Every Step a Struggle
by Frank Manchel
Published by New Academia Publishing
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Reviewed By Melissa McNallan
Subtitled: Interviews with Seven Who Shaped the African-American Image in Movies
Every Step a Struggle is an anthology of interviews recorded and put together by Frank Manchel that date back to the 1970s. Manchel captures a tumultuous time in filmmaking, interviewing folks who were in film during its early years and still passionate about film, filmmaking and the African-American role in film during the 1970s. The generational gap between filmmakers who made their mark between the 1920s and 1930s and those who were coming up in the 70s is examined, as well as civil rights era concerns. Manchel and his interviewees dug deeply into those concerns and how they tied into the films and the cultural reactions to the films made featuring black artists.
The seven artists Manchel interviewed are:
-- Lorenzo Tucker, a mulatto actor (the first generation offspring of a black person and a white person;
-- Lillian Gish, a white actress who worked closely with D.W. Griffith and who was in Birth of a Nation;
-- Clarence Muse, a brilliant black character actor;
-- King Vidor, who directed "plantation" movies;
-- Woody Strode, a professional football player signed to the Los Angeles Rams in 1946 who then became an actor featured in more than 60 films;
-- Charles Edward Gordone who was the first African-American playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize; and,
-- Frederick Douglass O'Neal who was both an actor and an activists.
The interviews are comprehensive and lively as sometimes more than the interviewer and interviewee were talking. Concise explanations are offered when a point of fact needs clarification or when Manchel becomes concerned about whether or not the reader is still with the conversation.
NOTE: Frank Manchel is a professor Emeritus who has taught about silent, sound, andcontemporary film as well as film criticism and genres. He has written When Movies Began to Speak, An Album of Modern Horror Films and An Album of Great Science Fiction Films. He is a highly respected expert on film history and his primary fields of research, in addition to list above, are: cultural film geography, and African-American history.
Armchair Interviews says: A worthwhile read for those interested in Film History, Filmmaking and Civil Rights.