Midnight Shadow is not a very good movie, but it is interesting from a historical perspective. When I first saw the label "Sack Mark of Merit," I laughed (because it's funny). But later I found out Sack Amusement was a company that made and distributed "race pictures" - featuring almost all black actors and screened at primarily black movie theaters. Which had to be an interesting business to be a part of in the late 30s in the USA. I mean, race relations being what they were (shitty), this has to be an early example of black actors not being relegated to roles that were broad, offensive stereotypes. Midnight Shadow has an all black cast playing wealthy businessmen, detectives, and others in positions of authority, which is just radically different than many others I've seen from this era. I honestly didn't even know that there were movie companies that catered to black audiences back then. So thanks for teaching me something today, Midnight Shadow.
Not knowing this going in, I was surprised to see an all black cast. And then there is this crawl at the beginning, which is just easier to quote than explain:
In the southern part of our country, lies that great land of romance and sunshine, known as the Old South. Here amid fertile fields, vast areas of timber, oil lands and rippling rivers, live millions of black men and women in the most highly concentrated area of Negro population in America.
Here is certain communities, the like of which is found no where else in all the world, these people of darker hue have demonstrated their abilities in self-government by the orderly processes of law of which they are capable when unhampered by outside influences.
It is in a community such as one of these that the scene of our story is laid, and the events which follow are depicted.
So yeah, there's obviously some offensive language in there, but this would've helped explain things to the audience of the time, who possibly had never seen this sort of portrayal by black actors before. But there aren't any racial politics in the story itself - once you get past the crawl, Midnight Shadow is a pretty standard (and not very satisfying) murder mystery/comedy. Like many films on the 50 Tales of Terror budget set before it, it's a real stretch to consider it a horror film... but what can you do?
The film is about the Wilson family - their daughter Margaret seems to have won the hearts of two men. One is a neighborhood guy who isn't well-defined at all. Other than Margaret calling him "spineless," he, uh, has a hat. The other is a traveling showman named Prince Alihabad - he's like a psychic or something? But don't worry, nothing interesting happens with that. Mr. Wilson mentions how anxious he is for his daughter to get married, and thinks Alihabad would be a good suitor. So for some reason, Mr. Wilson shows Alihabad a deed for a very valuable tract of land in Texas that will be passed onto Margaret when she marries. Mr. Wilson also tells him where he hides it along with the rest of his valuables, and that he never locks them up. It's unclear why he would volunteer all this, but he does. (Meanwhile, some sketchy dude is peeking in the window.) Alihabad and Margaret go out that night, and Alihabad asks her to join him in his travels. She wants to, but politely declines, saying she can't hurt her parents, although she promises to wait for him.
That night, while everyone is asleep, Mr. Wilson is murdered and all of his valuables are taken, including the deed to the Texas land. The cops (including a crazy-intense sergeant) show up, along with some of the Wilson's family friends. Most notable amongst the friends are Lightfoot and Lingley, two bumbling detective wannabes. From here on out, the film kind of switches gears from bland mystery to comedy, as we follow around this comically inept pair who just *might* stumble into solving the crime.
Midnight Shadow is certainly not effective as a mystery film. Unless you are satisfied with a reveal that doesn't really even make sense - I just finished watching it and can't figure out what exactly the deal was. There isn't really any horror to speak of. The murder is offscreen (and maybe even accidental), and there isn't any of the "dark and stormy night" or other gothic atmosphere that you'd usually get in these things. I guess it's mostly successful (relatively speaking) as a comedy. The bumbling detectives are energetic performers, have an amusing gimmick, and get some okay lines. And the sergeant in charge of the case is a real hard-ass that's a lot of fun to watch, just yelling at everybody and accusing them at random. (It's unclear to me whether he is meant to be funny.)
Some of the acting is pretty poor, and the sets are nothing special. But apparently it was pretty common for these "race pictures" to have a budget close to zero and have very inexperienced actors in the cast. So it's hard to judge against the standards of a big studio picture, you know?
I will say that it moves by really fast. There are a lot of characters and things move at a brisk pace. Even when the acting isn't up to snuff, it doesn't linger on anyone long enough for you to get sick of them. Also, it's a super short movie (53 minutes!), so it certainly doesn't drag. But there just isn't all that much to it, and what little story it has is not well told or clearly explained to the viewing audience.
Midnight Shadow was sort of illuminating to me in that it brought the "race pictures" of the 30s to my attention. I would certainly be interested in checking out more. Again, it's (unintentionally) interesting from a historical viewpoint, but as a movie stripped of it's historical context there isn't anything to get excited about.
I would not recommend this film.
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