Pinky
by Elia Kazan, John Ford
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Basil Ruysdael, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, Jeanne Crain, William LundiganDirector: Elia Kazan, John Ford
Brand: CRAIN,JEANNE
Cinematographer: Joseph MacDonald
Writer: Elia Kazan
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Writer: Cid Ricketts Sumner
Writer: Dudley Nichols
Writer: Philip Dunne
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Pinky
Movie Review: A great movie if you look for some deeper subtleties
Summary: 5 Stars
I just watched this movie, and despite inconsistencies that seem to draw criticism from a modern 60 years later perspective, this is a great movie. I am not going to summarize the plot in detail. That is ably done in many reviews, and I don't want to be a major spoiler for someone who just wants a worthiness opinion to consider watching this, and more importantly a perspective to appeciate it.
In order to fully appreciate this movie, I think one has to partly watch this movie as if you were in 1949 when it came out. A detachment from the modern makes this movie understandable and believable. Jeanne Crain's portrayal of a black woman is the focus of the central criticism of this movie, but that is easily explained if one considers the scene where she is nearly raped. In fact, there is some subtlety missed by many other reviewers in some of the character portrayals in this move. Does Miss Em know who Pinky's father and grandfather are? Watch the Judge Walker character carefully, brilliantly played by Basil Ruysdael? He seems to know something about Pinky. Kazan was a genius in how he directed this apparent subtlety into the movie, clearly something the producers could never have risked in the script, not in 1949. One couldn't boldly suggest the rape of successive generations of black women by white men, possibly the same white man, not in 1949. It had to be extremely subtlety played for its time without inciting even more wrath than the film likely did from the bigots of the era. Also revealing too much would have changed the entire message of the movie.
Again, Crain is criticized for taking on or being chosen for this role, but she played it beautifully considering the complexities being asked of her. One can again see the hand of Kazan's direction. Also keep in mind the tremendous career risk she took at the time. Many have commented on the inconsistency of a white woman playing a black woman, but would it have worked if an obvious black woman were playing the role and were pretending no one suspected she was black? I don't think so, because we have to believe that Pinky can unambiguously pass for being white as the main premise of the story. What could have greatly reinforced the verisimilitude and character development would have been an earlier scene that might have shown her in the role of faking being white in her job in the north. This could also have made the romantic element more believable.
There are weaknesses in this movie. These have been pointed out by others. The love story chemistry is hard to believe between Pinky and her doctor beau. They don't look involved, or look like they have an intimate history they've shared. Also, I agree the scene of their embrace in court is unrealistic in not eliciting violence from the spectators. The seething hate and bigotry are clearly too muted at times.
Besides Crain, there are other great performances. Ethel Barrymore has some wonderfully deleivered lines. For those who first see her in this movie, her performance is a real treat. Ethel Waters is great also, but constrained to play her role stereotypically for the time. There is some weakness in the Pinky - grandmother realtionship on screen, but I can't tell whether this is due to Crain, Waters or possibly some conflict with Kazan's direction. Reportedly, Waters was difficult to direct, or at least had a strained realtionship with Kazan, and I sense that Kazan let some scenes slip by unperfected out of exasperation.
I strongly recommend this movie. However, one has to think from the perspective of a 1949 viewer who doesn't know the greater truth telling of the civil rights movement or the even greater To Kill A Mocking Bird are in the future. From that perspective, this movie is reality of what risks could be taken in 1949 movie making and fill a theatre. And, when having difficulty with Crain's casting as Pinky, look for subtlety in how some other characters treat her, and wonder what they might have been able to suggest less subtlety about her father/grandfather if the time was not 1949 America.
Summary of Pinky
Pinky (Jeanne Crain), a black woman who works as a nurse in Boston, finds she is able to "pass for white." Afraid her true heritage will be discovered, she leaves her white fiancé (William Lundigan) and returns home to Mississippi. There, she helps her ailing grandmother (Ethel Waters) by caring for her employer (Ethel Barrymore), an imperious plantation owner. When she names Pinky heiress to her estate, the community rises in resentment, triggering a sensational court trial.Subject of landmark Supreme Court case in film censorship, this story about a mulatto woman's rights against prejudice, became itself, a battle for civil rights.
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