(109 mins.) Released 1929-08-20
Director: King Vidor
Stars: Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, Harry Gray
drama, musical
originally posted 22 Sep 2017 14:09
The opening scene is a shock after watching the first 5: it's filmed with sound OUTDOORS in a cotton field, singing and speaking: breathtaking! (It's possible that when the actors are speaking, we are actually in a sound studio, but the lighting and the vegetation look very much outdoors, but it's a close-up.)
.
The whole film has sound, but plenty of scenes have that the uneven movement of filmed silent and scored with music and sound effects after the fact. We are still in 1929 after all. I can't be sure if the foot chase through the mangrove roots was silent+score, but it's very well done.
.
The movie is too long, melodramatic and stereotypical, but I have to recommend it for it's place in sound evolution, the all-black cast, and especially for the 2 stars: Daniel Haynes and Nina Mae McKinney.
.
He is a handsome bass-baritone who acts well enough, although he's among those giving stereotypical performances. His voice reminds me a little of Paul Robeson (whose films are not classified as Musical even though he sings 4 songs... will try to fix that in IMDb.)
.
Nina Mae is riveting to watch. She's got looks, can sing and dance, and acts up a storm. This is her first film (she's only 17), and 15 years later she's playing maids without screen credit. Ugh! I tried to think of a parallel white singer/dancer/actress who would play bad girls like this, and no musical stars come to mind. When I widened my search, I thought of Jean Harlow, who doesn't really sing or dance, and found that Nina Mae appeared with Harlow in Reckless (1935).
.
Worth the price of the dvd: 2 shorts with Nina Mae and the young Nicholas Brothers, released in 1932 (they were 11 and 18) and 1936 (they don't look 4 years older).
.
MGM, dir. Vidor; 7
