Directed: King Vidor

Year: 1929

Nominated: Best Director – King Vidor

Plot in 25 Words: An “honest” depiction of slave life in 1920s Southern America. An incredibly green cast perform admirably to create one of America’s first all-black films.

In My Opinion: I was really excited to watch this film. While trying to find a copy to watch I’d read a little of the history behind it and was fascinated. At the time the film was made, there was a truly awful racist law in place. It stated no black person could appear on film alongside a white person unless there were playing the role of a supplicant.

It’s something I’ve noticed in quite a few films but I just assumed it was casting choices due to the times, not due to legal obligations.

The only way a black person could appear on film as a regular person and among equals, was if the entire cast was black. King Vidor wanted to portray the life of a ‘Southern negro’ and so he hired an untested full cast. The studio considered it such a risky venture, they made me stump up most of the production costs himself!

If I were being extra cynical I might believe that king Vidor was nominated due to his edgy and slightly rebellious film. I might also suggest that an all-black film would  ever receive the award from an inherently racist voting board.

But I’m not a cynic so I won’t say of that!

So, the film!

Annoyingly, the only copy I could get my eyes on had some sort of glitch in it, and the picture stopped about fifteen minutes from the end, but the sound continued – just as it was getting interesting. Even without pictures, the ending was pretty clear. I’m just sad I missed it after making it through the rest of the film.

The film is essentially about a dimwitted cotton picker named Zeke, who repeatedly falls for and is cheated and tricked by a conniving woman who is probably out of his league to begin with.

The film was a bit long-winded with a random descent into religion but it was moving. Zeke took so many beatings, both physical and psychological, that I was so happy to see him claim his revenge. And seeing him back where he started seemed to be such a depressing conclusion.

Star Performer: Nina Mae McKinney as Chick. Only 16 years old and had never acted on camera before. She played the sinister con woman with just enough innocence to make Zeke’s repeated mistakes believable. i was surprised at her age, I put her at a lot older.

Overall: A quite depressing film but well told. It’s a shame I could only hear the last 20 minutes but the acting and story were clear enough to depict the ending. It could have brought me to tears.