Blood of Jesus, The (1941)



Director: Spencer Williams

Honors:

It was one of the most successful race pictures in American history, yet for decades was considered a lost film. Spencer Williams’ motion picture The Blood of Jesus was a feature made by and for African Americans in a period of United States history in which near all films of note where produced for a white audience by the movie making machine that is Hollywood. This religious based picture would be the epitome of an independent film produced on a shoe-string budget, but drew in vast numbers black audiences to become, compared to its budget, one of the most profitable race films of all time.

Writer, director, actor Spencer Williams
The Blood of Jesus is a race drama about a young lady tempted by the devil one last time before what is presumably her death. Ras Jackson (Spencer Williams) missed Martha’s (Cathryn Caviness) riverside baptism service in favor of poaching a neighbor’s boar. As his wife she is troubled by her husband’s actions and lack of faith in God. A careless household accident by Ras results in Martha being accidentally shot by his hunting rifle. While the church congregation prays for the recovery of Martha and Ras mourns over what he had caused, Martha has a vision of an angel that takes her to the crossroads of heaven and hell. There she is tempted one last time by where the devil (James B. Jones) with the aid of his servant Judas Green (Frank H. McClennan) where she sees the pleasure of a sinful life. With the encouragement of the angel Martha flees this setting to find salvation back at the crossroads to heaven. From here Martha awakens back in her bed, restored of health, where she is reunited with a joyous Ras who is reinvigorated by faith.

The film itself from a contemporary point of view is a near unwatchable feature. With poor acting, meager editing, amateur cinematography, and a rather substandard script this film is not what one would consider anything near a mainstream picture for 1941. But in truth it was never really meant to be. The Blood of Jesus was a product of the filmmaker who had next to nothing to work with, producing a picture projected to be viewed by an African American audience hungry for films that spoke to them, which mainstream Hollywood had little to no interest in do. Put into the proper perspective The Blood of Jesus as a film becomes a far greater achievement in the history of American cinema.

In an age when it would be unheard of to have an African American director of any motion picture it was Dallas, Texas based Sack Amusement Enterprises that commissioned Spencer Williams to produce this black motion picture. Sack Amusement Enterprises, much like the major studios in Hollywood, both owned theaters and produced pictures to play in them, but the major difference was that they catered to black audiences, something Hollywood did not do. Even though the motion pictures they produced where intended for African American audiences, they were more common than not directed by whites. That is until Spencer Williams’ became a possibility.

Williams’ career as a black entertainer had led him to Hollywood in the mid-20s and steered him primarily is small character roles, as the usual bumbling stereotyped African American role. His experience in the industry headed him to aiding the authoring of number of scripts of films he worked on, but was uncredited for his contributions and even directing a small silent short. Sack Amusement Enterprises saw Williams’ experience as a possible filmmaker giving the black entertainer the huge opportunity to write and direct his own motion picture for a black audience.

The picture was made on a shoe string budget, as seen by this devil costume.
With a budget of only $5000 Williams penned and directed this feature with a running time of just short of an hour. The film features an all amateur cast and shot in and around the areas of Dallas, Texas not far from the company offices. The cast manifests it unprofessional nature as many cast members are caught staring into the camera or just past it, perhaps at the cameraman or Williams, reciting lines as if they have trouble remembering all the words they have to deliver. You can assume the wardrobe of the cast was what they brought from home, perhaps their “Sunday best” if you will. The most elaborate of the costumes is that of the devil which, at best, is cheap Halloween style garb. The movie does a poor job at hiding it paltry budget, but it would be the all-black cast and its African American filmmaker that would make the feature appealing to black audiences across the nation.

A special effects shot used from L'Inferno.
A hidden trick Williams used to mask the poorer quality of his film was the addition of shots from the Italian silent feature L’Inferno which were artistic special effects shots of angels ascending into the clouds and the heavenly gates. Upon first viewing these shots I was blown away by the cinematic quality of these heavenly visions, but was disappointed to discover their true origins and simple edits into the picture.

The film’s religious tone and representation of deep rooted Baptist ways and music would be an engaging aspect for black audiences, especially in the South where the film was funded and produced. The picture would play in black theaters across the nation as well as black churches. With the draw of its key demographic the feature achieved significant financial profits leading to a new, prolonged contract for Spencer Williams to write and direct additional films for Sack Amusement.

Critically the feature is generally praised for its historical nature as a race film, as well as for capturing the Southern Baptist stylings on celluloid. Spencer Williams’ career as a director would take off, becoming one of the most prevalent black filmmakers of the decade thanks for the attention and success of this picture. His popularity with African American entertainment led to Williams being casted as Andy when the famous Amos ‘n’ Andy radio show was being made into a television series, a role that defined his career despite his feature film body of work.

Due to the lack of care for race pictures in the early 20th century the prints of The Blood of Jesus would disappear or fall into disrepair with time and for decades was assumed to be a lost film. In the 1980s a print would be discovered of the Spencer Williams’ feature deep within a warehouse in Texas which allowed the product to be restored and serve as a capsule to a film and its time in motion picture history. In 1991 the film would be elected to be preserved by the National Film Registry, becoming the first race film to receive the honor.

Although the film does not compare to contemporary motion pictures, the story may be a bit bland, the acting poor, and the production quality a bit laughable, but for its time and audience The Blood of Jesus was a serious feature. Today the film stands of a reminder of a different time when movie audiences were segregated and race pictures were made by small independent companies to feed minority markets with the unique entertainment that might better speak to them. It showcases one of the earliest major African American filmmakers to make an impact on movie industry and is preserved to remind future generations of how far America and the industry has come.

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