open on Sundays. Big Jim is played by Spencer Williams, who is also the film’s director. Williams directed a number of films, some with religious themes such as The Blood of Jesus and entertainments like Juke Joint. But he is most famous for Andy in the controversial television program, Amos & Andy. (The show was controversial for propagating black stereotypes, but the radio version may have been worse with Caucasians playing the African American roles.) In Go Down Death!, the club scenes feature some quite good singing and dancing (one woman seems to perform a moonwalk decades before Michael Jackson).

Then we see the Reverend Jasper (Samuel H. James) as he preaches before his congregation. He reads Psalm 1 and then briefly exposits on the text, “To be godly, one must be God-like, pure in heart, the very essence of Christ’s message.” (He does what many of my seminary profs urged, find a way to preach Jesus, even in Old Testament texts.) Little did the Reverend know that three women in the congregation were sent by Big Jim to catch the pastor in a compromising situation. The attractive young women go to the Pastor’s private study after the service.

Minnie, Mable, and Lady ask the pastor, “How might we go about being converted?” The pastor quotes passages from the Sermon on the Mount and Romans 6, urging the women to trust in Jesus. The women claim they want to hear more and ask the pastor to come with them to their apartment. Unwisely, the pastor follows them. He gives them each a New Testament and says, “If you read and ingest this much of the wholly Scriptures it will do you good.” Then the women break out alcohol, one of the women kisses the pastor on his lips, just as photographers come out from behind the curtains and take incriminating pictures.

The pastor considers resigning because of the pictures. He doesn’t trust his congregation to take his word that he is innocent. Sadly, in the news recently we have been reading about pastors who committed sexual sin but were believed when they denied the charges, so it is difficult to know what the right call for the pastor would be.

But Aunt Caroline, Big Jim’s adoptive mother, attends Pastor Jasper’s church. Her dead husband appears to her and shows her where to find the phony blackmail photos. The ghost of her husband opens Big Jim’s safe and Caroline takes the pictures. (I will not even attempt to deal with the theological implications of this spectral aid.) When Big Jim finds Caroline with pictures, he takes the pictures back, killing her in the process.

The Reverend Jasper performs Caroline’s service saying, “Weep not, she is not dead, she is resting in the arms of Jesus. Heartbroken son, weep no more. Grief-stricken niece, weep no more… She has gone to heaven. God looked at Sister Caroline tossed with pain, and God commanded that tall white angel called Death to reach down to her.” (I have a problem with pastors discouraging people from expressing their very real grief.)

The pastor went on to give a title drop, “Go down, Death! Death came on his white horse while we were watching round her bed. She saw old death coming like a falling star, but death didn’t fight Sister Caroline, he looked to her like an old friend.” This wasn't the approach taken by Jesus when He wept for his friend, Lazarus, or Paul who referred in Death in I Cor. 15:26 as “the last enemy”.

After this sermon, Big Jim is racked with guilt, hearing voices that accuse him of his crimes. He has visions of hell and runs. When he is found dead in a box canyon, Rev. Jasper says, "May God have mercy on his soul."

Sunday Sinners has much in common with Go Down Death, including some very good small-scale musical numbers. Even the church choir in the film is very talented. It also shares the same basic conflict of a pastor opposing the depravity of club life.

As the film begins, the pastor, the Rev. Jesse Hampton (Earl Sydnor), is trying to build his attendance, “We can’t run a church without a congregation.” So he comes up with a strategy, “I’m going to direct my next sermon toward those cafe people. It might do some good.” The pastor also tries to encourage young people to come, opening a fitness center. “That’s our youngsters. The future of our church, our race! It is our duty to cry out against the evils of the city. The Cafe People are leading our youth astray.”

The pastor is particularly upset that the local cafe has scheduled the “Monster Dance Contest” on a Sunday, so he visits the cafe to see what’s going on. When his church board learns that he was at the cafe, and witnessed women dancing in skimpy clothing, they are not pleased.

Even worse for the pastor, his son, Ray (Ernie Ransom), gets a job at the cafe. He becomes involved with some nefarious characters and is accused of murder. The church threatens to fire the pastor.

The pastor decides to take the offensive. He leads his congregation from the church to the cafe. He ends up starting a fistfight between his congregation and the staff of the cafe (the pastor is very much involved in the fight). The cafe owner's wife shoots into the crowd, injuring a woman (not seriously). The police come, and for some reason are harsher with cafe staff than the church folks that came and started the fight.

And yet, somehow, this all resolves for the best. The pastor assures the cafe owner, “Our church isn’t against dancing, we just don’t want dances on Sunday nights.” So the owner agrees to close on Sundays. And all is swell.

Still, I just can’t support the Rev. Hampton’s policy of violence for community action. I am much more supportive of Rev. Jasper’s humble spirit. But jointly, the pastors and their churches achieve a meager Two Steeple average in our Movie Churches ratings.

Race Month: Hell-Bound Train

Hell-Bound Train (1930)

You often see the Devil depicted in cartoons in red tights, holding a pitchfork, sitting on the shoulder of Donald or Daffy Duck. Those images of Satan are downright nuanced and sophisticated compared to the Prince of Darkness in the 1930 silent feature, Hell-Bound Train.

Hell-Bound Train was the creation of James and Eloyce Gist, African American evangelists who never intended their work to be seen in such a questionable, disreputable place as a movie house. It was intended to be shown in churches. The couple traveled from town to town, revival to revival, using the film to warn about the wages of sin. Theirs was the only print of the film, so it is rather surprising that preservationists have managed to present as decent a print as is now available. The original print was stored in the Library of Congress and much work went into its restoration.

There isn’t a lot of what we expect to find in a feature film. There are no credits at the beginning or end of the film. There isn’t much in the way of a plot. We first see the Devil (in a costume that would probably come in last in a Halloween contest) offering all who are interested free admission to the Hellbound Train -- “Just Give Your Life and Soul,” as the ticket reads. Plenty of folks take up his offer to ride his train.

The first car of the train features dancing, and a title card informs the audience, “dancing is indecent." Bootleggers are honored guests in the car, and women are encouraged to drink. The second car has drunkards. The third car is a Jazz Club (a title card warns that such music destroys the minds of innocent children). The next car has thieves, crooks, and pickpockets. Another coach represents immorality. There even is a car for boys who “mistreat dumb animals.”

We see scenes of sinful behavior on each of these cars, all followed by the Devil dancing and exclaiming, “How my heart does rejoice!”

The last car of the train is for “Backsliders and hypocrites who used to be church members!” We see a young man actually sleeping in his own bed rather than going to church! A card warns, “Some people serve God when in town but as soon as they get on their feet, it’s back to the devil.” We also see a man who claims, “I don’t drink, I treat everybody right, I pay my debts, even if I haven’t repented or joined a church. I am as good as some of those in church.” 

But a good preacher warns, “Poor boy, he’ll regret it someday,” because the man is also a passenger on the Hellbound Train.

That last car on the train also carries “False preachers who will get together with church officers and steal the church’s money. Often they walk hand and hand with the devil. While righteous preachers carry the program of Jesus Christ.”

We then see good people going to church as opposed to those passengers on the Hellbound Train. (A title card provides something of a non-sequitur: “While some serve God on the Sabbath, others worship automobiles.”) We read that the good, churchgoing folks follow II Cor. 6:17, “Therefore come out from among them and be separate.”

We then learn the fate of those who ride the Hellbound Train. As the train comes down the tracks a sign reads, “Entrance to Hell -- Welcomes to All” and the train jumps the tracks and bursts into flames. (It looks a lot like a model train being thrown off its track and burned, but effects aren’t cheap.)

A title card warns. “Get off the train by repenting, believing, and being baptized before it is too late!”

So what Movie Churches rating should we give? Though there were good and bad preachers in the film, this week I believe we will give some other clergy the Steeple rating. The filmmaking evangelists James and Eloyce Gist certainly deserve a lot of credit for pioneering this innovation in ministry. 

Cinema historians point to the Gists as important trailblazers for African Americans. On the other hand, the content of the film is simplistic and legalistic. It is interesting that Eloyce wasn’t strictly a Christian, but a practitioner of the Baha’i religion. Baha'is teach that every religion has value, which is why, I suppose, she was willing to support her husband James’ advocacy of fundamentalist Christianity. We'll give the Gists a generous Movie Churches rating of Three Steeples (weighing the Movie portion of things more than the Church portion).

(You owe it to yourself to get a glimpse of this unique film. You may look at a Youtube clip here.)

Depression Films: Cabin in the Sky (1943)

May it never be said that we at Movie Churches are afraid of controversy. It may well be true, but feelings might be hurt by accusations of cowardice, so please practice restraint.

First, a minor controversy: I haveCabin in the Sky in the category of Depression Era Churches, even though the film was released in 1943. Yes, history buffs, 1943 is the time of World War II, not the Great Depression. But the movie is based on a Broadway musical that debuted in 1940, so I figure the research and writing of the play took place during the Depression Era.

The second controversy is a bigger deal. Is the movie racist? The entire cast of the film is African American, composed of some of the greatest musical talents of the time: Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, along with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. But the producer of the film, Arthur Freed, and the director, Vincent Minnelli, were of the Caucasian persuasion. When the film was released, some believed its portrayal of blacks was offensive. Jean Muir, an actress of the time, called the film an "abomination." Muir, it might be noted, was the first person on the infamous Hollywood blacklist of Communists. It might also be noted she was white. It should also be noted that during production, Freed and Minnelli sought council from prominent African American leaders of the time. And MGM  took a great financial risk in making the film, knowing that large portions of the South (and many other areas) would not show a film featuring black performers.

Modern viewers of the film are likely to feel uncomfortable. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as Little Joe plays a lazy, shiftless gambler, and he's the hero. Butterfly McQueen plays the same type of ignorant young woman she played in Gone with the Wind, causing all kinds of hackles to be raised. The dialects used can be quite grating to the modern ear. And yet with all that, the film preserves performances by great African American playing roles other than servants.

Overall, I think the good outweighs the bad.

Anyway, the film tells the story a Christian woman named Petunia (Ethel Waters) married to a slovenly gambler named Joe. She's finally persuaded Joe to go to church and be redeemed, but Joe is lured away to a gambling den where he is shot. The rest of the film tells about the struggle between Heaven and Hell for Joe's soul.

What concerns us in Movie Churches is found chiefly in the opening minutes of the film; that's where the church is found. We hear church bells ringing and see two men, Reverend Green and the Deacon, greeting the congregation at the door.

Everyone at church is buzzing about Little Joe coming to church that day. Everyone agrees it's quite a special day. I might not be thrilled if everyone at church was gossiping about what a notorious sinner I was, even if they were anticipating my salvation.

Then we see Petunia and Joe getting ready for church. She's outside and he is in the house. Joe says he can't find a tie. Petunia says, "The Lord won't mind if you don't wear a necktie." But what's really delaying Joe is a "wrestling match with the devil." He can't get himself to throw away his dice or his lottery ticket.

Petunia assures Joe he belongs to the Lord because of her prayers (she has been praying against his gambling success and her prayers have been answered). Joe says, "I don't reckon any man can be bad with a wife like you." She also prayed Joe would get a job, and that very day he got a job as an elevator operator.

Meanwhile, back at church, people are concerned back about Joe's tardiness. Someone suggests that the Deacon should go and look for him, but all agree that with a sinner as notorious as Joe, only the Reverend's attentions will do. After the pastor arrives at Joe's they all head off for church.

The congregation is singing "Little Black Sheep" about a lost lamb that Jesus finds. Ethel Waters from the back row of the church joins in with a solo. Waters often sang at Billy Graham crusades (usually singing "His Eye is on the Sparrow"). Considering how Waters' voice filled coliseums, it would be amazing to hear her in a little country church.

The Reverend Green's sermon apparently puts children to sleep, but I'd love to hear his sermon just to hear Kenneth Spencer's sonorous voice. In comparison, James Earl Jones might qualify for the Vienna Boys Choir.

The service concludes with an altar call, the congregation singing "Old Ship of Sorrows." But Joe ducked out of service before the altar call, tempted by his gambling cronies. As mentioned before, Joe is shot and a battle for the man's soul takes place in the heavens. In that battle, the same actor who played the preacher plays the archangel.

SPOILER - It was all a dream. Except Joe being on death's door; that happened. But the Reverend Green can be found at Joe's bedside during the ordeal. The Reverend Green's voice alone earns this movie church Three Steeples, along with the voices of the Hall Johnson Choir which provide an excellent bonus.

They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)

It's a human thing to want to see your heroes, even your fictional ones, share your likes and dislikes. Political candidates know this, so they wear the caps of teams the majority of their voters cheer. When I read about this film and learned that it was about Virgil Tibbs and the pastor of his church, I wanted to like his pastor, because Tibbs is a fictional hero of mine.

In the 1967 Academy Award Best Picture Winner, In the Heat of the Night, Sidney Poitier played a homicide detective from Philadelphia named Tibbs, who's caught up in a murder investigation in the deep South. When someone calls Tibbs, "Boy," he responds "They call me MISTER Tibbs!" with a confident cool in the realm of Steve McQueen's. I love the character of Tibbs, so I wanted to like his pastor and his church in this film. Just couldn't do it, though.

In this film, Tibbs is a detective in San Francisco and has been for years (in the Tibbs novels he works in Pasadena). He's called to assist in the investigation of a prostitute, and it soon becomes apparent that his pastor, Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), is one of the suspects.

One of the most perplexing things in the film is how it handles race. Race is central in the Oscar winning film, but it's pointedly avoided in this film. Sharpe, a white man, seems to be the most prominent liberal pastor in San Francisco in a film made at the time African American pastor Cecil Williams was living that role. The congregation of Sharpe's church is decidedly multi-ethnic.

Sharpe, in the film, seems to be the only person preventing riots in the streets of San Francisco, multi-ethnic riots. (It is certainly possible there could be multi-ethnic riots. But at that time, there were a number of riots taking places. In Watts and other cities there were riots protesting the police and living conditions, but they were primarily African Americans involved. On the campuses, there were anti-war protests primarily involving Caucasians.) It seems MGM wanted to keep the question of race out the film (one assumes for box office reasons).

We get to hear one sermon by the Reverend Sharpe, which begins with a quote from Psalm 8 ("What is man that you are mindful of him?") and then turns into a campaign speech for "Proposition 4." He says people have said that you shouldn't listen to him because he is a politician, but what is politics but dealing with people? Surely a man of God should deal with people. He talks about not "fighting the establishment with anger but with votes." From what I remember of Paul's Spiritual Armor, there were such weapons as faith, truth, hope, the gospel and such, but votes were strangely omitted.

Actually, I kind of liked what I heard about Proposition 4. Something about turning more decision making over to the local communities. But a pastor's work is more important than mere politics, dealing with eternal rather than temporal issues. So, Sharpe loses my support right there.

Now the Rev. Sharpe has some other problems that fall into grand spoiler territory, so if you plan to see the film as a whodunit, you might want to quit right here.

(SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER! You see, we find out that, before she was murdered, the Reverend was sleeping with the prostitute, but didn't pay her in money. He paid her in political and spiritual books! So he's not just a philanderer, he's a cheap philanderer. And bigger SPOILER:  The Reverend Logan Sharpe is the killer. And when Tibbs tells Sharpe he is going to arrest him for the murder, Shape asks Tibbs to hold off on the arrest until after the election. When Tibbs tells him no, Sharpe steps in front of a bus.)

So, as much as I like Detective Virgil Tibbs, the Reverend Logan Sharpe and his church gets one steeple.