There's a lot going on in this very well made and very courageous (for its time) movie. It deals with questions of identity, justice and pride. It was directed by Elia Kazan, one of the great directors, who took the job after replacing another great director - John Ford, who left because of differences wit producer Darryl Zanuck.
"Pinky" is the title character - interestingly enough played by white actress Jeanne Crain, after black actresses such as Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge were rejected by Zanuck. I say "interestingly" because the character of Pinky is a "Negro" (in the language of the day) - a Negro with very light skin, whose southern grandmother sent her off to the north to school to become a nurse. While north, Pinky began to "pass" - others assumed because of her skin colour that she was "white", and much of the first part of the movie is about Pinky's struggles to adjust to being back in the south when she returns home. She's suddenly confronted with the reality of racial prejudice; she yearns to go back to the north. But her grandmother (Ethel Walters) wants her to stay and become the nurse to a white neighbour, Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore.) Pinky reluctantly agrees, and after an uncertain start bonds with Miss Em and becomes the heir to Miss Em's house and land after her death.
At this point, the movie becomes about justice, and it's very well done. It's unthinkable that a black woman would receive such an inheritance. Those who expected to be the heirs challenge the will in court, and the struggle is a nasty one. Pinky wants what's rightfully hers, but is it worth the cost and the risk? After winning the case, her lawyer says to her (in the line that really stood out for me): "Well Pinky. You won. You got the house and the land. You got justice. But I doubt if any other interests of this community have been served." This was her own lawyer speaking. Shouldn't justice be the interest of the community? What other interests are there? What other interests are so important that her own lawyer apparently feels that receiving "justice" may not have been the best thing? But when the justice was being given to a black woman - even if she didn't look black - apparently there were other important things to consider. There's a sense of foreboding about this part of the movie; a fear that a mob mentality is going to break out; that violence will be the end result of the court case.
The movie ends on a note of pride, as Pinky chooses to reject the possibility of leaving with her white fiancé from the north and instead stays and helps a local black doctor open a clinic and nursery school for black children in the house she inherited. In other words, Pinky chooses to embrace her heritage and her people. It was a very touching end to a somewhat troubling movie.
Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Walters were all nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, and I can certainly appreciate that it was a courageous movie for 1949, dealing with the harsh reality of racism, and even featuring (if mostly in the background) the inter- racial relationship between Pinky and her fiancé Tom (William Lundigan,) which apparently (even though Crain was a white actress) caused the movie to be banned in some southern communities. (7/10)
"Pinky" is the title character - interestingly enough played by white actress Jeanne Crain, after black actresses such as Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge were rejected by Zanuck. I say "interestingly" because the character of Pinky is a "Negro" (in the language of the day) - a Negro with very light skin, whose southern grandmother sent her off to the north to school to become a nurse. While north, Pinky began to "pass" - others assumed because of her skin colour that she was "white", and much of the first part of the movie is about Pinky's struggles to adjust to being back in the south when she returns home. She's suddenly confronted with the reality of racial prejudice; she yearns to go back to the north. But her grandmother (Ethel Walters) wants her to stay and become the nurse to a white neighbour, Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore.) Pinky reluctantly agrees, and after an uncertain start bonds with Miss Em and becomes the heir to Miss Em's house and land after her death.
At this point, the movie becomes about justice, and it's very well done. It's unthinkable that a black woman would receive such an inheritance. Those who expected to be the heirs challenge the will in court, and the struggle is a nasty one. Pinky wants what's rightfully hers, but is it worth the cost and the risk? After winning the case, her lawyer says to her (in the line that really stood out for me): "Well Pinky. You won. You got the house and the land. You got justice. But I doubt if any other interests of this community have been served." This was her own lawyer speaking. Shouldn't justice be the interest of the community? What other interests are there? What other interests are so important that her own lawyer apparently feels that receiving "justice" may not have been the best thing? But when the justice was being given to a black woman - even if she didn't look black - apparently there were other important things to consider. There's a sense of foreboding about this part of the movie; a fear that a mob mentality is going to break out; that violence will be the end result of the court case.
The movie ends on a note of pride, as Pinky chooses to reject the possibility of leaving with her white fiancé from the north and instead stays and helps a local black doctor open a clinic and nursery school for black children in the house she inherited. In other words, Pinky chooses to embrace her heritage and her people. It was a very touching end to a somewhat troubling movie.
Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Walters were all nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, and I can certainly appreciate that it was a courageous movie for 1949, dealing with the harsh reality of racism, and even featuring (if mostly in the background) the inter- racial relationship between Pinky and her fiancé Tom (William Lundigan,) which apparently (even though Crain was a white actress) caused the movie to be banned in some southern communities. (7/10)