User Reviews

"Ten Minutes to Live" was one of the first Oscar Micheaux films to emerge in modern times; it was first discovered by AFI in the 1970s. At that time, very little else of Micheaux was known to exist, and at the time no modern film scholar had seen anything like it, nor was it generally known that anything like it had been made at all. At the time, "Ten Minutes to Live" seemed so unique and out of the ordinary that such critical notices as were written tended to be charitable. Nevertheless, those who then saw the one, terribly battered print of "Ten Minutes to Live" weren't sure what Micheaux was up to; whether it was some kind of art film or some species of genre that they did not recognize. Fast forward four decades and we know a lot about Micheaux and the kinds of films that he made, and "Ten Minutes to Live," in that context, has suffered badly. It is clear now that the film is a failed narrative; in fact, two narratives drawn from an alleged short story collection entitled "Harlem After Midnight." The tales are called "The Faker" and "The Killer" and the front title promises three stories, but the film delivers only two. Perhaps Micheaux' later film "Harlem After Midnight" constitutes the third story not shown here. In any event, Micheaux never published these stories and it is difficult to make out from this film what exactly the narrative was.

Time has not brought us a better print, and the one we have shows the telltale intrusions of censorship. In the first story, a fellow who claims to be a wealthy producer or something-or-other turns on the charm with several women. He tells one singer he can only pay her $3.25 a day to appear in a talking picture, and that appears to have been about the daily budget that Micheaux had to make "Ten Minutes to Live." There are so many ellipses and shortcuts that you can hardly tell a story is being told at all, and in the first part it so frequently interrupted by vaudeville acts and cutaways to non-speaking characters that you wonder who is actually participating in the tale told. The dancing, though, is all excellent, if not always shot to the best advantage, and in one scene the girls are crammed into a space so tight that they can barely move. Donald Heywood and his hard-working band are definitely an asset to the picture, even when their music is cut into little bits and shards, or interleaved with snatches of Beethoven symphonies. It is not completely foolproof, however; at one point a musician loses his music off the stand, and in yet another the whole band loses it place in the music, with the violinist diligently leading them back to the head.

Despite the front title card's assertion that this is an "All Talking" picture, the second story, "The Killer," is strictly a part-talkie, and plays for most of its length silent. One wonders if this was something Micheaux had made earlier as a silent and merely added to "Ten Minutes to Live" with a few talking scenes added. Overall, as a film it is far more interesting than the first part and contains several beautiful visual touches, but these are mostly in the silent filmed sections. Once the sound returns, conversation is heard while a character, ostensibly in hiding, is seen overhearing and reacting to it -- for a very long time.

While "Ten Minutes to Live" is not Micheaux' best effort by a long shot, it is also not his worst, and it would be his weirdest if "Swing!" didn't exist. If you approach it as a kind of arty affair and enjoy the dancing and music, you still might get something out of it. If you try to follow "Ten Minutes to Live" as a conventional story, however, you will get hopelessly lost. Not all actors are credited, and some are here credited incorrectly; some appear to be playing more than one part in the story, and there are lots of silent-style subtitles and letters to make things all the more mystifying.

First, this all-black 1930's production is admittedly unique. Extended dance sequences, vintage music, vaudeville and some unusual location camera work provide an invaluable look at a time in black history that you probably haven't seen much coverage of before. On the downside, the acting is junior high caliber and the plot is equally half-baked and thin. Certainly forward thinking in treating some blacks in the movie as thoughtful and sensitive beings at a time when some in America weren't on board with the concept.

Unfortunately, it's just not very entertaining and has the look and feel of a silent movie that they dubbed with sound and dialogue sequences later to take advantage of the "talkie craze." If you're a student of black history, probably of minor interest. If you were led to believe this is a noirish black drama (as I was), you're probably better off going with DEVIL WITH A BLUE DRESS, HUSTLE AND FLOW or a Spike Lee joint.

This merely gives us a glimpse into Harlem Club scene of the 20's and 30's. We get a chance to see some dancing, some comedy, and other acts that would have otherwise been lost. As far as any plot or any continuity in a film, it is missing in this effort. There is very little here. The movie is mostly people sitting in the club, talking. Movie producers putting the moves on the young dancers and lying to them about their futures. There is an ongoing threat, some storytelling, but mostly, it's a dull connection among a group of numbers being performed at the club. Merely a period piece and a piece of black history.

Based on two short stories this is a very dated independent early black talky that was done on the cheap. The camera is essentially nailed to the floor to take in various scenes that advance the story which are inter-cut with scenes supposedly happening in and around a black night club (these appear to have been filmed on location with the camera placed in a rather odd angle). As a movie with a story this film is an absolute snoozer. The cast is uneven and the story really doesn't warrant being told. As a filmed record of the singers and dancers, comedians and musicians that perform its invaluable. These were very talented people doing things that are in their way more impressive than what we see on the stages of Broadway today. That said I really can't recommend this film unless you are interested in performers from the era when this film was made, the plot is uninteresting and the acting is often worse.

Laura Bowman had an extremely distinguished career. She was hailed as "the Negro Ethel Barrymore", performed at Buckingham Palace before Edward VII and appeared in theaters all over Europe. In 1916 she joined New York's first black dramatic company, the Lafayette Players in Harlem and appeared in over 500 productions. Although she didn't make many films, she always made an impression - whether as a conjure woman in "Drums O'Voodoo" (1934) or as a mad doctor in "Son of Ingagi" (1939).

She was definitely the most prestigious member in the cast of "Ten Minutes to Live", hence her prominent billing. She played the elderly woman in the very first scene, who tells the lecherous film maker where to find Ida. There are two Idas - I'm not sure which is which but they are both singers in the Libya Club.

Like an episode of 'Police Squad' this film immediately establishes the level of incoherence it intends to maintain throughout by announcing in its main title that it's drawn "from three short stories" before just moments later posting a Producers Note listing the two "short stories of Negro night life in Harlem" from which it says its been adapted.

Having made some reasonably competent silent films, poor Oscar Micheaux is plainly finding sound a serious millstone around his neck, since the dialogue is often almost inaudible and he goes to impressive lengths to get round this obstacle with extensive use of captions and notes; even making one of the characters a deaf mute so he can write down his dialogue rather than speak it.

No matter. It's only 58 minutes long, is full of wonderful period detail and the frequent shot mismatches, captions like "WITHIN THE HOUR" to propel the narrative and the incongruous use of Beethoven's 5th on the soundtrack give it a certain 'nouvelle vague' vitality.

The copy of the film I have of this movie is badly damaged. The lighting is bad - that maybe due the the film's aging process (I've seen many other films that have this problem from this time era and earlier). This film would have to be restored to appreciate, just like other films that have not been restored.

From what we see, there are some really cute dance numbers, some comedy, and a mixed up drama mystery that does not make sense but would I'm sure if the missing pieces of the film were found. It's hard to make a fair judgment on a film like this as to how good or bad the story really is.

But if you are studying the history of film making this is a neat piece of historical footage from the 1930s. I would recommend trying to find a restored copy of this film or someone to restore it for you to watch.

2/10

This movie is excellent, also gives a great glimpse into Harlem Nightclubs and their Entertainers and Black Life in the 1930s. I'm sure Oscar Micheaux wanted us to understand something. But with his films, you have to watch them 3 or 4 times before you actually get it. But its a watchable film. I thank God for these Black cast productions showcasing Black talent that would of never been seen if it wasn't for these films. They were too good for Hollywood and was too talented for Whites to understand. Sometimes I think what ever happen to these people. I want them to know I enjoyed their work. Its sad Hollywood didn't take into consideration these Black talents and want to make them stars. Some of these women and men were just as beautiful and talented as the White stars.

Willor Lee Guilford is a brown beauty, voluptuous and sweet and a fine actress. She has a lot of appeal. She's a combination of sex appeal and girl next door type. You can't help but feel her emotions through the movie. She seems to be a real actress, not someone Micheaux picked off the street like most in his movies. Willor is a natural. You forget color and look at the talent and person and that's what Black Cinema is all about. Mabel Garrett is so cute, she has much spunk, and is quite wonderful and sexy. Carl Mahon, one of the best actors of Black Cinema isn't his best in this movie but his presence is always welcoming. This movie isn't bad at all. I think you will enjoy it. I like this movie because its not a racial story but a movie about people from all walks of life.

Ten Minutes to Live (1932)

** (out of 4)

This Oscar Micheaux film clocks in at just 58-minutes and it pretty much has a little bit of everything in it. There's really no "plot" but it does have a few different story lines going on. One includes a movie producer trying to pick up a woman by offering her a role in his new film. Another subplot has a woman receiving a note saying that she will be dead in ten minutes. We also get a couple comedy acts as well as some musical numbers.

Micheaux was producer and releasing quite a few pictures during this portion of his career and TEN MINUTES TO LIVE isn't nearly the worst but it's also not very good. The film is certainly very uneven but it remains mildly entertaining because the director manages to present a couple interesting acts and it's at least a very good time capsule to black entertainment from this period.

The acts are interesting but I'd argue that none of them are overly good. The comedy bits are pretty weak and there's nothing ground-breaking about the musical numbers but it was just Micheaux's attempt to show black audiences some black talent. The two dramatic story lines aren't the most entertaining that you're going to see but they work well enough for what they are. They're basically two different short subjects mixed together with other shorts dealing with the music.

TEN MINUTES TO LIVE features a couple decent performances scattered around and I'd argue that fans of race movies will at least get some mild entertainment out of it.

Its a mixed bad of good and bad - yes the script is not great - the editing is terrible the stage performances are great its like a variety show in amongst an awful film.

It a production from 1932 of mostly black performers in a time when there was no diversity. I like the nostalgia trip as to what it was like back then in a club or variety show in Harlem, I think if the took out the acting scenes and introduced the acts it would not get the undeserved low votes. I can only think that is is an unedited film reel which they never got down to finishing and doubt at the time there would have been a high target audience.

In one of Oscar Micheaux's earlier sound efforts, two stories are presented, The Faker and The Killer, each roughly a half an hour in length. The first was a little less than satisfying as a narrative and was marred with audio issues, but because most of its time was spent in a nightclub, I liked it nonetheless, and on its own, would rate it 7 stars. I then really enjoyed The Killer, which had tension and great pace, and would rate it 8 stars. If The Faker isn't your cup of tea, I suggest sticking around.

The Faker is dominated by a series of performances in a nightclub, with dancers, singers, and comedians from the real life Cotton Club representing a slice of what the experience may have been like in this period, something I liked, even if none of them were dazzling, and the comedians were in blackface doing what amounted to a minstrel show. Note that few if any are laughing at the comedians' mockery of racial uplift, so their placement here may have been an intended contrast to everyone else, who are stylish and modern. Mabel Garrett and Laura Bowman, the two Ida's in the story, perform a couple of nice routines, and a group of showgirls also dance to "Sweet Georgia Brown" played at a frenetic pace.

The story which is draped around these nightclub acts is really two stories, making it a little confusing. That may be because Micheaux was really drawing from a total three short stories out of his Harlem After Midnight, something he mentions on the title card, but which are then summarized as just two stories in the "Producers Note" and intertitles which follow. In other words, it seems that two of the source stories from the original text were combined into The Faker, and indeed, there seems to be two fakers.

In one of the subplots, a filmmaker is seeking out a woman for his next film. When she comes over to his table, he uses the pretext that her first name is the same as another performer's, one who is more scantily clad, to get her to send the other woman over. The latter (Laura Bowman) gushes that she'll "do anything for the part," and while neither person mentions sex, it's clear she's putty in his hands, and vulnerable. The story then continues with the second vignette, one in which a man leads a woman on with the promise of marriage, and in fact marries her with a fake certificate before she realizes he's tricked her, and is now freeloading off her and cheating on her. Both stories seem to be about men using their power over naïve women to get them into bed; the first is never finished, but in the second, the man eventually pays the price.

The Killer opens with an ominous note passed to a woman in the nightclub (Willor Lee Guilford), telling her that she's surrounded and has ten minutes to live. We then get her story of coming to Chicago in a flashback, pursued by a dangerous convict (William A. Clayton, Jr.) who believes she betrayed him. He stalks her to the home she arrives at, thinking she's safe, and there is real tension when she's relaxing in her lingerie not knowing he's in the next room. Guilford played this very well, and was quite beautiful besides. Her new suitor arrives and takes her off to the nightclub, while another woman (Tressie Mitchell) arrives to meet the convict. A secret is then revealed, setting off more drama in the house.

One of the reasons this story works and flows so well is that it's not bogged down with stilted dialogue that's awkwardly voiced, which often marred Micheaux's other sound efforts. The convict is conveniently a deaf mute, so a lot of the action is without words. The camera work and editing are not stellar, but they are good enough, and the story never lags. There are fewer nightclub bits in the second half, but one of them, a provocative, pelvic thrusting performance set to Duke Ellington's "Diga Diga Doo" was certainly noteworthy and a highlight. I also loved seeing the old footage of the streets of Chicago, including the elevated train tracks. While The Faker felt unfocused, The Killer was a tight little package, and very enjoyable.