The Blood of Jesus
is a 1941 race film written, directed, and starring Spencer Williams. It is based on the poem "Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes, and has the alternate title The Glory Road
.
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BLOOD OF JESUS TICKETS
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Plot
In a small rural village with an
African American population, a
church group is holding a riverside baptismal service, and one of the faithful being immersed is the recently-married Martha (
Cathryn Caviness). However, Martha’s husband Razz (
Spencer Williams) is absent from the service – he claims he was hunting, but he actually poached a neighbor’s
boar. At home, Razz accidentally shoots Martha when his
rifle drops on the floor and discharges. The church congregation gathers at Martha’s bedside to pray for her recovery, and during this period an
angel (
Rogenia Goldthwaite) arrives to take Martha’s spirit from her body. She is brought to the Crossroads between
Heaven and
Hell, and initially she is tempted by the slick Judas Green (
Frank H. McClennan), who is an agent for Satan (
James B. Jones). Judas takes Martha to a
nightclub, where the floor show includes an acrobat and a
jazz singer. Judas arranges to have Martha employed by the roadhouse owner Rufus Brown, but the angel returns and advises Martha to flee. As she is escaping, a nightclub patron mistakenly believes Martha is a pickpocket who robbed him. A chase ensues and Martha races back to the Crossroads, where Satan (along with a jazz band on a flatbed truck) is waiting for her arrival. The angel appears to protect Martha from the mob, who are driven away. The sign at the Crossroad is transformed into the vision of
Jesus Christ being crucified, and Christ’s blood drips down on Martha’s face. She awakens to discover she is home and her health is restored. Martha is reunited with her husband, who has now embraced religion. The angel who took Martha on her journey returns to bless the marriage.
[1] [2] [3]
Cast
- Cathryn Caviness as Sister Martha Ann Jackson
- Spencer Williams as Razz Jackson
- Juanita Riley as Sister Jenkins
- Reather Hardeman as Sister Ellerby
- Rogenia Goldthwaite as The Angel
- James B. Jones as Satan
- Frank H. McClennan as Judas Green
- Eddie DeBase as Rufus Brown
- Alva Fuller as Luke Williams
Production
The Blood of Jesus
was the first film directed by Spencer Williams, who was one of the few African American directors of the 1940s. Williams began his career in the 1920s as an extra, and was later able to move up into writing scripts for all-black short comedies produced by the Al Christie studio. In 1939, he wrote two screenplays for the race film genre, the Western
Harlem Rides the Range
and the horror-comedy
Son of Ingagi
, and he also acted in these films. Williams was invited by Alfred N. Sack, president of the
Dallas, Texas-based production/distribution company Sack Amusement Enterprises, to write and direct a series of all-black films that would be released to the U.S. cinemas catering to African American audiences.
[4]
The Blood of Jesus
was produced in
Texas on a budget of US$5,000. To present the afterlife, Williams used scenes from a 1911
Italian film called
L'Inferno
that depicted souls entering Heaven.
[5]
Outside of Williams, the cast was made up of amateur actors and members of Reverend R.L. Robinson's Heavenly Choir, who sang the film’s gospel music score.
[6] The film’s soundtrack included the songs ""All God's Children Got Shoes," "Amazing Grace,""Go Down, Moses," “Good News!", "I've Heard of a City Called Heaven," ""On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand," "Run, Child, Run," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,"Weary Blues" and "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"
[7]
Release and critical appraisal
The Blood of Jesus
was screened in cinemas and in black churches.
The film’s commercial success enabled Williams to direct and write additional feature films for Sack Amusement Enterprises, including two films with religious themes:
Brother Martin: Servant of Jesus
(1942) and
Go Down Death
(1944).
[8]
For years,
The Blood of Jesus
was considered a
lost film until prints were discovered in the mid-1980s in a warehouse in
Tyler, Texas.
[9]
Critical appraisal of
The Blood of Jesus
has been positive, with Dave Kehr of
The New York Times
calling the film “magnificent”
[10] and J. Hoberman of
The Village Voice
stating it is “a masterpiece of folk cinema that has scarcely lost its power to astonish.”
magazine counted it among its “25 Most Important Films on Race.”
Historian Thomas Cripps, in his book
Black Film as Genre
, praised
The Blood of Jesus
for providing “a brief anatomy of
Southern Baptist folk theology by presenting
Christian myth in literal terms. From its opening voiceover, the film became an advocate for the most enduring traditions of Afro-American family life on Southern ground.”
[11]
Filmmaker
Julie Dash cited the baptismal sequence in
The Blood of Jesus
as the inspiration for a similar scene from her 1991 feature film
Daughters of the Dust
.
[12] In 1991,
The Blood of Jesus
became the first race film to be added to the
U.S. National Film Registry.
See also
- List of films in the public domain
Notes
- “The Blood of Jesus”-Overview, Turner Classic Movies
- New York Times / AllMovie Guide overview
- “The Bootleg Files: The Blood of Jesus,” Film Threat, September 1, 2006
- “The Bootleg Files: Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A.", Film Threat, October 24, 2008
- Mediums: The Black Female Spirit Medium in Film Culture,” University of Chicago
- “Micheaux and Williams: Titans of 'Race' Cinema,” Village Voice, March 18, 2008
- “Jazz on the screen : A Jazz and Blues Filmography,” Library of Congress
- “Spencer Williams,” AfricanAmericans.com
- “The 25 Most Important Films on Race,” Time Magazine
- “A Troubled Past, but Promise for the Future,” ''The New York Times'', October 1, 2004
- “The Blood of Jesus,” Turner Classic Movies Archives
- “Histories and Influences:Independent African American Cinema and More,” Geechee.tv (Julie Dash web site)