THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED (1920)

Eve, a light-skinned Black woman from Alabama, inherits a plot of land in the Northwest city of Oristown from her grandfather. When she goes to claim it, she is forced to sleep in a barn by Jefferson Driscoll, a Black hotel owner who passes for white and has a pathological hatred of Blacks—we see him throttle his poor mother and push her to the ground when she stops by his house. The next morning, lost and a little dazed, Eve runs into Hugh, a Black prospector who owns land near hers. He helps her find her home and the two become friendly, though Hugh, thinking Eve is white, doesn't attempt a romantic connection. We are introduced to a rogue's gallery of townsfolk including August, a former preacher turned swindler; Tugi, an Indian fakir who is an associate of August's; Phil and Bill, a couple of horse rustlers; and the relatively innocent Peter, brother of August's wife Mary who is forced into helping with August's cons. Jefferson joins up with the bad guys, selling Hugh two stolen horses that he claims are fine-bred Arabians. When Hugh finds out the truth, he proceeds to kick Jefferson's ass in an (overlong) bar fight. When news arrives that Hugh's land has oil beneath it, Jefferson sends anonymous notes to Hugh, warning him to sell his land, or else. Hugh ignores the notes, so August's men and the local Ku Klux Klan ride out one night to terrorize him. 

This is one of only three silent films that still exist out of over twenty that Oscar Micheaux directed, and this print, which was found in a film archive in Belgium, is missing what might be a full reel of footage at the climax. We see some very effective shots of Klansmen riding at night with their torches held high, then we see the epilogue, set a couple of years later when Hugh, a wealthy oil tycoon, meets up again with Eve. Now, honest about her real racial background, the two wind up together. Micheaux is an important historical figure, as the first African-American filmmaker, but because he always worked with a limited budget, modern audiences may find his films difficult to enjoy, and his sound films, such as SWING, fare even worse than the average Hollywood Poverty Row films. But because fiction films with Black talent in front and especially behind the camera were so rare in the classic era, I try to take the opportunity to see his films when I can. His sound films can feel very awkward in staging and dialogue, but here, not worrying about sound engineering, Micheaux crafts a fairly compelling film. The acting is about average for the silent era, with Iris Hall and Walker Thompson (both pictured) fine in the lead roles. The bad guys, especially Lawrence Chenault as Jefferson, tend to go overboard in their villainy, but that was not unusual in the silent era. The scene in which Jefferson beats up his mom is still shocking. Though this could be seen as a propaganda movie about race, it doesn't feel didactic at all. I never figured out what the title refers to. Beware: the musical score that has been attached to this restored print is all percussion by famous jazz drummer Max Roach, and I found it quite irritating, rarely applying to what's happening on screen. [TCM]