Movie #372 "Pinky" -- I had heard about this movie for a while, so when I found it on TCM the other night, I stayed up to watch it. I must admit, it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, but it was powerful --- for it's time. Ethel Walters/Ethel Barrymore/Elia Kazan, and a racial conflict all in one film raise the stakes high as to a hit of a movie, but Jeanne Crain, to me, was always a weak actress, and the movie is ultimately hers, and I think that is the weakness. That, and that she was clearly one of the whitest female actresses in Hollywood at the time --- so I'm not sure why it was cast with her. I did like the boyfriend part of the story , though---- and it surprised me what happened at the end of that part of the story. That added to the power of it --- and the ending made me smile. Of course, it probably would never happen in that way, but I still liked where the film went. There were some racially charged scenes in this film that I don't think I've ever seen in a film --- and for that reason, a movie like this has its place in history. It discusses what we as a society tend not to discuss -- what we tend to shove under the carpet, and these discussions need to occur for us to appreciate each other more. End of soap box.
3 stars
Pinky
(1949) NR
Elia Kazan's anti-racist drama centers on a light-skinned black woman trying to fit into society. When her white boyfriend proposes, Patricia "Pinky" Johnson (Jeanne Crain) fears that he can't handle an interracial marriage and leaves him. She returns to her Southern childhood home, where her grandma (Ethel Waters) cares for rich Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore). When Miss Em wills her estate to Pinky, the young woman must endure a painful legal battle.
Genre: Classic Dramas, Social Issue Dramas, African-American Dramas
This movie is: Heartfelt, Sentimental
Format: DVD
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