This black and white race film is written, directed and produced by pioneering filmmaker, Oscar Michaeux. It features the film debut of Paul Robeson, portraying the dual roles of an escaped prisoner passing himself off as a minister, and his identical twin brother. Michaeux uses deception, sexual assault, doomed love and murder, to create a film that was highly controversial film for its time.

In 2019, Body and Soul was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant”.