Black History Month: The Bronze Buckaroo

THE BRONZE BUCKAROO
Written and Directed by Richard C. Kahn, based on his story
Starring Herb Jeffries, Artie Young, Rollie Hardin, Clarence Brooks, F.E. Miller, Lucius Brooks, Spencer Williams, Lee Calmes, Earle Morris and The Four Tones
USA, 1939

This singing cowboy movie stars Herb Jeffries who rides into town with his posse to help an old friend who has disappeared. Turns out there’s an evil rancher who has taken him captive in an attempt to get his land out from under him – land that has gold! Luckily the old friend has a cute sister on hand for Jeffries to both woo and help as he and his posse save the day.

About half the movie’s run time is taken up with comedic side characters played by Lucius Brooks as Jeffries’ sidekick and F.E. Miller as a ranch hand who’s trying to rip him off by convincing him his mule can speak. This sounds lame but I have to admit it was pretty great.

In fact, the whole movie’s pretty great, if humble in its aspirations. It doesn’t want to be anything other than a serviceable western, and it mostly accomplishes that. Jeffries looks dashing and cool in his cowboy gear, the villains are appropriately terrible, especially Spencer Williams as the trigger-happy muscle, and there’s even some nice western tunes. The only thing that wears out its welcome is the drawn out gun battle at the end, which could have been cool but lacks the imagination a bigger production could afford.

Black History Month: The Flying Ace

THE FLYING ACE
Written and Directed by Richard E. Norman
Starring Laurence Criner and Kathryn Boyd
USA, 1926

THE FLYING ACE is the only surviving film of many Race Films made by Richard E. Norman, a white guy who apparently didn’t just want to cash in on the market but also to provide positive role models and give back to the community, according to what little I’ve read.

This is one of the Race Films that doesn’t tackle any complex issues and just happens to feature an all-Black cast in a genre picture, in this case, an action adventure story about a fighter pilot from World War I who returns home to his job of railroad detective just in time to try to solve a recent kidnapping and robbery.

This is basically a super hero movie, with the fighter pilot as the hero and his one-legged engineer as his sidekick, chasing down a villain who also happens to have a plane so they can eventually end up in aerial combat. There’s also a girl that’s torn between the hero and villain.

Due to the film’s low budget, there are no high-flying stunt scenes, but the filmmakers try as best as they can with what they have, which includes full scale apparently working airplanes that can be shot as if they’re in the sky. This is no substitute for the real thing, but does a serviceable enough job giving us the idea of the kinds of action scenes we would have gotten if only the filmmakers had had the resources they deserved.

Black History Month: Dirty Gertie from Harlem USA

DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM USA
Directed by Spencer Williams
Written by True T. Thompson
Starring Francine Everett, Don Wilson, Inez Newell, July Jones and Spencer Williams
USA, 1946

In an inadvertently male-centric Black History Month of movies, Spencer Williams gives us one more female-led movie in DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM USA, about a Harlem nightclub performer, Gertie (Francine Everett), who brings her troupe on tour with her to a Caribbean island to perform. She gets her nickname “Dirty Gertie” from the way she picks up men and then discards them, which, as far as I’m concerned, more power to her. But, as far as her ex-boyfriend is concerned, is reason to try to track her down.

Also on the island are a couple of missionaries who view Gertie and her show as a symbol of sin and want the show banned before it takes off. They also obviously lust after her, as pretty much everyone else on the island does, too, from the owner of the hotel that’s hosting Gertie to an American soldier and American sailor who happen to be on the island.

By today’s standards, Gertie’s a strong character who does what she wants without apology. She’s in charge of her own destiny, as much as she can be, and is both a successful business woman (in the realm of show business) and the master of her own love life, choosing who she wants to spend time with and for how long.

Director Spencer Williams has an odd cameo as a fortuneteller who warns Gertie of bad things on the horizon. I say the cameo is odd because the fortuneteller is said to be a woman and Williams plays her with visible facial hair. Tyler Perry, eat your heart out.

As shamelessly religious as Williams’ other movie from this month, THE BLOOD OF JESUS, was, it’s interesting that this one takes a critical eye towards the missionaries, casting them as hypocrites.

The movie was pretty great, and lived up to its great title, except for the ending. I’m not one of those guys who says the ending should always be happy, but it’s a bummer when a character as alive and blameless as Gertie suffers a tragic fate. It’s tempting to think that’s the moral of the story – a woman as free as Gertie will eventually end up punished, so watch out. If that was the intended message, it’s undermined by Francine Everett’s great performance and the movie instead becomes a warning that in a society that hates women, even the greatest of women are at risk of some asshole killing them. 

Black History Month: The Blood of Jesus

THE BLOOD OF JESUS
Written and Directed by Spencer Williams
Starring Spencer Williams and Cathryn Caviness
USA, 1941

Now, let’s check out a couple films directed by Spencer Williams, an actor who went on to star as Andy in THE AMOS ‘N’ ANDY SHOW, which was derided for its negative racist portrayals. Before that, though, he made Race Films like THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

This is an overwhelmingly religious film about a recently baptized woman who is accidentally shot by her non-believer of a husband. After she apparently dies, despite many prayers on her behalf by her community at her deathbed, she is visited by a host of angels who explain she has a choice between temptation and heaven. The devil and his helpers intervene, and she flirts with temptation, before ultimately choosing heaven over hell. In a twist ending (spoiler warning!) she gets a second chance at life, and presumably, her husband gets a chance at redemption.

It’s a fairly simple story, leisurely told, despite the short running time. What’s interesting is the sheer amount of gospel music in the film, much of it sung by Reverend R.L. Robinson’s Heavenly Choir. This music, along with the time period, rural setting, the early baptism scenes in the river and even a crucial scene set at a crossroads, had me wondering if the Coen Bros. had this movie on their minds when they made O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? I know they’ve cited THE ODYSSEY and Preston Sturges as influences. Maybe Spencer Williams was one, too?

Speaking of influences, this film also had me wondering if Spike Lee had it in mind when he named his remake of GANJA AND HESS as DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS. If I ever see him I’ll be sure to ask.

Black History Month: Sanders of the River

SANDERS OF THE RIVER
Directed by Zoltán Korda
Written by Lajos Biro, Jeffrey Dell, Edgar Wallace and Arthur Wimperis
Starring Leslie Banks and Paul Robeson
UK, 1935

My last Paul Robeson movie this month is a pro-colonialism story in which we learn the lesson that as long as a good white colonial patriarch is in charge of an African country, the natives will be cool. But if a shitty white colonial patriarch takes over, the natives will revolt. Of course, this is a terrible message.

You might wonder why Robeson would star in a flick like this. Turns out, he was conned into it – led to believe his role would show the dignified and human side of African tribal leaders, as well as the beauty of the continent and the ways of its people. In actuality, the finished film glorified the titular white guy Sanders (Leslie Banks), loved by his native underlings. In his absence, fighting among tribes springs up. When he returns, it is only he who is able to restore order. Even if he’s stricken with malaria, his glorious super powers of colonialism get him through.

Robeson stars as a tribal chief who is an ally of Sanders. When his wife is captured by a rival tribe, he tracks them down and is captured. Don’t worry, though. Sanders arrives just in the nick of time to save him.

In Robeson’s early scenes it almost looks like he’s in on some joke the colonialists are not. Like he’s humoring them but laughing at them on the inside. As if they believe he’s their buddy but he knows they’re full of shit. Of course I don’t know, but I would guess Robeson was playing it this way because of what he thought the movie was about. Later, he seems like more of an honest ally to Sanders.

In all three of Robeson’s movies I watched this month, it was remarkable what a huge leading man presence he had. It’s a shame he’s not well remembered today, and also a shame there weren’t better films for him to be a part of in his prime. Still, even with limitations, he stands high above everyone round him on screen, dwarfing everyone with his magnetism and charm – a star that was bigger than the pictures he starred in. 

Black History Month: The Emperor Jones

THE EMPEROR JONES
Directed by Dudley Murphy
Written by DuBose Heyward
Based on the play by Eugene O’Neill
Starring Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, Fredi Washington and Ruby Elzy
USA, 1933

Paul Robeson stars as a railway porter who turns to a life of crime, escapes prison and eventually finds himself washed ashore an island in the West Indies where he declares himself emperor. After a few years’ reign of terror, he finds himself on the run when his “people” have had enough. Lost in the jungle, he is haunted by images from his past as he grapples with his own sanity.

Robeson also played this role onstage, where the entire play was just that last part – Robeson losing his mind in the jungle. So it was one long monologue after the other. It’s a great performance on the screen, so I can only imagine how great it was on stage. Robeson’s performance is great here as he’s able to play many sides of a character, from a nice guy to an evil one and everything in between, including insanity. He also gets to show off his singing voice, which is a force to be reckoned with.

Ultra-famous playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote the play this film was based on. I haven’t been keeping track or anything but of all the movies I’ve seen this month so far, this one uses the n-word the most frequently, among both white and Black characters. Apparently this is true to O’Neill’s script, which was criticized even in its own time. O’Neill’s defense was he based the language on the way an African-American guy he knew spoke. In any case, it’s jarring, and worth a warning before you watch.

Black History Month: Body and Soul

BODY AND SOUL
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux, based on his novel
Starring Paul Robeson, Mercedes Gilbert and Julia Theresa Russell
USA, 1925

Let’s end my Oscar Micheaux series and start my Paul Robeson series with my favorite film from both of them, Micheaux’s best silent feature, BODY AND SOUL, starring Paul Robeson in the dual role of a con man posing as a preacher and his estranged twin brother.

This “favorite” stuff may not be an altogether fair assessment, because part of my enjoyment of this flick comes from the contemporary score by DJ Spooky that was on the print I watched. If you can find this version, I recommend it. DJ Spooky goes above and beyond on this score, providing something really worth listening to, which is great since a lot of these silent films just get any old music slapped on them.

My favorite part of the movie that is not a contemporary edition, however, is Paul Robeson in the starring role(s). His formidable presence puts this movie above any of Micheaux’s silent efforts before it or sound efforts after it. Robeson was already a successful stage actor (and singer) when this film was made, but hadn’t made it on the big screen yet.

The story involves Robeson as an escaped convict who hides out as a preacher, fleecing the townspeople and forcefully “romancing” a local girl. The girl’s mother loves the preacher and believes he can’t do any wrong, so doesn’t believe the girl when she warns about his devious ways.

The film runs longer than most of Micheaux’s works and yet is still incomplete, having been edited down by censors before its release. My only complaints about it are first that any time Robeson is not on the screen, the movie drags a little, and even though he plays two roles, there’s still not enough of him. The mother and daughter scenes seem to go on and on by comparison to the rest of the snappy narrative. Second, the ending involves the old “it was only a dream” cop out when it doesn’t even really need to – I feel like a happy ending could have been contrived even if the tragedies in the rest of the movie really did happen.

Black History Month: Birthright

BIRTHRIGHT
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Based on the novel by Thomas Sigismund Stribling
Starring Carmen Newsome
USA, 1939

Probably the best sound production Oscar Micheaux undertook, BIRTHRIGHT is the story of a Black Harvard graduate who returns to his home in the south hoping to open a school of his own only to be blocked at every turn by racism.

Most of the plot is taken up by stuff involving the college graduate’s war veteran buddy who becomes his romantic rival in the pursuit of affection from the same woman.

But, as usual, the plot’s not that important, as the continual barrage of racism comes to the forefront, showing how all of southern society, from the top down, is stacked against Blacks by unscrupulous, greedy and hate-filled whites.

Like most of Micheaux’s films, this one only exists in an incomplete format. In this case, the film is missing its first two reels, so opening title cards fill us in on the action thus far. Luckily the third reel begins with our hero’s homecoming, so it doesn’t seem like we’ve missed much.

This Micheaux film is easier to watch than some of his others because it is more technically proficient – there isn’t as much figurative noise in the way of trying to get a clear signal. It doesn’t go any easier on Micheaux’s usual no-nonsense portrayal of racial injustice, however.

Black History Month: Veiled Aristocrats

VEILED ARISTOCRATS
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Starring Lorenzo Tucker and Laura Bowman
USA, 1932

The concept of “passing” moves off the back burner and into the forefront for this next Oscar Micheaux film, in which a light-skinned Black layer, successfully passing as white, introduces his little sister to white society as well, even going so far as to set her up with Black servants. The drama here doesn’t come from the threat of being found out or whether or not this is any kind of betrayal, but from the fact that the sister is already in love with a darker-skinned Black man, and has to choose whether to return to him or marry herself off to a rich white guy.

Like many of Micheaux’s films, this one only exists in a truncated form, but it is again notable for giving itself over to singing and dancing when it runs out of plot, thus preserving some performances we wouldn’t have under other circumstances. In this case, at the climax of the movie, rather than focusing on plot, the movie is taken over by the afore-mentioned Black servants who put on a ten-minute show, which is by far the best part of the movie.

Black History Month: Ten Minutes to Live

TEN MINUTES TO LIVE
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux, based on his story
Starring Lawrence Chenault, A.B. DeComathiere, Laura Bowman, Willow Lee Guilford, Tressie Mitchell and Charlotte Evans
USA, 1932

Here’s another talkie from Oscar Micheaux, a couple of cobbled together short stories of crime centered around a night club. The night club setting is convenient because it gives Micheaux a lot of chances to cut away from the action to linger on singing, dancing and comedy acts. These acts are a little more lively and entertaining than the ones in THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO, so if I had to choose a favorite between the two, I’d choose this one.

Like THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO, the night club acts that are superfluous to the plot(s) of this film are historically significant in their own right as, without this film, there would likely be no record of these acts at all. So, for all its faults, this movie represents a fleeting glimpse into an important part of culture that would otherwise be lost – for better or worse (the acts include a black face routine, unfortunately).

So, the stories here are sort of beside the point, but one of them involves a movie producer who wants to take advantage of a showgirl by telling her he’ll make her a star, and the other involves a woman who is mistakenly marked for death by a deaf escaped convict who is hunting her down. 

Although I called this movie a talkie at the outset, there are long passages that were clearly filmed without sound and had sound added after the fact. Sort of like how all those 2D movies got transformed into 3D movies in post-production in the early 2000s, Micheaux must have done something similar here, starting out this project as a silent film and ending up with a sound one. Either that or it was just cheaper to shoot it silent and dub it later, though if that’s the case, it’d odd only certain sections of the movie are shot this way and not the whole thing.

Black History Month: The Girl from Chicago

THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Starring Grace Smith, Carl Mahon, Eunice Brooks, Starr Calloway and Edwin Cary
USA, 1932

Now let’s dip into the sound movies of Oscar Micheaux, generally believed to be a dip in quality from his silent films. The transition from silent film to sound was difficult for everyone, but was probably even more difficult outside the Hollywood system without the new equipment and knowledgeable crewmembers big budgets could buy.

THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO is basically a spy movie, with Carl Mahon as a federal agent who falls for a southern girl while on a case, and takes her back to Harlem with him when the case is solved. There, thanks to a rather convoluted sequence of events, they become embroiled in solving the murder of a crooked club owner.

As our hero chases the titular girl from Chicago onto a cruise ship and goes undercover to romance her right into jail, you can see what kind of movie this would have been with any kind of budget. Unfortunately it’s pretty bare bones as it is, padded out by night club singing and dancing performances which are historically significant in their own way, with movies like this one being the only place you can find any record of them.

Black History Month: The Symbol of the Unconquered

THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONCQUERED
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Starring Iris Hall
USA, 1920

Continuing with the films of Oscar Micheaux, THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED is another silent drama that appears to be a direct response to BIRTH OF A NATION. It is similar enough in subject matter that it could have been combined with WITHIN OUR GATES to form one epic. As it stands, the two films in their truncated surviving forms would make a feature length double feature, and should probably be required viewing in any film class that still forces students to watch BIRTH OF A NATION.

This film corrects BIRTH OF A NATION by telling a tale of the Ku Klux Klan that casts them as villains, not heroes. The plot concerns a light-skinned Black woman who travels to the northwest from south when she inherits land. Her dashing new neighbor, a Black prospector who assumes she’s white, befriends her, and the two of them become embroiled in a land battle when the value of their land is revealed to be great, and the Klan is called upon to evict them.

What should be the climax of the movie is actually missing in what survives of this film, and sounds like it was probably the best scene, as it involves the defeat of the Klan at the hands of a Black man with a brick. We see the run up to the Klan attack and the aftermath of their defeat, but are deprived of the climactic victory. Maybe the footage will turn up one day.

This movie, like many of Micheaux’s films and other Race Films, dwells on the concept of light-skinned Black people either passing or not passing as white. Most of these films either have at least a reference to it or at most an entire plot revolving around it. The attitudes of the time about this kind of thing are a little more controversial than something as “simple” as the Klan – it’s easy to see the Klan as evil and their destruction as good. Things get muddier when you have Black characters judging each other for how Black or not Black they are, especially for someone like me who has basically very little knowledge and no experience at all when it comes to these subjects. I know ignorance isn’t an excuse, but it does make it difficult to talk about some of these things, so I think it’s important to at least acknowledge this subject is important to these films, and also acknowledge I’m not sure exactly what to think of that.

Black History Month: Within Our Gates

WITHIN OUR GATES
Written and Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Starring Evelyn Preer, Floy Clements, James D. Ruffin, Jack Chenault, William Smith and Charles D. Lucas
USA, 1920

This is the oldest surviving film directed by an African-American and the first in a series of films by Oscar Micheaux I’ll be reviewing here. Oscar Micheaux was a pioneer of African-American cinema and made what people used to call “Race Films” – movies made by and for Black people. These days the term makes it sound like all Race Films were about racial issues, but in reality, while some definitely were, others were just genre movies like crime stories, adventures or westerns with Black casts. These films were made outside of the established Hollywood system, so sometimes this meant a low budgets and amateur actors, but not always. The majority of these films have been lost and the ones that weren’t were ignored by film historians for years, so today, even the ones that are technically flawed, are very important for preservation.

WITHIN OUR GATES is a silent film, and typical of films of the era, has a melodramatic plot with lots of characters intertwined in confusing relationships involving betrayal, romance, crime and hidden pasts. That’s all window dressing for the important stuff, which is the fact that this movie turns movies like BIRTH OF A NATION on their heads, rejecting the notion that Black people were the problem during the period and white mobs were the heroic answer by showing the horror of lynchings and rape.

Two particularly memorable characters include a Black preacher who encourages his own people to "know their place" and hates himself for it, and a Black servant to a white man who loves gossip so much he ends up informing on his own people to the point where they're lynched, and even though he's the informant, ends up lynched himself just because he happens to be near the lynch mob when they can't find anyone else to kill. Both represent characters who are both victims of the system and victimizers within it, illustrating just how insidious institutional racism is.

The broad strokes of the plot involve a Black woman from the south who travels north in order to raise money for a struggling school for Black children. The climax of the film is made up of the harrowing story of her past, in which her adopted parents were lynched and she narrowly escaped death only to be sexually assaulted. Despite the tragic final act, the movie ends on a note of hope as one character reminds another to remain proud of her heritage.

Black History Month: Black Girl

BLACK GIRL
Written and Directed by Ousmane Sembène
Starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek and Robert Fontaine
France, Senegal, 1966

So far the movies I’ve been watching for Black History Month have been very male-centric, so let’s take a break and focus on a female lead in BLACK GIRL, starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop as a woman from Senegal who takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy French family only to be disillusioned when she takes the chance to travel with them to France. She enters into the agreement thinking she’ll simply be watching the kids by day, then going out and exploring Paris by night, but is disappointed to find out once out of Senegal she is treated more like a live-in slave, never leaving the apartment, and forced to do all the cooking and cleaning, which she never had to do before.

This is contrasted with flashbacks to her life in Senegal where she spent most of her time outdoors, and was in the process of engaging in a budding relationship before taking what she thought of as an opportunity of a lifetime to head to France and escape her humble beginnings.

The movie takes an unexpectedly tragic turn in the end, which, in retrospect, may have been inevitable, but as it unfolded, was a heartbreaking shock for me.

Although the problems in this movie are rooted in colonialism and racism, they manifest themselves in a seemingly impassable gulf of miscommunication. Perhaps it is naïve to think if only “master” and “servant” were able to understand each other, such a tragic end could have been avoided. I guess the real problem is that “masters” simply cannot see reality through their lens of privilege and will never know what their “servants” are thinking and feeling, as long as they refuse to try to live in a world outside their own experiences.

Black History Month: The Harder They Come

THE HARDER THEY COME
Directed by Perry Henzell
Written by Perry Henzell and Trevor D. Rhone
Starring Jimmy Cliff
Jamaica, 1973

For most people, the first name you think of when you think of reggae is Bob Marley, and rightfully so. But, it was Jimmy Cliff who took reggae international first, with the help of his starring role in the Jamaican film THE HARDER THEY COME and its soundtrack.

Cliff stars as a country kid who heads to Kingston to make it as a singer/songwriter. Finding the odds stacked against him due to the crooked producers who pay very little and control the industry by influencing what does and does not get airplay, Cliff ends up embroiled in a drug dealing operation and escalates his life of crime when he panics, killing a police officer. On the run, he manages to escalate his killing spree time and time again until he’s a national anti-hero, causing endless airplay of his song and the fame he dreamed of. Unfortunately, the price is high, as the authorities close in on him.

Going into this movie not knowing much, I was surprised when the narrative took the turn it did, into not only a crime story, but one where the guy we were rooting for to make it big, Cliff, throws himself enthusiastically into a killing spree. It starts off as a believable street level story, taking advantage of the very specific locations, accents and music of Jamaica to give us a take on this kind of tale we’ve absolutely never seen before. The off the cuff energy and brisk way it flies through things without bothering to necessarily explain them to outsiders reminded me a little bit of the 1979 UK film QUADROPHENIA.

So, it was a little disappointing when the movie turned into one long chase in a climax that was exciting for sure but not really what it seemed like the movie was setting up at first. Maybe this was deliberate misdirection, but the uneven tone makes that unlikely.

Still, the movie is well worth watching for Cliff’s performance, the great music and the views of Jamaica the world might not have ever seen if this movie hadn’t been produced.

Black History Month: The Learning Tree

THE LEARNING TREE
Written and Directed by Gordon Parks, based on his novel
Starring Kyle Johnson, Alex Clarke, Estelle Evans, Dana Elcar, Mira Waters, Joel Fluellen, Malcolm Atterbury and Richard Ward
USA, 1969

Now, to totally switch gears from Melvin Van Peebles, we’ve got the quietly contemplative coming of age story THE LEARNING TREE from Gordon Parks, based on his own apparently semi-autobiographical novel. I recognized the name Gordon Parks as the movie opened, but couldn’t place it, so I looked it up, and he directed SHAFT! You’d be hard pressed to find two more tonally different movies.

Set in the 1920s in rural Kansas, the story follows a young man as he moves from boyhood to manhood against the backdrop of a couple of race-related incidents: the beating death of a local farmer, who the boy works for, and the teenage pregnancy of the boy’s sweetheart – not by him. The main character’s good home life with a loving family is contrasted with his frenemy’s more difficult existence with an alcoholic father and merciless run-ins with the corrupt law. Like all the best coming of age stories, this one involves difficult moral choices and lessons. 

This was the first film from a major studio, Warner Bros., to be directed by an African American, but even without that bit of important trivia, it would remain a great film definitely worth watching. Plus, Avery Brooks of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE fame sings the theme song!

Black History Month: Don't Play Us Cheap

DON’T PLAY US CHEAP
Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles, based on his play
Starring Thomas Anderson, Jay Van Leer, Robert Dunn, Mabel King, George Ooppee McCurn, Joshie Jo Armstead, Frank Carey, Nate Barnett, Esther Rolle, Avon Long, Rhetta Hughes and Joseph Keyes
USA, 1972

So, Melvin Van Peebles wrote novels, made films and even released albums. DON’T PLUS CHEAP represents one of his forays into musical theater. You might be wondering if there is anything he can’t do and I guess the answer would be no.

This is the fairly simple tale of a group of Black friends, neighbors and family members gathered in an apartment to party Saturday night away. The only excuse they need is that it’s finally the weekend, but it also happens to be the matriarch of the group’s niece’s birthday.

A supernatural element is introduced when a couple of devils or imps… or maybe one devil and one imp… in the forms of bats and cockroaches decide to crash the party. The more experience one says it’s not worth it – Black people take partying too seriously to be stopped. But the devil-in-training gives it a try anyway, foiled by the partygoers time and time again.

This conceit is kind of funny, but as executed it’s a little confusing, especially since the movie isn’t much more than a filmed version of a play, so it’s very short and cheap in the way of special effects. Starting with the two devils plotting, in their altered forms, using strange camera tricks and editing, gets the proceedings off to a needlessly off-putting start. If you can make it through that opening, however, you’ll be reward with song after song as the Saturday night partiers revel in their freedom, if only for the weekend, each getting their own spotlight to perform.

Highlights include one of the songs early on with extra clever lyrics like, “You cut up the clothes in the closet of my dreams” and an entire ode to Saturday night.

Black History Month: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG
Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles
Starring Melvin Van Peebles
USA, 1971

After WATERMELON MAN was a box office success, Paramount Pictures wanted to sign Melvin Van Peebles to a three-picture deal. Instead he decided to take the independent route and SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG was born, starring Melvin Van Peebles himself as the title character, Sweetback, who grows up in a brothel and goes on the run from the LAPD after he saves a Black Panther from a brutal beating by the police.

On paper, this sounds like the ingredients for a fairly straightforward action movie, but it is actually Van Peebles’ most experimental film yet. He’s not satisfied to settle down into genre clichés (while also inadvertently creating new ones) and opts instead for crazy shots and even crazier editing.

This, along with the generally seedy and unpleasant characters, locations and situations featured in the film, does not make SWEETBACK an easy watch, and it won’t be for everyone, though it is worth it from a historical point of view, not only as a predecessor to the entire Blaxploitation genre but also as an important moment in Black cinema. Here we have an unapologetically sexual and militant Black man the likes of which the big screen had never seen, especially positioned as a folk hero. Or maybe he’s a folk anti-hero. I suppose it depends on your point of view.

In some ways the film’s unpleasantness (for lack of a better word) is its strength and the thing that separates it from many of the copycats who followed – Van Peebles is not afraid to show all kinds of violence without judgment, and doesn’t clean it up for easy consumption because it shouldn’t be easy to consume in the first place, and any judgment would ring false. 

It should be noted, if you want to give this movie a watch, it begins with a difficult-to-watch scene in which Melvin Van Peebles’ son, Mario, is cast as the younger version of Sweetback, who, at the age of 14, stars in a sex scene with a grown woman, so if you don’t want to see that – either skip the opening or skip the movie altogether.

Black History Month: Watermelon Man

WATERMELON MAN
Directed by Melvin Van Peebles
Written by Herman Raucher
Starring Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D’Urville Martin, Kay Kimberley, Mantan Moreland and Erin Moran
USA, 1970

This was Melvin Van Peebles' first and only Hollywood movie, a comedy with an intriguing premise: an obnoxiously privileged (and racist) white insurance salesman wakes up one morning to find out he has magically become a Black man. He assumes he sat under his tanning lamp too long, but even with that assumption it takes a while for him (and his wife) to adjust to their new situation. The kids take it in stride, though.

So, this premise coupled with Melvin Van Peebles’ name, sounds promising, but the movie as is had me scratching my head regarding the tone. The tone is very over the top and cartoonish, even in the early scenes in which Godfrey Cambridge, a Black actor, is playing a white man in white face, before he transforms into a Black man. I thought this broad comedy was an odd choice, even with the fantastical premise, because if you start out in the realm of the wacky, when something wacky actually happens, it loses its impact, a little, right?

Well, I had a little “aha” moment when I read about the film’s production after I was done watching it – turns out Van Peebles did not write this movie, he only directed it, specifically because the studio felt they needed a Black director to pull this material off. They were probably right, but they could have used a Black writer, too, because it turns out the screenplay was written by a white guy – specifically, the white guy who wrote SUMMER OF ’42, Herman Raucher.

Apparently, Van Peebles attempted to mold the movie into something more befitting of his point of view, and was constantly at odds with the writer and the powers that be at the studio. Knowing this, I began to understand the conflicted tone of the movie. If Raucher had gotten his way, the movie would be a straight forward satire specifically about a white guy turning into a Black guy, from a white guy’s point of view – in other words, the movie this white guy (me) expected to see. With Van Peebles behind the wheel, he treated the whole thing as a joke from the get go, portraying our white protagonist as a cartoonish buffoon from minute one, because to him, the joke was on Raucher and the studio, not on the white main character.

So, this perspective helped the whole thing come together for me a little more clearly, and fits the movie more snugly into Van Peebles’ filmography.

Black History Month: The Story of a Three Day Pass

THE STORY OF A THREE DAY PASS
Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles, based on his novel
Starring Harry Baird and Nicole Berger
France, 1967

As long as I’ve been interested in movies, I’ve always known of Melvin Van Peebles, but I’ve been slow to get into his movies. I usually saw his name in connection to his most famous film, SWEET SWEETBACK’s BAADASSSSS SONG, an inspiring title to match a VHS box with an equally inspiring cover, that I almost rented over and over again throughout my teens. I never quite got around to it, despite looking into the genre of Blaxploitation, and reading that Van Peebles basically invented it.

Anyway, I finally got around to checking out his career, and started with his first feature, made in France, based on his own novel – THE STORY OF A THREE DAY PASS.

This story follows a Black American army soldier who has just received both a promotion and a three-day pass to take leave. He vacations in Paris and meets a white French girl who joins him on a trip to the beach. They fall in and out of love (and in and out of bed), the action punctuated with a couple racist run ins, and the soldier’s conflicted conversations with his own reflection in the mirror.

Shot in black and white with plenty of creative editing, this movie fits right in to the French new wave and actually executes some of the movement’s tricks better than the avowed masters do. I was actually reflecting on this after watching the film, wondering why some of the more famous French new wave flicks strike me as immature and self indulgent while this one didn’t, and the only thing I could come up with was that this was at least an outsider voice with something interesting to say. So, it wasn’t all style, no substance. It was style and substance, which is a nice change of pace.

Early on in the film, I noticed a great shot of Van Peebles’ main character seemingly floating through a nightclub crowd, toward the camera, as if pulled toward his destiny. It looked super modern and incredibly familiar all at the same time, because it is the signature shot that has become synonymous with the films of Spike Lee. Little did I know, Van Peebles did it first, and I’m sure Spike Lee would be the first to say so.

Black History Month: Kansas City

KANSAS CITY
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Frank Barhydt and Robert Altman
Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy and Steve Buscemi
USA, 1996

Our last stop on the Harry Belafonte tour, KANSAS CITY is an ensemble piece by cinematic legend Robert Altman that explores the criminal underworld of Kansas City in 1934, mixing politics, organized crime and street level crooks in a couple of kidnapping plots that ultimately don’t really go anywhere, but as usual, with Altman, forward momentum isn’t really the point. It’s more about the atmosphere.

For this reason, and others I won’t get into here, Altman has always been one of the “greats” that is harder for me to get into. I don’t know why, exactly, but everyone has someone they just sort of don’t get, and Altman is almost that for me – I’ve seen and enjoyed many of his movies, probably more than I disliked, so I guess I might be protesting too much. There’s just something that keeps me at a little more arm’s length than some other highly revered auteurs. 

All that said, the best part of this movie is how Altman dwells on the jazz scene of 1930s Kansas City, cutting away from the action repeatedly to showcase a great ensemble of jazz musicians in uninterrupted performances. The movie’s worth watching for that alone. I’m assuming, the way movies work, there’s probably a ton of this performance footage that didn’t make it into the movie, and it’d be interesting to see an alternate cut of KANSAS CITY that does away with the plot and just focuses on the jazz performances. In any case, after seeing this movie, you’ll want the soundtrack.

Harry Belafonte is a small but memorable part of an ensemble that includes the likes of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Steve Buscemi. He plays a gangster named Seldom Seen who runs the jazz club where the great performances take place, and conducts his criminal empire with an extra special bit of spite against racial injustice in America. The bulk of his slice of the story involves a small time crook who not only rips him off (Dermot Mulroney), but disguises himself in black face to do it, in an attempt to put the police on the trail of a Black guy instead of a white guy. So this is doubly insulting to Belafonte, who strings Mulroney along in a series of suspenseful monologues where you know violence is just around the corner. This is a more real and threatening version of the cartoonish gangster Belafonte plays in UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT, and the two performers show both extremes of what he’s capable of.

Black History Month: Uptown Saturday Night

UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT
Directed by Sidney Poitier
Written by Richard Wesley
Starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Paula Kelly, Rosalind Cash, Roscoe Lee Browne, Johnny Sekka and Calvin Lockhart
USA, 1974

This buddy comedy about a couple blue-collar guys who get in over their heads when they’re robbed at an upscale den of sin not only stars but was also directed by Sidney Poitier, a welcome surprise since I was watching it mainly for my continued viewing of Harry Belafonte movies. Turns out Belafonte is only in the last third of this film, though his role as a Vito Corleone-esque gangster, while cartoonish, is memorable.

Poitier stars as one half of the blue-collar buddy duo, who realizes when he was robbed, he lost a winning lottery ticket, and enlists his buddy to descend step by step into Chicago’s underworld in an attempt to track it down.

The other half of the buddy duo is none other than Bill Cosby, which will be a problematic presence for some viewers. I found it interesting to see Cosby in a more “adult” role (as in, not for kids but not exactly dirty) since I grew up with him either on children’s programming or family sitcoms and had never really seen him do comedy for grown ups before. Of course, what he was up to in his personal life over all these years is inexcusable, so it’s understandable if some viewers choose to skip this one all together due to his presence.

The rest of the cast is a who’s-who of recognizable names, including Richard Pryor as a private investigator and Flip Wilson as a reverend.

Although I like the premise and the cast, the comedy, as executed, was a little broad for my tastes, and wore out its welcome by the time the movie decides to replace a climax with an endless chase scene. Still, the movie is worth watching to see Poitier play an every man in a pair of bumbling buddies who gets increasingly desperate as the action unfolds – it’s not the type of role I’m used to seeing him in and he’s great at it.

Black History Month: Beat Street

BEAT STREET
Directed by Stan Lathan
Written by Andrew Davis, David Gilbert, Paul Golding and Steven Hager
Story by Richard Lee Sisco
Starring Rae Dawn Chong, Guy Davis, Jon Chardiet, Leon W. Grant, Saundra Santiago, Robert Taylor, Lee Chamberlin, Mary Alice, Shawn Elliot, Jim Borrelli, Dean Elliot and Franc. Reyes
USA, 1984

Now let's move on to a film Harry Belafonte produced (and produced some of the music in) but did not star in, BEAT STREET -- hip hop's answer to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. What a charming movie this is, so full of life and vibrance that things like plot hardly even seem to matter. Yes, the story has its share of tragedies, and it does not shy away from a few questions of race and class, especially touching on the idea of cultural appropriation, but in the end it is an exercise in the way art affirms life, in this case, through music and dance... oh, and graffiti.

Even though I just said the plot's not important, here's a little idea of what the movie's about -- we've got Guy Davis as an aspiring hip hop DJ, hoping to not only develop his own style and new sounds but also land a job at a cool club. His crew includes his break dancing little brother (Robert Taylor), his buddy who specializes in street art (Jon Chardiet) and eventually expands to include a college music student (Rae Dawn Chong) who he has eyes on (or who has eyes on him). Together they run around the Bronx (the film uses real locations to great effect) getting into hip hop-related adventures, including break dance fighting, rapping and creating giant graffiti murals on subway trains.

So, that about sums it up, except it doesn't at all, because you really have to see the dancing and hear the music to get what BEAT STREET is all about. There's a joy and exuberance to it that transcends time -- the movie's dated, and may have even been dated when it came out (after all, Public Enemy hit the scene just one year later) but that just adds to its charm. You can see its influence in stuff that ended up on MTV later (I bet you Michael Jackson was a fan of this movie, for instance) and guys like the Notorious B.I.G. referenced it in their lyrics. There's no doubt BEAT STREET was both groundbreaking and influential, even if it might not have gotten the greatest reviews.

Well, it gets a good review from me -- I'm a simple guy. I don't ask for much. And this movie over-delivers.

Plus, Duane Jones of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD fame is in it.

Black History Month: The World, The Flesh and the Devil

THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL
Written and Directed by Ranald MacDougall
Based on the novel by M.P. Shiel and the story by Ferdinand Reyher
Starring Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer
USA, 1959

Most of the fun I had with this movie came from the fact that I sat down to watch it not knowing anything about it other than the fact that it starred Harry Belafonte. So if you want to be as surprised as I was, stop reading. Otherwise...

The story starts with Harry Belafonte as a mine inspector who becomes trapped by himself underground for several days when a tunnel collapses on him. He's able to establish contact with the outside world through a phone that he can speak into, but cannot hear out of, and can tell from rapping on pipes and the sounds of machines digging that help is slowly but surely on its way. As he joked to himself and sang to himself to pass the time and ease his mind, I figured this would probably be the tale of the plight of blue collar workers or something like that. Maybe he'd get out and need medical help but the company won't pay for it so he has to file a lawsuit or something. That's how big my imagination is.

Well guess what? Instead, nuclear war happens while Belafonte's underground, and when he digs himself out, he finds that he just might be the last man on Earth. So, this blew my mind. I had no idea I was getting into a sci-fi movie, but I was so there for it. Belafonte makes his way to New York city, looking for other survivors, only to find none, and ends up setting up a home, generating electricity, and talking to department store mannequins. This might remind you of I AM LEGEND with Will Smith. That's what it reminded me of, anyway, and I always knew I AM LEGEND was based on the same book THE OMEGA MAN with Charlton Heston was based on, but I never once heard THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL mentioned.

The key difference here is that there are no infected humans running around trying to eat Belafonte. He does meet a woman who has survived, however (Inger Stevens) and together they feel each other out, for an uneasy friendship and a tentative alliance. Belafonte monitors a radio and also creates broadcasts each day in the hopes that they'll find other survivors, but in the meantime the two form an almost idyllic domestic relationship, kept from being perfect only because of Belafonte's insistence at keeping Stevens at arm's length. When things come to a head, it becomes clear this is directly related to the fact that he is a Black man and she is a white woman -- under normal circumstances, he reasons, she'd have nothing to do with him, and would never think to even find out what kind of a person he is. She's oblivious to that because of her privilege, and can't understand the gulf between them in an intellectual sense, though she understands it's there, emotionally.

This has been a running theme in a few of Belafonte's movies -- Belafonte either has a friendship or romance with a white character who doesn't even realize race might be an issue. It doesn't enter their minds, because their privilege blinds them. Eventually they do something insensitive, and Belafonte has to either put up with it, or try to educate them on what's going on, and it usually falls on deaf ears. To see this dramatized in movies of the 50s is both way ahead of its time and also sadly the same thing that is still going on today.

In any case, back to the movie -- Mel Ferrer eventually shows up as a third survivor and the question of which of the two men is going to get to "have" the woman comes into play. Belafonte's more than willing to not get involved, but both of the other characters push things until the situation has to be addressed. I'll leave it to you to find out what happens next.

This was a great, suspenseful and exciting movie where I never knew what was going to happen next. All of the scenes of abandoned traffic jams, frozen on freeways and bridges, and abandoned parts of normally bustling New York are really effectively evocative and memorable.

Black History Month: The Angel Levine

THE ANGEL LEVINE
Directed by Jan Kadar
Written by Bill Gunn and Ronal Ribman
Based on a story by Bernard Malamud
Starring Zero Mostel, Harry Belafonte, Ida Kaminska, Milo O'Shea and Gloria Foster
USA, 1970

Harry Belafonte returned to the big screen after a ten year absence with THE ANGEL LEVINE, the story of an elderly Jewish tailor (Zero Mostel) who has turned his back on God. And why not? His shop burnt down, his wife is sick and dying in bed, and he can't even work from home because his bad back prevents him from sitting at his trade for too long. Broke and with no hope, he tells the woman at the unemployment agency it's all God's fault.

Mostel's horrified one evening to find a Black man inexplicably sitting in his kitchen. This is the titular angel, Levine, played by Harry Belafonte. He has been sent by God to help Mostel, but can only help Mostel if he believes in him. For Belafonte's part, he only gets whatever he wants -- presumably safe passage to heaven -- if he's able to complete his mission. The deck is stacked against Belafonte not only because Mostel has already had it with faith, but also because Mostel's not prepared to accept that if an angel is going to come to him, it's going to come to him in the form of a Black man. Belafonte, on the other hand, is ill prepared for this angel stuff, having lived a life of petty crime and having few people believe in him while he was alive, let alone after he died.

So, this seems like a nice simple set up but it is complicated a bit by the movie's strange tone. There are easy set ups for easy jokes -- perhaps a little too easy -- that fall flat not just because they're too easy but also because they're surrounded by an overall atmosphere of doom and gloom. Some strange editing choices (probably meant to be avant garde) and offbeat music choices (also probably meant to be avant garde) make the viewer ill at ease for much of the movie's run time. What could have been a simple, small, charming allegory turns into a creepy art film that keeps audiences at arms length instead.

All that stuff also adds up to muddy whatever the message of the film is meant to be -- I guess that as long as people don't believe in each other because of their differences in religion, culture and race, then there's no hope for anyone, an idea that some would say goes without saying. But the alternative -- accepting someone different from you isn't so different after all once you get to know them -- is naive in the sense that we should accept everyone as human whether or not we personally know them. That's the whole point, isn't it?

The performances in the film are admirable and I think its heart was in the right place, but it misfires just often enough to become a slog rather than anything illuminating.

Black History Month: Island in the Sun

ISLAND IN THE SUN
Directed by Robert Rossen
Written by Alfred Hayes
Based on the novel by Alec Waugh
Starring James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, Dorothy Dandridge and Michael Rennie
USA, 1957

Continuing with Harry Belafonte starrers but moving on to more epic Hollywood fare, we come to ISLAND IN THE SUN, a big Cinemascope exploration of the tensions between the then-contemporary descendants of colonists and slaves on a fictional Caribbean island. Most of this plays out through standard soap opera stuff, with one controversial difference for the time -- a few of the relationships are interracial.

The interracial romance stuff comes off as tame by today's standards, and might not even be noticed by some viewers who don't watch the movie in a historical context. By the same token, some of the then-progressive stuff in the movie is probably a little naive or wrong-headed now, while most of the hate-filled, bigoted stuff remains as detestable as it always was.

On the side of the progressives we have Harry Belafonte as a young member of the lower class of the island (read: Black people) is rising in the ranks of political influence as a popular spokesman for his people and symbol of hope and change on the island. On the side of the deplorables we've got James Mason as a plantation owner's son whose every move drips with insecurity, jealousy and hatred -- a man born into the ruling class (read: white people) who feels he hasn't had his fair shake of what he feels entitled to. Both have eyes on a political prize for clearly different reasons, and butt heads because of it.

I mentioned soap opera stuff earlier -- it's a little too convoluted to waste too many words on, suffice it to say there are a few core couples and their relationship struggles either help move the plot along or attempt to make commentary on the socio-economic and racial climate of the island. A spoiled rich white family finds out their heritage might not be as white as they once thought, which leads to scandal. A crime of passion is committed. Harry Belafonte finds himself dating a rich white woman (Joan Fontaine) while a white aide to the governor played by John Justin finds himself dating a Black shopgirl (Dorothy Dandridge). 

For its time, it is nice this film tries to come to terms with some of these issues, or at least addresses them -- you could argue whether or not this film has a great message or whether or not that message comes across or works, at least it's a step in the right direction and probably paved the way for greater works later. But what it's really worth today is the beautiful cinematography and scenery, using real island locations in Barbados and Grenada, to show the audiences of yesterday (and probably even today) some sights they've never seen before.

All the performances are great, and the movie's worth a watch if not for the scenery than at least for a climactic scene in which Harry Belafonte takes James Mason on, man to man, in verbal warfare, in front of a huge crowd of locals who cheer him on. This movie needed more of that and less of the soap opera stuff.

Black History Month: Odds Against Tomorrow

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW
Directed by Robert Wise
Written by Abraham Polonsky and Nelson Gidding
Based on the novel by William P. McGivern
Starring Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters and Ed Begley
USA, 1959

Here's another Harry Belafonte star vehicle, this time a taut, gritty, noirish crime thriller directed by Robert Wise. Previous to this I knew Robert Wise mostly as the big Hollywood director who did the first STAR TREK film, musicals like WEST SIDE STORY and SOUND OF MUSIC, and some beautiful black and white horror flicks as well, in a long and storied career that included work on such films as CITIZEN KANE. I never knew he also did gritty little street-level caper movies, too.

Although I guess it shouldn't be that big of a surprise -- he made WEST SIDE STORY right after this, and you can sort of tell where he brought in his urban influences -- the very opening of ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW brings us into the world of New York City in much the same way the opening of WEST SIDE STORY does, with lingering shots of real locations.

Belafonte stars as a night club musician who is deep in gambling debt to a mobster. A retired cop (Ed Begley) approaches him with an idea for a bank robbery that can get him some quick cash, and hinges on using a Black man as a stand-in for a waiter who makes nightly food deliveries to the banks' back door. Initially Belafonte's not interested, and neither is the other guy the retired cop approaches, a racist ex-con (Robert Ryan) who doesn't want to work with a Black man. Both guys end up coming around, however, when both of their situations become more desperate, and begrudgingly agree to work together in an uneasy partnership.

This isn't the stuff of exploitation flicks, though -- we don't get a unlikely buddy story between the Black guy and the white racist. The racist divide is viewed as appropriately troubling, and drives us straight towards the tragic, maybe inevitable, ending where one man's ignorant views ruin everything for everyone.

Of the Belafonte films I've seen so far, this one makes the best use of the sort of cool and detached air he has about him -- in CARMEN JONES it made him feel a little wooden and square (although that might have also been the character he was playing) and he wasn't really in BRIGHT ROAD enough to shine (though the one scene where he sings, he shines brightly). Here, he's a cool, stylish guy who, if we didn't know better, seems to be on top of the world and in command of every situation -- a perfect lead for a heist movie.

The rest of the cast is great as well, with Begley projecting likability and Ryan unafraid to wallow in complete unpleasantness. It's worth mention Shelley Winters is on hand as well, as Ryan's desperate shack-job, and though her plot is never really resolved, she turns in a sad and memorable performance.

From the beautiful black and white cinematography and the great use of real locations to the cool jazz score and artful way the tight plot works both as a caper and a morality tale without every being too obvious, ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW really deserves to be talked about more than it is.

Black History Month: Bright Road

Welcome to Romancefest 2022 -- just kidding. Not this year, folks. This year I'm celebrating Black History Month by watching 28 movies in 28 days that are either by Black filmmakers or star Black actors. The Criterion Channel has made it easy for me -- the Black Lives section of their website has tons of great stuff, so much that I had an easy time getting 28 movies but a hard time deciding which 28 I wanted to go with. I've thought about doing this in previous years but just never pulled the trigger. 

The problem with Romancefest is that every year I get closer and closer to running out of worthwhile movies to watch. Also, romantic movies tend to be long. Longer than horror movies, anyway, which always makes Romancefest harder than Horrorfest, even though it's usually a couple days/movies shorter. So, enjoy Black History Month as I start with... 

BRIGHT ROAD 

Directed by Gerald Mayer 

Written by Emmet Lavery 

Based on the short story by Mary Elizabeth Vroman 

Starring Dorothy Dandridge, Philip Hepburn, Harry Belafonte and Barbara Ann Sanders 

USA, 1953 

This is the charming tale of a rookie elementary school teacher's first year teaching in a small rural school, and her attempts to reach out and connect with a troubled student who other teachers have written off. This student isn't an over-the-top troublemaker by any means, but is the kind of frustrating kid who you can tell is smart and engaged when he wants to be, but just isn't motivated to put in all the effort he could when it comes to formal learning. 

He's one of nine kids from poor but loving parents, he loves nature, specifically the bees he keeps for the honey he can sell and the caterpillar he watches all year as it changes into a butterfly. He also loves his schoolmate and neighbor, a kind little girl who ominously starts coughing about halfway through the movie. 

The other key character in the story is the school's principal, a seemingly no-nonsense guy who croons with his acoustic guitar by night and respects a spirited teacher, like our heroine. Together, they try to be understanding and supportive of their troubled student, and while the school year has many ups and downs, there's eventually a happy ending. 

This film was on Criterion's list because of Harry Belafonte -- he stars as the school principal. But the movie really belongs to Dorothy Dandridge, who plays the teacher. She's the main character, and we see things through her eyes. They both get little chances to show their stuff when it comes to singing, but it wasn't until after this that they starred together in CARMEN JONES (see Romancefest 2013 for that one) and really let loose. 

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the child actors, though, led by Philip Hepburn as the troubled student. This could have been a huge misstep, entrusting so much of a movie to a group of little kids, but they're all great -- very natural and up to the task whether the scene in question is funny, tragic or just cute. An early sequence has Hepburn and Barbara Ann Sanders, as his doomed crush, walking home from school, singing songs with each other, admiring a bird in a tree, singing back and forth with the bird -- sounds a little cloying, but it doesn't come off that way at all. It just comes off as beautiful.