Go Down, Death! (1944) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

Gangsters try to frame a minister out to clean up their Southern town.

Cast & Crew

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Spencer Williams

Myra D. Hemmings

Samuel H. James

Eddye L. Houston

Spencer Williams

Amos Droughan

Film Details

Genre

Crime

Religion

Release Date

Jan 1944

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Sack Amusement Enterprises

Distribution Company

Sack Amusement Enterprises

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

56m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Film Length

5,064ft

Synopsis

When "Big Jim" Bottom, the head of all underworld activities in a Southern town, learns that Reverend Jasper Jones, the new minister, is threatening to clean up the town, Jim hopes to stop him by setting a "preacher trap." Jim plans to frame Jones in a sex scandal and sends three "fly chicks," Minnie, Mabel and Mae, to Jones's office with instructions to escort the reverend home after services. While the notorious women meet Jones in his office and feign interest in religion to gain his confidence, Jim's henchmen break into Jones's home and wait in hiding until he and the women arrive. Jones falls for the ruse and invites the women into his home to discuss their conversion to Christianity. The situation soon becomes odd, though, when Mabel seats herself on Jones's desk and hikes up her dress. A moment later, the women hand Jones a bottle of liquor and envelop him in a kiss while Jim's men take a picture of the scene. Things look bad for Jones until Aunt Caroline, who learned of the scheme from a young boy, enters the house and demands that Jim's men destroy the film. The men ignore Caroline, push her aside and leave with the film. Caroline then returns to her home and tells Jim, whom she adopted as a child after his parents were killed by a tornado, that she knows that he is behind the frame-up. She tries in vain to change Jim's ways, but he resents her meddling and hides the picture in his safe. That night, Caroline talks to a picture of Joe, her dead husband, and asks him to help her. At that moment, Joe's ghost appears and leads Caroline into the room where the safe is located. The ghost opens the safe and Caroline removes the picture, but Jim returns to the house and catches her in the act. In an ensuing struggle, Jim strikes Caroline and she collapses. Caroline's niece, Betty, who is Jones's fiancée, is awakened from her sleep by the commotion and rushes to Caroline's aid, but Caroline is dead. At Caroline's funeral, Jones gives his famous "Go Down, Death" sermon as her coffin is being lowered into the ground. The death of Caroline proves too much for Jim's conscience to bear, and the voices he hears drive him to run as far as he can. While trying to flee from his guilty conscience, Jim sees images of himself at the gates of Hell, followed by visions of devils torturing him and plunging him into the River Styx. The next day, Jim's body is found at the head of a deserted canyon.

Director

Spencer Williams

Cast

Myra D. Hemmings

Samuel H. James

Eddye L. Houston

Spencer Williams

Amos Droughan

Walter Mcmillion

Irene Campbell

Charlie Washington

Helen Butler

Dolly Jones

The Heavenly Choir

Jimmie Green's Orchestra

Crew

Sam Elljay

Bruce Jamieson

H. W. Kier

Robert M. Moscow

L. J. Powell

Jean Roddy

Alfred N. Sack

Film Details

Genre

Crime

Religion

Release Date

Jan 1944

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Sack Amusement Enterprises

Distribution Company

Sack Amusement Enterprises

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

56m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Film Length

5,064ft

Articles

Go Down Death

March 15, 2007

"Saturday sinners and Sunday saints clash in a battle of good against evil!" was the tagline on the theatrical posters that promoted Go Down Death (1944). Spencer Williams' moralistic drama was filmed in Dallas, Texas, and even features the director himself in a pivotal role as a corrupt character whose actions bring "down death." While the film was obviously made on a low budget, it remains a fascinating social artifact of its time and was allegedly inspired by a poem of the same name by James Walden Johnson. The latter was best known for his book of verse, God's Trombone (1927).

Spencer Williams was born in Vidalia, California in 1893 and enjoyed a long stage career before he began writing and directing in the 1940s. His directorial debut was The Blood of Jesus (1941), where he took full advantage of the emerging sound technology. Not only were his films wrought with life lessons, they also contained more gospel music and 'Negro' spirituals than dialogue. While Spencer Williams sought to dispel myths that blacks were soulless heathens, many would say he set the race back to square one when he portrayed "Andy" in the television series, Amos 'n' Andy (1951-53). Quite the contrary was the case as Williams often clashed with white producers who wanted more gregarious, minstrel-like performances from his cast. Though he was criticized for playing the "Andy" character, Williams used the money from the series to fund his independent film productions. Williams retired once Amos 'n' Andy went off the air and died of kidney problems in 1969.

Director: Spencer Williams
Producer: Alfred N. Sack
Screenplay: Sam Elljay, Jean Roddy (story), Spencer Williams
Cinematography: H.W. Kier
Cast: Myra D. Hemmings, Samuel James, Eddye L. Houston, Spencer Williams (Big Jim Bottoms), Amos Droughan, Walter McMillion, Irene Campbell.
BW-54m.

by Kerryn Sherrod

Go Down Death

Go Down Death

"Saturday sinners and Sunday saints clash in a battle of good against evil!" was the tagline on the theatrical posters that promoted Go Down Death (1944). Spencer Williams' moralistic drama was filmed in Dallas, Texas, and even features the director himself in a pivotal role as a corrupt character whose actions bring "down death." While the film was obviously made on a low budget, it remains a fascinating social artifact of its time and was allegedly inspired by a poem of the same name by James Walden Johnson. The latter was best known for his book of verse, God's Trombone (1927). Spencer Williams was born in Vidalia, California in 1893 and enjoyed a long stage career before he began writing and directing in the 1940s. His directorial debut was The Blood of Jesus (1941), where he took full advantage of the emerging sound technology. Not only were his films wrought with life lessons, they also contained more gospel music and 'Negro' spirituals than dialogue. While Spencer Williams sought to dispel myths that blacks were soulless heathens, many would say he set the race back to square one when he portrayed "Andy" in the television series, Amos 'n' Andy (1951-53). Quite the contrary was the case as Williams often clashed with white producers who wanted more gregarious, minstrel-like performances from his cast. Though he was criticized for playing the "Andy" character, Williams used the money from the series to fund his independent film productions. Williams retired once Amos 'n' Andy went off the air and died of kidney problems in 1969. Director: Spencer Williams Producer: Alfred N. Sack Screenplay: Sam Elljay, Jean Roddy (story), Spencer Williams Cinematography: H.W. Kier Cast: Myra D. Hemmings, Samuel James, Eddye L. Houston, Spencer Williams (Big Jim Bottoms), Amos Droughan, Walter McMillion, Irene Campbell. BW-54m. by Kerryn Sherrod

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

A written foreword appears in the film following the opening credits: "This story of love and simple faith and the triumph of good over evil was inspired by the poem 'Go Down, Death!' from the pen of the celebrated Negro author James Weldon Johnson, now of sainted memory." Publicity material relating to the film lists the title as "Go Down Death! The Story of Jesus and the Devil." No contemporary reviews have been located for the film. It was approved for release with eliminations by NYSA in December 1947, and, according to information contained in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the film was completed by July 1946 when it was submitted for certification. The PCA file also reveals that regional censorship boards in Ohio and Maryland ordered a number of eliminations from the film, including scenes depicting Hell, the exposure of a naked breast and the scene in which "Mabel" pulls up her dress while talking to the preacher. In 1948, Ohio censors demanded the elimination of the sequence in which the devil is seen "chewing" a man. Modern sources list the running time as 54 minutes and indicate that it was made in 1944.

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