The Exile (1931)
** (out of 4)
Jean Baptiste (Stanley Morrell), a black man from Chicago, could live a good life if he agrees to marry Edith Duval (Eunice Brooks) who has just came into possession of a mansion, which she plans to turn into a speak easy. Instead Jean decides to move out West to start a farm and it's there that he meets a white woman (Nora Newsome) and falls in love. However, he feels guilty that she's white and he returns to Chicago and sure enough runs into Edith.
THE EXILE is a historically important film since it was the first black film to be an all talking picture. That reason alone means it's very important but sadly the film itself really isn't all that good. As with many of the early Hollywood talkies, this film here has one major issue and that's the fact that it just doesn't know when to shut up. This film has so much pointless dialogue that you can't help but wish the film was a silent so that people would just shut up.
The dialogue, as written, isn't that awful but there's just way too much of it and there are scenes that just drag on for no reason. I know, people were killing for talking pictures so producers wanted to give them films with a lot of dialogue but these movies just don't play out too well today. Another problem is that the story just isn't all that interesting. You should know every twist and turn that happens and it's just not compelling enough to hold your attention through the 78-minute running time.
I did think both Morrell and Brooks were good in their roles. Both gave fine performances, which helped keep the film from becoming completely unwatchable. Another good aspect were some vaudeville style numbers thrown into the picture. While these performances were good on their own, I'm really not sure why they were needed in the film as they didn't move or help the main plot.
** (out of 4)
Jean Baptiste (Stanley Morrell), a black man from Chicago, could live a good life if he agrees to marry Edith Duval (Eunice Brooks) who has just came into possession of a mansion, which she plans to turn into a speak easy. Instead Jean decides to move out West to start a farm and it's there that he meets a white woman (Nora Newsome) and falls in love. However, he feels guilty that she's white and he returns to Chicago and sure enough runs into Edith.
THE EXILE is a historically important film since it was the first black film to be an all talking picture. That reason alone means it's very important but sadly the film itself really isn't all that good. As with many of the early Hollywood talkies, this film here has one major issue and that's the fact that it just doesn't know when to shut up. This film has so much pointless dialogue that you can't help but wish the film was a silent so that people would just shut up.
The dialogue, as written, isn't that awful but there's just way too much of it and there are scenes that just drag on for no reason. I know, people were killing for talking pictures so producers wanted to give them films with a lot of dialogue but these movies just don't play out too well today. Another problem is that the story just isn't all that interesting. You should know every twist and turn that happens and it's just not compelling enough to hold your attention through the 78-minute running time.
I did think both Morrell and Brooks were good in their roles. Both gave fine performances, which helped keep the film from becoming completely unwatchable. Another good aspect were some vaudeville style numbers thrown into the picture. While these performances were good on their own, I'm really not sure why they were needed in the film as they didn't move or help the main plot.