Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 57

Lynched, Assaulted, and Intimidated 53 ones are black . . . . As a matter of fact, the picture is thoroughly bad from every point of analysis, from the continuity which is unintelligible, to the caption writing which is a crim e----- (April 16,1930:10) Roland C. Irving and Earl 6. Westfield composed the film's theme song, "That Gets It" (Pittsburgh Courier, 12 April 1930: 7.2). Micheaux experimented with nudity in his murder mystery The Temptation, produced in 1936. Nudity was used to create controversy, arouse interest, and thereby allow him to promote his works. One headline advertising this film read, "Mixing Sex, Rhythm and Romance Is Job of a Pioneer Producer of Sepia Film" (Afro-American, Baltimore, 27 February 1937: 11). The film was often advertised as the Sins of Temptation, a technique used by Micheaux to give audiences the impression a particular film was different from the one previously screened and, thus, lure them again into the theaters. After he was boycotted for his controversial themes, Micheaux's film God's Stepchildren (1938) was, in fact, halted due to protests staged at theaters in New York and Boston when the film premiered. The film, introduced as a parallel to Imitation of Life, featured a young black woman whose attempt to pass as white ultimately led to her suicide. The film, which was technically poor in quality, received opposition because of Micheaux's portrayal of the color divisions in the African-American community. In this film Micheaux equates light-complexioned blacks with industry, ambition, and attractiveness, while he equates dark-complexioned blacks with less appealing attributes. Further objections to this film were raised in response to a particular scene in the film "which showed an actor, playing the part of a white man, knocking down a young girl and spitting on her because she had 'colored blood in her veins'" (AfroAmerican, Baltimore, 28 May 1938: 10). In response to the boycotts that had been staged denouncing the film and after meeting with RKO officials, Micheaux deleted objectionable features. Creating controversy initially aroused interest in Micheaux's films, particularly in the early period of the film industry when African-American audiences craved black images on the screen. Micheaux recognized that in order for his films to have appeal and marketability he had to separate himself from other black filmmmakers of the time by using provocative approaches in his