User Reviews

This is the type of film that critics probably hated because there is not an ounce of meanness in the film. And considering that this was 1973 when black movies such as "Cleopatra Jones" and "Shaft" were the norm, an old fashioned romantic drama like this, it probably didn't go well with audiences, either. Some critics may obviously compare this to "Love Story" and other tearjerkers popular at the time, but this one is quite different. Sidney Poitier plays a widowed doctor visiting London from Washington D.C. who finds himself entranced with a mysterious young woman (Ester Anderson) whom he keeps spotting around the city and saves from men obviously following her. It's obvious that she is someone special, and a la "Roman Holiday", it takes a while for him to find out just who she is. But once they finally do get together, the sparks fly between them, and his young daughter (Yvette Curtis) is crazy for her as well. They spend a lovely weekend away and all seems like they will live happily ever after. But destiny intervenes and leads to a conclusion heartbreaking for all three.

There is an innocence of the three major characters in this film that instantly makes the viewer root for them. Poitier and Anderson may seem a bit far apart in age to be a matched team, but they share a lovely chemistry, complimented by young Ms. Curtis as one of the most well behaved young girls I've seen in real life and on screen. Too perfect may seem the right adjective to describe them, but believe it or not, it can exist, and there's not a drug pusher, hooker, or pimp, "Blacula" like monster in sight. The only reason why this might have gotten a PG rating was because a black-themed "G" film wouldn't sell, and an obvious liaison between the two lovers does take place. What also starts off seeming to be a possible spy adventure turns quickly, making this a surprising delight.

There are few actors for whom I have more respect than Sidney Poitier. More than any Black actor, he earned acceptance of Black actors to the broad American film audience. He did it quietly, not unlike how Barack Obama earned acceptance among the general population.

However, that doesn't mean that every Poitier film was top notch...although most were. This is not one of the successes. It was a flop at the box office. The question is -- why? It is well past the first half-hour of the film before we begin to learn what the movie is about. Early on it almost seems like a spy movie...which it is not, at all. Then (other than the give-away title) we learn it is a romance. But why all the secrecy. We don't get into that until almost midway through the film. And the ending...there were three possibilities: the female leads goes back to American with Poitier and his daughter, or she dies, or...well...nothing really happens and the whole film was just a fling. The third option was the weakest, and that was the option chosen.

Poitier's acting is excellent, as always. The daughter was interesting, although seemed a bit unreal. And the female lead seemed a bit too far off center, as well. The film helped bring attention to sickle cell anemia, which, unfortunately is still with us.

If you decide to watch this film, do so for the only right reason -- to revel in another performance by a truly fine actor and a truly fine man.

In Sidney Poitier's A Warm December, the star/director plays Matt Younger, a widowed American doctor on vacation in London with his young daughter; he falls in love with Catherine Oswandu (Ester Anderson), the mover-and-shaker niece of the "Republic of Torunda's" Ambassador to Britain, eventually learning that she has fatal sickle-cell anemia, and only a few years to live. The film's main virtue, and not a negligible one, is its very Blackness: race is never cited as an issue in any context, and it incorporates several diverse scenes of Black music and culture (ranging from Miriam Makeba to an odd open-air scene in which Younger and Catherine play records for a group of rural white kids, as their elders look on in mostly bemused fashion). Much else about it is disappointing or confounding though. The initial scenes, for whatever reason, have a cloak-and-dagger feel about them, shrouding the purpose of Younger's trip in some mystery, and presenting Catherine as a stylishly mysterious figure with a host of ethnically diverse people on her trail; that all peters out, the film then becoming mostly defined by repetitive soppiness (aided by a generally excruciating music score, drawing not at all on the best of Black culture) with Catherine's entourage and duties and mercurial nature repeatedly thwarting Younger's plans and dreams. In truth though, given Poitier's predominantly bland performance, it's hard to know why the guy keeps at it, and the film doesn't make the most of Anderson's vivid presence; Yvette Curtis is intriguingly stoic as Younger's daughter, although the film treats her as little more than a plot device. The ending might be read as an endorsement of prioritizing nation-building pragmatism over personal desire, but if so that's mostly botched too. Still, for all its flaws, the film is notable as the high point of Poitier's directorial ambition; following its failure he stuck entirely to comedy (well, and Fast Forward...)

Logging on to the IMDb to rate this movie, I was surprised to find that I'd previously rated it some years ago, giving it a perhaps-harsh 4/10. That's the beauty of this later Poitier endeavour... it's so forgettable you can see it more than once and each time it's like the first.

That's not to say that the languid pace and TV movie direction by Poitier (far more effective in front of the camera than behind it, sadly) make this a film without merit. In its layered depiction of black people on the screen, Poitier's second England movie may not be the equal of the first, but has plenty of things to say... even if it does say those things in a relaxed, heavily reflective manner.

The real problem with the film is that as a love story with a tragic twist it's incredibly staid, almost sterile. Chemistry is not flowing from the screen here, even for the relatively passive time in which it was made. And such a stiff depiction of romance is only expounded by the presence of Yvette Curtis as Poitier's daughter. While okay at general lines, she's unable to emote, and scenes where she's supposedly concerned over whether Catherine lives or dies see her looking like she's wondering to have jam or just butter on her morning toast.

Six years before this Poitier was the biggest box office star in the world, having had three huge hits in 1967. After this it's directing and co-starring with Bill Cosby in three so-so comedies and appearing in a Michael Caine thriller, then acting retirement. Such a drastic change in his standing is remarkable.

Despite Poitier's much later return from retirement (and later, sad decline into TV movie actor... what a waste) A Warm December marks one of his final last gasps as a major force. As a Sidney Poitier work then it's probably not even in the top 15 of his films that you should make a point of seeing. But, if you've got an afternoon when you're not too busy, A Warm December will help to pass the time quite pleasantly... if not so memorably.