The Restoration of The Spook Who Sat By the Door: Interview with Doris Nomathandé Dixon & Mike Mashon

The film, based on the best-selling novel of the same name written by Sam Greenlee, the filmmaker, Ivan Dixon, explored what he considered to be “a fantasy” as an African-American male in the United States. It is the deeply complex story of Dan Freeman, the fictional mild-mannered first black CIA agent, who uses his specialized paramilitary training to organize a black revolution.

We spoke to Ivan Dixon’s daughter, Doris Nomathandé Dixon, and the former Head of the Moving Image Section at the Library of Congress, Mike Mashon. We talk to then about their experiencing restoring this film and bringing this story to a whole new audience with the help of the Austin Film Society.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

HFC: What does the process of selecting a film for restoration look like? How much of it is based on current climate, or is it a dedicated passion coming to fruition at the perfect time?

MM: I'll go ahead and take that one. Speaking in my former role at the Library of Congress when we were deciding on films that we wanted to restore, sometimes it was based simply on what films are the most deteriorated, physical condition of films. If you don't get to the preservation ahead of time, you'll lose whatever copy you have. Sometimes, it's just as simple as that, but to use a very specific example of The Spook Who Sat By The Door. This is a film that had been named to the National Film Registry in 2012. It has already been recognized by the Library of Congress as having particular aesthetic, cultural, historic importance. We always like to make sure that the films that are on the registry are preserved in an archive or studio somewhere. This is a film that was already on the radar for preservation, but in this just kind of wonderful circumstance that developed, we heard at the Library of Congress from a colleague of ours named Jake Perlin, who worked at the Cinema Conservancy in the film desk, a former programmer up in New York. We had worked with him some years before on the restoration of a Michael Roemer film from 1964 called Nothing But a Man that starred Ivan Dixon.

ND: Now you're getting into my story that I stick to. I met Jake for the first time at the premiere screening for the restoration of Nothing But a Man. I think it was at the New York Film Festival. We kind of kept in touch following that, and really I learned from him that there was a great interest at the Library in doing restorations for films that were on the national registry. So, I just kept it in my mind. Then, as my brother and I were thinking about archiving my father's materials, we reached out to Jake again and said, “Hey, you remember this?” Then he made the introduction to Mike, and we talked on the phone, and it just kind of blossomed from there. It was a very pleasant experience, the library shepherding and walking us through that whole process and really making it a partnership. 

MM: Just know it's a long story line. To make it really, really short, we were very lucky in the restoration this time. Noma had the original elements stored in Los Angeles, the original camera negatives, everything associated with that film. We worked with her to get those over to the libraries. We have a film lab at the National Audio Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia. So, we had everything shipped out there to Virginia, and they were in great condition. You don't always find that, but we were really lucky in that regard. So that just made the restoration a lot easier. I could go into a lot of detail of what that meant in terms of a restoration, but just know that it worked out really, really well. We couldn't have done it without Noma’s continued advocacy. 

ND: I’m thankful to my father for having the foresight and being so careful about protecting the film. There’s this urban legend that's out there, a lot of folklore and urban legends around this film, but you know, it's always out there that he kept it in this Los Angeles vault. 

I was gonna reference that, I read online about the Hollywood vault with all the negatives that you found it in perfect condition.

ND: The truth is, he did always keep it in a vault. There's always a shred of truth to all these things that you hear. I'm very thankful that he did that and that we also continued to keep it in a vault after he passed away, because it was probably another 10 to 12 years after he passed that we began restoring it.

I did read that story, and I got a real kick out of it. My mind went away to the secret code and the biometrics to get into the film negatives. Was he much of a film purist or cinephile? 

ND: Well, I mean, he'd been in the business and been acting since 1957. I guess he would fit the definition of cinephile now, because he loved film. He grew up in Harlem in the 30s, and he used to go to the movies every weekend. He would trek up to the balcony and watch films. Also, he would do a lot of shooting on film, from the family, and, of course, working in that career. So he knew exactly what to do, and he knew that he'd be jeopardizing it if he kept it in a garage somewhere, like many people do. 

Like you mentioned, just tremendous foresight. Mike, how does a film Spook Who Sat By the Door get the title of “rare” or “lost”? How does it fall out of public consciousness and how do you reintroduce it?

MM: Sometimes there are rights issues that are associated with films that just pull them off the markets. They're just missing, or they're out there and available in some way, but it's really hard for people to see them. We had a little fact that we liked to throw around at the library, particularly about the silent era. You know, it's something like 70% of all films that were made in America during the silent era are lost or gone forever. It's a cultural Holocaust, in a way. It's something that we struggle against all the time. One thing that I do want to add to Noma’s story is the foresight of her father to keep these elements and store them in good physical condition, but he also got the rights back from the film as well. So this is clearly a project that he cared a lot about and wanted to make. I'm sorry that it waited until he passed for us to be able to do all of this work on it, but it's a real honor to his legacy and his foresight. 

ND: I don't know if you're very familiar with how the film was pulled from the theaters and banned. But when Mike talks about that effort to get the complete rights and everything back for the film, that was probably a two year effort after it had been pulled from the theaters. Dad was going back and forth with the studio all that time. Of course, they wanted to continue to try and self-distribute or distribute with other deals, but they never had much success. That's where you get some of those early video copies of the film that have been passed around for many years. That comes from a first effort, probably from 75 through 79 or so, but also, there was one time before when the film had been touched. There was a digital restoration in 2004 and there was a DVD release. That's the only other time that it had been really touched for restoration. 

I'm interested to see how far that 2004 release spread. I remember seeing an interview with the late rapper Nipsey Hussle where he referenced The Spook Who Sat By the Door. I think he mentioned that he wanted to make it the name of his album, and how he felt it resonated throughout hip hop as well, in that culture. So I wonder how far reaching that initial restoration in the early 2000s was 

ND: Pretty far reaching in terms of getting people access to good quality copies of the film. Previously, it had been passed around again and again, bad video copies. But I'd be remiss if I didn't state that one of Nipsey Hussle’s favorite books was The Spook Who Sat By the Door. For a lot of people, and especially as we've been going around, taking the film across the country, many people will talk about how dear that book is to them. It was published in ‘69 and it was first published in the UK. It couldn't even be published in The United States, or no one would pick it up. It was a very popular book for anyone of the mindset of activism or black activism during that time. It remains in people's libraries today, passed down from generation to generation, and my father was an avid book reader and collector. He was always searching for material to do. So, when he first read the book, that's when he immediately said, “I have to do this film.” So it all kind of starts with that novel by Sam Greenlee.

Of course, and it feels like the dialog and the verbiage and the language that's used within the film is one the reasons there was such an adverse reaction to it in the 70s. It is so staunchly honest, almost past a point of honesty and reality, because there's almost no shame in how some of the characters talk about these certain situations. It seems like your father just had a really tremendous understanding of the source material and how to translate that to the film. 

ND: The script was co-written by Sam Greenlee and Melton Clay, so it has a lot of the book in it. It’s a pretty close adaptation, but I do think it was brilliant. The way he adapted it for screen and made it a bit more, not palatable, but he did a good job at bringing it to the screen for the masses at that time. 

I think it does, I enjoyed it tremendously. I love this idea of artist in dialog, where something like Spook Who Sat By The Door can share a lot of DNA with maybe something like BlacKKKlansman, or maybe even Fight Club. Can you talk about maybe, where both of y'all have seen the influence of the film, both in terms of filmic language and in terms of culture amongst filmmakers.

ND: I can start and then Mike you’re great at answering this, because I think I can answer that from a couple of different aspects. There are definitely films that I can see were very much influenced [by the film]. You mentioned Spike Lee, but I always think about Do the Right Thing, and the riot scene. When you compare it to the riot scene and in The Spook. There definitely have been filmmakers like Robert Townsend or others that have been very vocal about the influence and impact on them. The other aspect, I would say, is that for a long period of time, the film was taught in film schools across the country. Personally, I've met several different professors who have taught the film for years. They have it high on their list of one of their favorites, etc. So, I know that it's had that type of influence and impact on younger filmmakers coming up. 

MM: I always like to put films in their historical context whenever I can. I don't pretend to be a historian of early 70s Blaxploitation. But you look at this film, and it is incendiary in the very best possible way. I think it's one reason why it was named to the National Film Registry in 2012. This is a film that I think deserves a lot more cultural notice than it has gotten in the past. There are plenty of people who are aware of the film and love the film, and one thing that we've really enjoyed is seeing this new restoration and bringing it to new audiences. It's very much in sync with a lot of discussions that we have in our culture. Things are certainly particularly fraught at the moment, and that's the reason why I think it's all the more important for a film like this to be out there in the culture.

ND: The last influence, or influential piece I wanted to bring up was the aspect of independent filmmaking. The story to this is, of course, when they pitched this originally to the studios, no one wanted to touch it. So, they decided, “we'll make it independently.” They sought out different investors, and it took a village to actually fund initially. It wasn't until later that United Artists gave some completion funds for the film. It's almost a miracle that the film was able to be completed. When they actually went to get completion funds, Michael Cahn, the editor, was very savvy in cutting together action pieces so that they would think it was a typical blaxploitation film of the time. But it wasn't a blaxploitation, exactly. So that whole story of how to get a film done when you don’t have the backing is very influential to filmmakers. That's also around the same time as Melvin van Peebles is also doing independent [films]. I's important to bring that up in terms of influence.

Trying to make films now, even in the digital age, when it's more accessible than it's ever been, feels so much like a mountain, so Sisyphean. I think any movie shooting on celluloid is a miracle, honestly, any type of movie that can be produced is an absolute miracle. Okay, we’re coming up on time, so I have to get my cliche one in, what was your favorite part of the restoration? What scene stood out? Was there something where it was like, “wow, the restoration really makes that scene stand out” or maybe some sounds that came through that you haven't heard before. 

MM: As somebody who was privileged to sit through a number of quality control screenings I had seen, at the library, a 35 millimeter print that was registered for copyright in 1973. So, when this first came up, I actually had that print pulled. I wanted to look at it in the theater, because sometimes, if you have an original print, you might be able to use that for color reference. See what those originals had in terms of color grading. The print had faded and it really did not look that great. It sounded okay, but it didn't look that great. The thing that I have loved about the restoration is the look; the color at all. It's beautiful, just a straight up beautiful film to watch. That has been what I delight in every single time.

ND: I think what is so rewarding about this now is the ability to bring it to people, to see it on the large screen. Not many people were able to do that. To see it on the large screen and to see it with the restoration, one of my favorite things is to be able to actually see the Cobras jumping from building to building, and get those shadows. To see all of those pieces strictly from a restoration standpoint. So, I guess the look of it is what struck me the most as well. But I will also say, getting to experience the reaction from audiences and these Q and A's.More importantly, to just sit in with the audience of people and listen to their talk back. We've had people repeat the lines verbatim. We've had different reactions, like the other weekend, when the character Joy says, “I'm doing the right thing” right at the end people screamed out, “no, you're not!” That has been really rewarding for me, because I've grown up with this film, and I've never really had the ability to experience anything like that. So that's been the best part of the restoration.

MM: Your dad had a great eye. 

I was about to say that as well. I mean, his work with contrast and lighting is so phenomenal. It just blows me away. 

ND: That's also a testament to the combination of story and production value. My father brought in really good filmmakers. Michael Hugo, the DP, music by Herbie Hancock. These are people that were so talented, and when I think about who they were able to bring together to make this happen. That was also a miracle, but that also speaks to relationship and his tenure in the business.

I know we have to get out of here, but I just wanted to say congratulations for getting the film restored. Also, just as a personal note, as a young cinephile, trying to watch every movie that's ever been made. Thank you guys so much for doing this and showing this. I live in a much better world after having seen The Spook Who Sat By The Door, truly, I think it's just absolutely tremendous.

ND: Oh, thank you, that's very kind. Eli. 

MM: Yeah, very kind.

The Spook Who Sat By the Door played at the AFS Cinema May 23rd, but the entire restoration team, including Doris Nomathandé Dixon and Mike Mashon, continue to find screening opportunities all around the country. I implore you, whenever you hear about a screening, take a day off work and get out to the moviehouse to catch a screening.

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