Illusions is a 1982 short film (34 minutes) by Julie Dash.
Mignon Dupree is an executive at fictional National Studios in 1942 Hollywood. Mignon, who it seems has risen from the secretarial ranks to a position of some authority, is full of ideas of themes and subjects that Hollywood should be pursuing during the war. However her boss, C.J. Forrester, is reluctant to let her advance any further in the studio hierarchy and is not interested in pursuing any of Mignon's ideas. Another thorn in her side is Lt. Bedsford, Army liason to the studio, who is making unwelcome advances towards her.
Mignon is wrestling with a problem. Star Leila Grant has a new musical coming out, but the synchronization with the soundtrack was botched and the songs are now noticeably out of sync with Grant's mouth. Grant is not available for reshoots because she is off somewhere in the Pacific on a USO tour for American servicemen. Mignon gets a young black woman, Esther Carter, to dub the singing voice of the untalented white lady. The presence of Esther in the studio, performing a job that will earn her no credit, causes Mignon to think about a secret of hers.
In December 2020, Illusions was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: The sound engineer says something about how he used to like the big musical numbers before the war, and especially all the "colored" dancers. Mignon snarks back "I guess we know why you didn't get drafted." (Also note that the sound engineer is in a sound booth, aka a closet.)
- Character Narrator: Some narration from Mignon, like at the close where she talks in voiceover about how Esther inspired her to fight for her place in Hollywood.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Shot in black and white to evoke that World War II feel.
- Hiding Your Heritage: As if being a woman in 1940s Hollywood wasn't daunting enough, Mignon has a secret: she's black. Or rather, she's biracial and light-skinned enough that she can pass for white.
- It Will Never Catch On: C.J. Forrester says no one would be interested in a story about the Navajo "code talkers" that were used by the United States in the Pacific Theater of World War II. In the years since the code talkers have gotten a lot of attention as well as at least one film, Windtalkers.
- The Reveal: Mignon is revealed to be a black woman passing for white.
- Shout-Out: Mignon says that Hollywood writes history, stating flatly that people will think Don Ameche invented the telephone (The Story of Alexander Graham Bell), or that Cleopatra looked like Claudette Colbert (who played her in Cleopatra).
- Stock Footage: Stock combat footage, including an It's Raining Men parachute drop, is used to set the scene of the U.S. in wartime. Also, and less noticeably, the "World Wide Studios" gate from The Muppet Movie is used as the gate for National Studios.
- Talent Double: In-Universe, Mignon has to find a person to sing a song in sync with Leila Grant's lips on the screen. (The studio apparently does this for Leila regularly.)
- Title Drop: Mignon, reflecting ruefully on her experience as a woman passing for white in Hollywood, says "Now I've become an illusion just like the stories that are made here."
- Voiceover Letter: Mignon gets a letter from her husband, who is in combat somewhere in the Pacific. (Guadalcanal, presumably.)
