Produced in Switzerland, Borderline is an experimental film that broke with the traditional narrative techniques of the early talkie era. In fact, director Macpherson, editor of the film journal Close Up, publicly bemoaned the set-back to film artistry brought by sound, making this work as a defiant gesture in defense of the silent image. Visually inventive, he combined tangible imagery with an intricate metaphoric editing style. Though an enthusiastic film theoretician, Macpherson added a "practical" element to Borderline that was equally innovative and uncompromising. Enlisting Paul Robeson (in his second film role), the film concerns two drifting Blacks who, for a time, come to stay in a small European town. They hang about in the demimonde of small-town vice and malice, leaving it cleansed and hallowed when they depart. Cavalier for his time, Macpherson allowed no distinction to be drawn between Black and white characters. The nonchalant treatment of Blacks gave them equitable social standing, complete with nobility of purpose, and something equally uncommon, prominence as actors.