Ten Minutes to Live

Resisting the stagebound atmosphere of THE EXILE, Oscar Micheaux found ways to shoot a talking picture on location, without cumbersome and expensive audio recording equipment. He did this by making one of his characters deaf (rendering speech unnecessary) and having much of the dialogue spoken off-camera (so it could be dubbed later). These devices are clumsily executed at times, but they prove that Micheaux had a more canny understanding of the medium than he is often given credit for.