Borderline (1930)

Borderline is a lesser-known gem of the silent era. The film stars Paul Robeson (Peter) and his on-screen/off-screen wife Eslanda Robeson (Adah) playing a Black couple in the 1930s on vacation in a small Swiss town. The film centers on the aftermath of Adah cheating on Peter with one of the local men, and the hardships that put on their relationship as well as the relationship between the local man Torne and his wife Astrid. The affair also flames racial tensions within the townsfolk who frequent the bar where Adah and Peter are renting a room above.

This film is incredibly ahead of its time for being released in 1930. The themes of race and sexual relations alone would feel progressive even 50 years later. The sole feature by film critic turned director Kenneth Macpherson, Borderline was filmed in Switzerland to avoid censorship by the British government for portraying racial issues as well as for the violence and sexual themes in the plot. Macpherson was a member of The Pool Group, an art collective that included poets and film critics. They started a small film journal called Close-Up covering their contemporaries and dissected film as an art form and the politics surrounding it.

The Performances of the Robesons are phenomenal. Paul Robeson, mostly known for collaborating with early African American director Oscar Micheaux in his film Body and Soul, really feels at home in this experimental film utilizing many techniques featured in the Soviet Montage films of Sergei Eisenstein. While the shots are frenetic and fast cutting, Robeson’s portrayal is down to earth and understated, which for a silent film is hard to pull off, being that most films at the time required grand gestures to communicate the emotions of the characters so the audience can understand what's going on. The performance by Robeson and the montage-style editing make Borderline itself worth every penny.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Kino Lorber's single-disc release of Borderline comes packaged in a standard blue Blu-ray case with no extra booklet inside, just a brief description of the film on the back cover. The front cover is the best part of this packaging, featuring a very cool cover design that collages the main actors’ faces together in a style that really evokes the rapid-cut montages featured in the film.

This release of Borderline was digitally remastered in 2K taken from 35mm film housed at the George Eastman Museum. The remaster looks incredible. There are barely any blemishes, which usually occur with film digitized from the silent era. The only odd part about this remaster is that some close-ups of characters seem to be digitally stabilized in an odd way. The character appears detached from the background and smoothed out in a jarring way. After looking up a previous digitization of the film that smoothing (for lack of a better term) is not present. That is the only thing keeping this scan from being excellent, just a little too much digital alteration, but honestly, if you’re not looking for it wouldn’t be particularly out of place. As mentioned in the movie portion of this review, the editing is phenomenal and fast-paced, obviously taking inspiration from Soviet montage films. Like in Sergei Eisenstein’s films, the story is almost completely told through the editing and acting with very little interstitials revealing dialogue. The audience is forced to watch the actors and infer what's going on in the scene through their amazing performances. I also loved how Macpherson shot close-ups of body parts to convey the emotion of a scene rather than focusing on the full-body shots of a character. The close-ups of hands were very reminiscent of how future filmmaker Robert Bresson would focus on them to reveal his characters’ inner lives. All around a good-looking movie, especially for being released in 1930.

While this is a silent film the audio is still fantastic. The story is enhanced through the score written for this release by Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky. I would want to listen to this score on its own it's so good. The score includes a handful of different jazz styles that fit the mood of each scene; for example, in the heavily montaged scenes, Millers score matches the films frenetic editing using a Free Jazz section matching the quick cuts of the film. For scenes that take place in the café, the score features jazz that is cool and ethereal reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’s work in Twin Peaks and other David Lynch movies. This score is honestly a perfect modern score that fits the film tremendously. The only thing I would have wanted is the inclusion of a track featuring the original score or any scores previously released, but that preference is overshadowed by the perfection of DJ Spooky’s score.

Unfortunately, there is only one special feature here—a commentary track by film historian Anthony Slide, which while very interesting and informative is less of a commentary and more of an essay read out loud. Again, the quality of the bonus commentary is not bad, there are just no other bonus features included in this release.

• Audio Commentary featuring Film historian Anthony Slide

While the physical and bonus features leave something to be desired, the film, the restoration, and the score are worth the price of admission. The film itself is way ahead of its time featuring taboo subjects like race, violence, and sexuality. The film has an interesting history attached to it with the Pool Group - which I will be researching more in the future because they seem fascinating. Borderline is one of those movies that remind us that silent films are great, and could be subversive and groundbreaking. Throughout my viewing, I couldn’t help but think, “I can’t believe this was made in 1930!” Borderline is a must-own for the silent film fanatic or film history fiend, but for everyone else, it's "merely" Highly Recommended.