So, yes, it’s progressive for its time, which does not keep it from being fairly offensive today.* But still, you get performances from Ethel Waters and Lena Horne, and a really awesome nightclub scene that recycles some tornado footage from the Wizard of Oz. I think it’s worth watching, despite its flaws, because how often do you get a movie with an all-black cast?
Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home. This is the first film in the Vincente Minnelli Marathon on Filmspotting.
*From the Wikipedia article about the movie: “The script was submitted before production to the NAACP. In a letter to the Editor, a writer of the film said he received a letter “congratulating [them] on the treatment of this black fable, which avoided cliches and racial stereotypes.” While the NAACP might have been on board with it then, I can say now that watching this movie today I found it rife with cliches and racial stereotypes.
Nice for a work to be moving the conversation forward as a progressive change but also recognizing that a starting place is not the same as a finishing one (which we have clearly not even come close to as of yet…). Great review and thank you for the added details about race and stereotypes. I appreciate that attention to detail.