Dark Sands (1937) User Reviews

Paul Robeson is in fine voice in this passable musical drama about a GI escaping to a desert after he accidentally killed a man.

[Art-22 · 6/10 · 2 November 1998]

Paul Robeson shines as a GI who disobeys orders to abandon a torpedoed ship in order to pry loose a door and free 6 fellow Negro soldiers. He punches his sergeant, who falls and hits his head and dies, while Robeson continues his effort and succeeds in rescuing the men. His captain, Henry Wilcoxon, stands up for him at a hearing, declaring it would be unjust to punish a man for a heroic deed. But the major in charge disagrees, since Robeson disobeyed orders and struck a superior officer. He is put under arrest pending a court-martial. On Christmas Eve, Wilcoxon lets Robeson out of his cell to join fellow soldiers at a Christmas songfest, but Robeson escapes in a small boat, befriending Wallace Ford, the only other person in the boat. They head for Africa and Robeson starts a new happy life in the desert, marrying Princess Kouka, who bears him two children. Meanwhile, Wilcoxon is court-martialed for complicity in the escape and sentenced to Leavenworth for five years. When he gets out, his only object in life is to find and bring back Robeson, who could clear hum of the complicity charge. Wilcoxon accidentally sees Robeson in a newsreel some explorers shot while in Africa, and he goes to bring him back.

Two original songs were written for Robeson, whose rich baritone voice is always a pleasure to hear. There's also a bit of adventure in the film, as Robeson leads a 12-mile-long caravan of camels trekking to an area to pick up a year's supply of salt. In an exciting sequence, they have to fight off a group of bandits.

Paul Robeson once again astounds with his acting and singing in Jericho

[tavm · 7/10 · 20 February 2014]

This is another Paul Robeson film I watched on a DVD set collection of his selected movies. In this one, he plays a World War I soldier who despite saving some lives, also disobeyed orders of a superior officer and accidentally killed him. So he gets court martialed but then manages to escape. Unfortunately, that also means the officer in charge of guarding him (Henry Wilcoxon) will serve five years in prison for supposedly aiding him. Robeson then stows away with another drifter (Wallace Ford) before they settle in a desert area. I'll stop there and just say this was another compellingly told drama from Robeson and, of course, he gets to display his fine singing voice as well. So on that point, I recommend Jericho. P.S. I just found out this Wallace Ford was the same one whose last role was that of an alcoholic grandfather in Sidney Poitier's A Patch of Blue.

The Walls of Jericho.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 4 June 2018]

Watching the first two in Urban Works box set of early African American cinema,I decided to continue by watching the second disc. Expecting them to be two movies with no connection,I was surprised to find they both star Paul Robeson,which led to me travelling to meet Jericho.

View on the film:

Noticeably more at ease in front of the camera than the actors in the first two films of the set,Paul Robeson gives a terrific, soulful performance as Jericho,with Robeson using his deep voice to give Jericho the gravitas of becoming the leader of a tribe. Put together as a deal between British producers and Robeson designed to give him "proper" lead roles, the writers largely meet these goals,with Jericho's accidental killing of a crazed officer on a ship, taking him deeper into the fantasy-like tribal land. Whilst rushing things a bit too much at the end, director Thornton Freeland & cinematographer John W. Boyle cast a swift Adventure atmosphere over Robeson vast change in lifestyle,and an ahead of its time fake newsreel footage revealing the foundation to the walls of Jericho.

Well-made fantasy tale

[Sleepy-17 · 18 April 2002]

Great entertainment with several interesting aspects. Tailored for Robeson's self-preferred Black Superman persona, this movie has scenes of Robeson ordering Wallace Ford ("Old Pa" from Patch of Blue) to tend to his camel, and Robeson commanding an army into battle. All this is done with a genial sense of humor that keeps it fun! Robeson is a man on the run, who is also a college-educated doctor. Remember, this was 20 years before Sidney came along.

My way

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 13 November 2022]

In this film, Paul Robeson is Jericho, a black soldier who is condemned to die after accidently killing a superior officer whilst carrying out a heroic feat in rescuing fellow black soldiers trapped aboard the same ship that has been torpedoed. The army has no sympathy and he gets an unfair punishment. He has an ally in Henry Wilcoxon (Captain Mack) who allows him one last moment of freedom to attend a concert whereupon he escapes. Wilcoxon is held responsible and gets 5 years in jail. On his release, he is determined to seek out Robeson and arrest him so he can clear his name.

The film has a different setting as we find ourselves in the African desert following a salt caravan. It's basically a camel train of around 20,000.00 camels where different tribes meet up for a market place trading in salt. There are warring factions within these tribes and it's educational. I knew nothing about these salt caravans. I just thought a caravan was a dodgy home on wheels. No, this is the original caravan idea.

It is nice to see a black actor in a mainstream lead role - I can't think of any other film from this period that does this. It is a bit forced, though when Robeson says to his white desert companion "Look after the camels, boy" without any hint of humour. That's just tacky, I'm afraid - not revolutionary. It can be seen as petty racism that is what the film is trying to fight against. Very dumb thing to include in the dialogue.

The film loses its way for a bit in the 2nd half but the different setting makes it memorable and unfortunately, whilst Robeson has a good voice, the songs he sings aren't up to much. Watch out for the worst beginning to a film ever as news headlines are flashed quickly during the credits inducing epileptic fits and migraines for everyone watching and Kouka has the weirdest accent you will ever hear. She is the woman Robeson meets in the desert.

jericho

[mossgrymk · 4/10 · 12 October 2021]

Typical Robeson film. Well intentioned as hell but with poor writing, acting, cinematography and direction. The only thing exceptional about it as a Robeson film is that the songs suck.

Silly

[theognis-80821 · 5/10 · 23 September 2021]

A plot so arbitrary that it's not possible to mistake, for a moment, that this is anything but a Paul Robeson vehicle: for worshipful fans only.

Just ignore the low imdb rating and see it

[zetes · 8/10 · 27 March 2003]

It's only 75 minutes long, so, even if you don't find it as good as I did, you haven't really wasted that much of you life. It's really quite a good adventure film starring the famous black actor Paul Robeson. He made this film as a part of a package deal with British backers, because he felt that he would be able to play less stereotypical roles. Other blacks in the film don't get this posh treatment, as they speak pidgin English, throw dice, and scare easily, but, for the most part, Robeson maintains all of his dignity (the most he does is sing `Mammy's little babies love shortnin' shortnin', but, who knows, that might not have seemed harmful in 1937). Robeson plays Jericho Jackson, an intelligent soldier trained as a doctor. During a crisis on his ship, Robeson tries to knock out a superior officer who has gone nuts and accidentally kills him. Sentenced to death, he escapes, which gets a friend of his who has vouched for him (Henry Wilcoxon, Marc Antony from Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 movie, Cleopatra) thrown in jail. Robeson runs into the North African desert, where he becomes a leader of a tribe of nomads. A wise-cracking white man (Wallace Ford) becomes his best friend. When Wilcoxon is released from prison, he attempts to search out Jericho in order to reclaim his own honor. It's a pretty good story, although it ends rather lamely. Robeson sings some damn fine songs and his acting is great. The on-location cinematography, by John W. Boyle, is really beautiful. He captures a lot of great shots of a caravan moving slowly up and down the desert terrain. 8/10.

Hollywood is just catching up with this film

[karen5778 · 8/10 · 23 October 2014]

Putting the opening scenes aside, this film turns most of Hollywood's favorite racial conventions upside down. Robeson is the one and only action hero in this film, he has a tiny white sidekick who provides comic relief and he gets the girl. The girl is played by a dark skinned actress while her "Arab" brothers are all white, but otherwise it is less groan worthy than many modern films. It has few pretensions, is well written and has lots and lots of footage of camels. Even the plot twist that another reviewer complains of is sort of plausible. And Robeson sings "Mammy's little baby loves shortnin' bread" to a baby and leaves out the "pickaniny" lines, so even that isn't really objectionable.

A much better than typical role for Robeson.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 19 August 2011]

The plot for "Jericho" is the best thing about this film, as it's amazingly original and I honestly can't think of another film like this one. It begins during WWI on a troop transport ship crossing the Atlantic. Paul Robeson plays a well-respected soldier who is made a corporal because of his skills and charisma--plus the Captain (Henry Wilcoxon) has known him for many years and trusts him completely. However, during a torpedoing of the ship, Robeson accidentally kills his sergeant while trying to save several lives. While he is completely innocent of murder, the court martial doesn't see it that way and he's sentenced to death! While it's never said in the film, you'd think this sentence is due more to his race and a desire to teach the men a lesson than anything else. The Captain also thinks this is unjust and lets his guard down briefly--and Robeson escapes. In a harsh punishment for neglecting to guard the prisoner well, Wilcoxon is himself sentenced to five years in prison! As for Robeson, he at first poses as a French-speaking Moroccan soldier (his real life skill with many languages make this work well in the film). Then, when he reaches the North African coast, he makes for the desert along with his fast-talking friend (Wallace Ford). Both of them eventually fall in with some desert traders and because of Robeson's medical skills, he soon gains great favor among the tribe. And, he soon works his way up in the tribe and is beloved.

After nearly five years, Wilcoxon is released from prison and he vows to somehow find Robeson. But, considering no one knows where Robeson is, the task seems impossible--especially since the last place he was seen was in France. Now here is where he movie gets bad. Despite a HUGE planet with only 1 chance in 10048304349602 of finding him, Wilcoxon just happens upon Robeson!! It's a shame they did this, as up until then I really respected the writing. Aside from some horribly stereotypical depictions early on of blacks shooting dice (uggh!), the film was top-notch and depicted Robeson with great dignity. Now, however, a cheap cliché is used to advance the plot. Not good. But at least the film did maintain its excellent characterization for Robeson--as too often in other films he played ridiculously black characters (such as loincloth-wearing Africans named Bosambo). What happens next you'll just have to see for yourself. Overall, I'd say this film is well worth seeing even if the print used by Criterion is less than stellar and even if there are a few clichés here and there--the sum total far outweighs the negatives. You not only get to see Robeson in one of his better roles but you also get the treat of hearing him sing several times throughout the film--and he had the voice of an angel.