Important Films on Race." In 1991, The Blood of Jesus became the first race film to be added to the U.S. National Film Registry. Film critic Armond White named both The Blood of Jesus and Go Down Death as being "among the most spiritually adventurous movies ever made. They conveyed the moral crisis of the urban/country, blues/spiritual musical dichotomies through their documentary style and fable-like narratives." However, Williams’ films have also been the subject of criticism. Richard Corliss, writing in Time magazine, stated: "Aesthetically, much of Williams' work vacillates between inert and abysmal. The rural comedy of Juke Joint is logy, as if the heat had gotten to the movie; even the musical scenes, featuring North Texas jazzman Red Calhoun, move at the turtle tempo of Hollywood's favorite black of the period, Stepin Fetchit. And there were technical gaffes galore: in a late-night scene in Dirty Gertie, actress Francine Everett clicks on a bedside lamp and the screen actually darkens for a moment before full lights finally come up. Yet at least one Williams film, his debut Blood of Jesus (1941), has a naive grandeur to match its subject." It should also be realized that Williams often worked on a very meager budget. The Blood of Jesus'' was filmed for a cost of $5,000; most black films of that era had budgets of double and triple that amount. Williams began writing a book about his 55 years in show business in 1959. Filmography Williams is credited as both an actor and a director. Actor Director References External links Spencer Williams: Remembrances of an Early Black Film Pioneer 1996 video Watch Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy Video by Hulu Go Down, Death! Spencer Williams 1944 Film Free Download at Internet Archive The Blood of Jesus Spencer Williams 1941 Film Free Download at Internet Archive 1893 births 1969 deaths Male actors from Louisiana African-American male actors American male television actors People from Vidalia, Louisiana American male film actors United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century American male actors Film directors from Louisiana African Americans in World War I African-American United States Army personnel