ANCESTRAL
ALL BLACK CAST FILMS
CABIN IN
THE SKY
CREDITS
1943, 99 minutes, B&W.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Vincente Minnelli; Screenplay; Joseph Schrank; Cinematography, Sidney Wagner; Art Direction, Cedric Gibbons and Leonid Vasian; Sound Direction, George Stoll.
CAST
Petunia Jackson, Ethel
Waters; Little Joe Jackson, Eddie "Rochester"
Anderson; Georgia Brown; Lena Horne; The Trumpeter, Louis
Armstrong; Luciius/Lucifer, Jr., Rex
Ingram; Reverend Green/The General, Kenneth
Spencer; Domino Johnson, John W. Sublett
("Bubbles"); The Deacon/Fleetfoot, Oscar
Polk; First Idea Man, Mantan
Moreland; Second Idea Man, Willie
Best; Third Idea Man, Fletcher Rivers; Fourth Idea Man, Leon James; Bill, Bill
Bailey; Lily, Butterfly
McQueen; Mrs. Kelso, Ruby
Dandridge; Messenger Boy, Ford L. Washington
("Buck"); Duke Ellington and His Orchestra; The Hall Johnson Choir.
SONGS
Cabin in the Sky; Honey In the Honeycomb; In My Old Virginia Home
by John Latouche and Vernon Duke; Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe; Life's Full of Consequences; Li'l Black Sheep by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg; Taking a Chance On Love by Latouche, Duke and Ted Fetter; Going Up by
Duke
Ellington; Things Ain't What They Used to Be by Ted Persons and Mercer Ellington; Shine by Lew Brown, Ford Dabney and Cecil Mack.
PLOT SYNOPSIS
"The incomparable Ethel Waters stars as Petunia Jackson, a poor but devout woman burdened with a shiftless husband, Little Joe (Anderson). When Little Joe is critically wounded in a fight, the forces of heaven and hell battle for his soul. Petunia finds that she needs more than prayer to keep her beloved Joe out of the Devil's clutches. The beauteous Lena Horne plays Georgia Brown, sent by Lucifer to seduce Joe into sinning his way into Hell."
- Liner Notes from MGM/Turner Laserdisc
>
NOTES
"Vincente Minnelli made an auspicious directorial debut with Cabin in the Sky. . .most of the characters in Cabin were simplistic negro stereotypes whose homespun philosophies were pickled in a kind of whimsical folk-lore totally offensive to the more enlightened black. But, having accepted that, there was much to enjoy in it. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical
"Whatever its box-office fate, a worthwhile picture for Metro to have made, if only as a step toward Hollywood recognition of the place of the colored man in American life."
- Variety
"It's a joyful, stylized treatment of faux-naif Negro folklore, with an all-black cast, and it's one of the best musicals ever made in this country. It becomes even better with the years: now, it's easier to ignore the weaknesses in the script, because it's so exciting to see legendary artists. . .as they were in the 40s."
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION:
Best Song - "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe"
Plot Summary
MGM knew it would take a bath on its all-Black musical Cabin in the
Sky (few Southern theatres of 1943 would touch the film), but the studio still provided its standard A-plus production values to the film; besides, it served as a training ground for up-and-coming director Vincente Minnelli. Based on the Broadway musical by Lynne Root, John LaTouche and Vernon Duke, the film tells the story of Joe (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson), a shantytown denizen torn between the affections of faithful wife Petunia (Ethel Waters) and slinky seductress Georgia (Lena Horne). Seriously injured in a barroom brawl, Joe dreams that he is the centerpiece of a celestial power struggle between a heavenly emissary (Kenneth Spencer) and Lucifer Jr. (Rex Ingram, who ironically had played "De Lawd" in The Green Pastures). Joe is given another chance to redeem himself on earth, lest he falls into the clutches of the Devil's little boy. Louis Armstrong briefly shows up, appropriately cast as "The Trumpeter". Song highlights include Taking a Chance on Love, Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe, Life's Full of Consequences, and the title song. A troubled production thanks to the on-set rivalry between Ethel Waters and Lena Horne, Cabin in the Sky is nonetheless an excellent first feature effort from Vincente Minelli. Thanks to his careful treatment of the material, the expected patronization of the black characters does not impede latter-day enjoyment of the film as much as it might have. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast:
Ethel Waters - Starring as Petunia Jackson
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson - Starring as Little Joe Jackson
Lena Horne - Starring as Georgia Brown
Louis Armstrong - Starring as The Trumpeter
Rex Ingram - Starring as Lucius Lucifer, Jr.
Kenneth Spencer - Rev. Green, the General
John "Bubbles" Sublett - Domino
Oscar Polk - The Deacon/Flatfoot
Mantan Moreland - First Idea Man
Willie Best - Second Idea Man
Fletcher Rivers - Third Idea Man, Moke
Leon James - Fourth Idea Man, Poke
William Norton Bailey - Bill
Ford L. Washington - Messenger Boy
Butterfly McQueen - Lily
Ruby Dandridge - Mrs. Kelso
Ernest Whitman - Jim Henry
GREEN PASTURES:
Plot Summary
The Green Pastures began life as a group of "revisionist" Biblical stories titled Ol' Man Adam and His Chillun, written in exaggerated Negro dialect by white humorist Roark Bradford. These Old Testament stories were purportedly told from the point of view of an elderly black Sunday School teacher, who translated the Biblical prose into words that his congregation ("untutored black Christians" was Bradford's description) could readily understand. Thus, "De Lawd" behaves very much like a Southern
Black Baptist preacher; Heaven is a wondrous bayou-like land of big cigars and eternal fish fries; "Cap'n" Noah is a languid ferryboat skipper who argues with De Lawd over the advisability of bringing along a couple of kegs of liquor on the Ark; and the court of the Pharoah is redefined as a "Mystic Knights of the Sea" type lodge hall, with Moses introduced as a "conjure man". It is, of course, a white man's perspective on black life, but both the original "Ol' Man Adam", and the subsequent Pulitzer Prize-winning stage version written by Marc Connelly and retitled Green Pastures, have a lot more clarity, profundity and spiritual reverence than most "serious" Biblical adaptations. In this 1936 film version of the Connelly play, Rex Ingram is nothing less than brilliant as De Lawd, speaking the most ludicrous of lines with dignity and quiet authority. Others in the
all-Black cast include Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as Noah, Frank Wilson as Moses, George Reed as Rev. Deshee, and Oscar Polk as Gabriel, who has the film's single most stirring line: "Gangway! Gangway for de Lawd God Jehovah!" Unlike many other so-called racist films of decades past, The Green Pastures nearly always charms and captivates its modern-day audiences; even the most adamant of "P.C" advocates will probably thoroughly enjoy the experience. Playwright Marc Connelly is credited as director of Green Pastures as he was for the original stage version, but co-director William Keighley and director of photography Hal Mohr deserve most of the credit for the film's strong cinematic sense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast:
Rex Ingram - Starring as Adam
Oscar Polk - Starring as Gabriel
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson - Starring as Noah
Frank Wilson - Starring as Moses
George H. Reed - Starring as Mr. Deshee
Abraham Gleaves - Starring as Archangel
Myrtle Anderson - Eve
Edna M. Harris - Zeba
Jimmy Fuller Cain - the Sixth
George Randol - High Priest
Ida Forsyne - Mrs. Noah
Ray Martin - Shem
Charles Andrews - Flatfoot
Dudley Dickerson - Ham
Billy Cumby - Abraham
Ivory Williams - Jacob
Ernest Whitman - Pharaoh
Reginald Fenderson - Joshua
Slim Thompson - M.C./Man on Ground
The Hall Johnson Choir
STORMY WEATHER
1943
77 mins.
1Plot Summary
In this comedy, a wealthy businessman and his two workers begin scoping out Chinatown for new business opportunities. It is there he learns that his new wife's ex-husband is a blackmailing crook, preparing to victimize him. The businessman decides to destroy the crook before he destroys him. Comic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Built around the premise of a Big Stage Show, Stormy Weather affords rare "mainstream" leading roles to some of the era's greatest African-American entertainers Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Dooley Wilson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, and the Nicholas Brothers. The thinnish plotline--dancer Robinson has an on-again-off-again romance with Horne--is simply an excuse for fourteen lively, well-stage performances that include Horne's memorable rendition of the title song, artfully staged by director Stone. Of the fourteen musical numbers, the most memorable is Lena Horne's rendition of the title song, artfully staged by director Andrew L. Stone. Keep an eye out for uncredited contributions by jazz greats Zutty Hamilton, Coleman Hawkins and Taps Miller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast
Actor Character
Yvonne Arnaud - Louise Craggs
Louis Bradfield - Lacey
Andrews Englemann - Polotsky
Peter Gawthorne - Inspector
Robertson Hare - Mr. Bullock
Gordon James - Salt Jasper
Fewlass Llewellyn - Pullman
Ralph Lynn - Mr. Penny
Graham Moffatt - Office Boy
Stella Moya - Moya
Tom Walls - Sir Duncan Craggs
Crew
Name Title
Michael Balcon Producer
Joe Strassner Costume Designer
Philip Tannura Cinematographer
Ben Travers Screenwriter
Tom Walls Director
CARMEN
JONES
One of many film versions of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, director Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones (1954), adapted from a Broadway play for an Afrikan (born in amerikkka) cast, is among the most flamboyant. Prosper Merimee's story a factory girl fascinates a soldier and marries him, only to die at his hands for infidelity has been moved from Spain to Jacksonville, Fla., without losing a quiver of its melodrama. Oscar Hammerstein II had converted the libretto into colloquial English. Under Preminger's direction the film is uneven, but Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte look fabulous in the lead roles and got good notices (Dandridge was nominated for an Academy Award), and a strong supporting cast includes Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll in her film debut. Though all the players were accomplished singers, only Bailey sings in her own voice, creating a comedic triumph of the Gypsy Song. All the other voices were dubbed (Metropolitan Opera star Marilyn Horne sang for Dandridge). Periodically gaudy, hot, and exciting, Carmen Jones now appears a little dated, but it remains an entertaining movie.
PORGY
AND BESS
The most popular of all Afrikan (in amerikkka) operas, Porgy and Bess was composed by George Gershwin in collaboration with lyricist Ira Gershwin and writer DuBose Heyward, on whose novel, Porgy (1925), the work is based. Set in Catfish Row, an impoverished but idyllic Black community in the South, the plot involves the crippled Porgy and his true love, Bess, who is pursued by the gambler Crown eventually murdered by Porgy and the cocaine-sniffing Sportin' Life. Drawing heavily on Black musical idioms, as well as on Gershwin's own ability to synthesize "operatic" with popular music, the work opened on Broadway in 1935 and has since been performed throughout the world. It was filmed in 1959 and received its Metropolitan Opera premiere in 1985. The film version starred Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis, Jr. .
EMPEROR JONES, The (1933)************************************************************************
The Emperor Jones, The Drama (1920; published 1921) is an expressionist play by Eugene O'Neill set in a representational framework. The protagonist, Brutus Jones, symbolizes modern man. A former Pullman porter and jailbreaker, he has made himself dictator of a West Indian island. His continued victimization of the natives causes a rebellion, and Jones flees into the jungle. A nerve-racking drumbeat persists throughout the drama, accentuating Jones's panic and stripping away his psyche, just as the jungle strips away his gaudy uniform. In a series of hallucinations that augment his fears, Jones reenacts highlights of his own past and of the past of the black race. When he is finally shot by his former subjects, he may already have collapsed from fright
Emperor Jones, the film. Many critics cite Paul Robeson's portrayal of Brutus Jones in the 1933 version of The Emperor Jones as his best work on film. While Robeson became disenchanted with the attitudes toward race in most amerikkkan films, Brutus Jones was a complex and fiery character and a challenge for the actor. Although the basic plot was similar to that of the play by Eugene O'Neill, The Emperor Jones (1920) the odyssey from a poor Georgia country boy to a Pullman porter to the overbearing ruler of a Caribbean island and to his eventual downfall the film was "opened up" to include such techniques as a mirror motif, which shows Jones's moral transformation through the film, and shots of Jones's past life intercut with those of his escape through the jungle. The jungle, however, was not improved in the film; the Caribbean island was only a series of painted sets in Paramount's New York studios.
The script for the film was written by DuBose Heyward, who also wrote the 1925 novel Porgy and who collaborated on the libretto for the 1935 musical Porgy and Bess.
The Emperor Jones was selected for the National Film Registry in 1999.