Sambo Sam must contend with the villainous order of Mumbo Jumbo.Sambo Sam must contend with the villainous order of Mumbo Jumbo.Sambo Sam must contend with the villainous order of Mumbo Jumbo.
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- ConnectionsFeatured in American Experience: Midnight Ramble (1994)
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Another Strange Ebony Short
"Spying the Spy" is the fourth broad-slapstick short film I've seen from the short-lived Ebony Film Company; the others being "Two Knights of Vaudeville" (1915), "Mercy, the Mummy Mumbled" and "A Reckless Rover" (both 1918). The following year, the studio would close after a boycott of their films led by the paper the Chicago Defender, which criticized the company for perpetuating negative racial stereotypes. With "Spying the Spy" including a black protagonist derogatorily named "Sambo Sam" playing an incompetent parody of Sherlock Holmes, whereby he is tormented by some black Free-Mason types to the point that Sam plays into the usual stereotypical humor supposedly found in African Americans being easily frightened--the trembling knees bit and all, one can see the point of those critics writing for or to the Chicago Defender.
Moreover, that a studio that aspired to cater to black movie-goers and that was managed (although not owned) by an African American, Luther Pollard, thought it funny for a black man to be ganged up on by men disguised in hoods and robes is incredulous--seemingly oblivious to the real-world connotation this imagery might have to the terrorism of the KKK against African Americans. Yes, in the film, those hooded-characters are also African Americans--and members of a freemasonry-like "Coffin Club," according to the signage behind them in one scene. They also wear mostly black instead of white, as well as skull and crossbones insignia, but Sam is unaware of their race due to the disguise, and being established as a "four-flusher," as another character puts it, he doesn't have a great eye for the details. It hardly matters, too, as the clan pretends to prepare to execute Sam.
Before all of this seriously unfunny stuff, Sam sets out to catch German spies in a bit of WWI-era American patriotism--you know, at the expense of making fun of a black parody of Holmes, pipe and, eventually, a semblance of the rest of the usual outfit included. "Spying the Spy" fares poorly compared to another silent short Holmes parody in Douglas Fairbanks's "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" (1916). Regardless, it's another interesting historical document of the early representation of African Americans in cinema. Like some of the other Ebony films, there's considerable decomposition in parts of the surviving print, but since most of the studio's output, as with most silent films in general, seem to be lost, I'm thankful that any of these films still exist and are accessible.
Moreover, that a studio that aspired to cater to black movie-goers and that was managed (although not owned) by an African American, Luther Pollard, thought it funny for a black man to be ganged up on by men disguised in hoods and robes is incredulous--seemingly oblivious to the real-world connotation this imagery might have to the terrorism of the KKK against African Americans. Yes, in the film, those hooded-characters are also African Americans--and members of a freemasonry-like "Coffin Club," according to the signage behind them in one scene. They also wear mostly black instead of white, as well as skull and crossbones insignia, but Sam is unaware of their race due to the disguise, and being established as a "four-flusher," as another character puts it, he doesn't have a great eye for the details. It hardly matters, too, as the clan pretends to prepare to execute Sam.
Before all of this seriously unfunny stuff, Sam sets out to catch German spies in a bit of WWI-era American patriotism--you know, at the expense of making fun of a black parody of Holmes, pipe and, eventually, a semblance of the rest of the usual outfit included. "Spying the Spy" fares poorly compared to another silent short Holmes parody in Douglas Fairbanks's "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" (1916). Regardless, it's another interesting historical document of the early representation of African Americans in cinema. Like some of the other Ebony films, there's considerable decomposition in parts of the surviving print, but since most of the studio's output, as with most silent films in general, seem to be lost, I'm thankful that any of these films still exist and are accessible.
helpful•20
- Cineanalyst
- Feb 20, 2020
Details
- Runtime10 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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