Review of The Blood of Jesus (1941) by Shawn H — 30 Jul 2016

This is a strange, sad movie, notable mostly for its historical significance. Poorly filmed and recorded, the all-Black cast enacts a sort of religious allegory featuring a woman of sin and fantasy sequences featuring such things as poorly-costumed angels and the figure of a plastic Jesus speaking from the cross.

It's jumbled and incoherent, and there is much gospel singing that comes and goes without purpose. This film has been praised for accurately capturing the rituals of Southern Black religious services, so there's that.

It depressed me because it came from Hollywood's golden age. and yet looks impoverished and cheap, demonstrating once again how little Black filmmakers had to work with at the time.