This film is about race hatred. Now in this unique film, it's not just Whites hating Blacks but most of the hatred is from light-skinned Blacks who are passing as White and their hatred for other Black people. This is a rather daring topic, as was having one of these race phonies calling out the KKK on his own people due to his self-hatred!! THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED sounded like an exciting movie to watch. After all, it was a Black-produced and acted silent film that dealt with the Ku Klux Klan--how could this turn out to be anything other than exciting?! Well, unfortunately, it did--and not all of this is the fault of writer/director/producer Oscar Micheaux nor his cast. The biggest problem is that even if this was a good film (which it wasn't), major portions of the movie are missing--having decomposed over time like so many older films made on nitrate stock. And, unfortunately, the most exciting portion, the confrontation with the Klan, is among the portions missing. Because of this, the restored version describes the missing scenes and you are left to imagine what it was like--making giving this film a numerical score practically impossible. My score is based on two thing--how enjoyable the viewing experience was (it wasn't) and the uniqueness of the plot (it was).
The bottom line is that in the portions that are remaining, the acting is rather amateurish and the plot is a bit hard to believe and surprisingly dull. However, it is an interesting historical curio, so some may find it a good film to see--especially if you want to see what Black-American films were like in the olden days--though several of Micheaux's other surviving films are better made and more entertaining.
The bottom line is that in the portions that are remaining, the acting is rather amateurish and the plot is a bit hard to believe and surprisingly dull. However, it is an interesting historical curio, so some may find it a good film to see--especially if you want to see what Black-American films were like in the olden days--though several of Micheaux's other surviving films are better made and more entertaining.