Way Down South

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Way Down South
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1939
length 63 minutes
Rod
Director Bernard Vorhaus
script Clarence Muse
Langston Hughes
production Sol Lesser
Bobby Breen Productions
Distributor RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
music Victor Young
Hall Johnson
Clarence Muse
Langston Hughes
camera Charles Schoenbaum
cut Arthur Hilton
occupation

Way Down South is an American musical- drama from 1939 directed by Bernard Vorhaus . The screenplay for the film was written by Langston Hughes , poet and American writer of the African American artist movement Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s, together with Clarence Muse. Muse was known for advocating that colored people are not deprecated in films.

action

The year is 1854 and the American Civil War is still a few years away. For Timothy Reid, owner of the luxurious Bayou Lovelle plantation in Louisiana , it is natural to show a generous attitude towards his slaves and to treat them with kindness and understanding. The well-being of the people entrusted to him is his top priority. When Reid dies in a tragic accident, the lawyer Martin Dill is appointed executor because Reid's son Timothy junior is not yet of legal age. Dill is a cold-hearted and unscrupulous man who is also incited by his greedy lover Pauline to sell the plantation, including the slaves and all assets, and to snatch the proceeds and then disappear to Europe.

Young Reid, who, like his father, is just and generous and has to watch the slaves being beaten and humiliated by Dill, gets the local innkeeper, Jacques Bouton, a Cajun , to help him, especially since he is behind Dill's plans came. He is also assured of the support of the faithful slave Caton and the slave boy Gumbo, who is Timothy's age. Bouton immediately turns to the judge Ravenal, who he knows, who intervenes immediately and prevents the slaves and the property from being sold.

Production and Background

According to a message in the Hollywood Reporter , a film industry magazine, Clarence Muse signed a contract that identified him as both an actor, technical advisor and dance director in the film. The filming extended from April 26 to May 19, 1939 and took place at the Providencia Ranch in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles , in Universal City , at the Uplifters Ranch in Santa Monica and at the Stratton Ranch in Calabasas , all of them in California .

The film had its cinema premiere in the USA on July 21, 1939 .

Critics of the film criticized an overly romanticized way of depicting the coexistence between white rule and the slaves. The film's supporters pointed out, however, that the white slave owner made the virtues of the black population and their culture a topic of discussion, which was not often the case in Hollywood films of the 1930s.

Way Down South was dominated by the then-12-year-old child star, Bobby Breen, who played the orphaned Timothy Reid who is said to be exploited and passed over in inheritance by the greedy attorney Martin Dill and his lover. The music tracks built into the musical for Breen brought out his beautiful soprano voice well, especially since the melodramatic plot allowed the music numbers a lot of time. Most of the songs were written by Hughes and Muse. The film got an Oscar nomination for Victor Young's setting. Breen's career ended abruptly when he hit puberty and lost his soprano voice.

The dark-skinned actor Clarence Muse (1889-1979) was also known in the USA as a long-time actor in his theater role of Uncle Tom , which he was repeatedly reproached for. The critic Donald Bogle replied that these people had overlooked the fact that he had played this role "with great intelligence and thoughtfulness." Langston Hughes (1902-1967) became an icon of the civil rights movement with his poem I, Too, Sing America . Hughes wrote acclaimed poems, novels, short stories, plays, operas and essays , also worked for children, and wrote two autobiographies. More of his works were filmed. His work focused on the life of African Americans and the promotion of equality. Bernard Vorhaus, the director of this film, was 1898 in Germany born, fled from the Nazis to the United States and began a successful film career, until he of the Communists on the so-called black list because of un-American activities has been set. He then fled to London , where he lived until his death, he was 102 years old.

Songs in the movie

  • Good Ground sung by the Hall Johnson Choir
  • Louisiana sung by Bobby Breen, Alan Mowbray and the Hall Johnson Choir
  • Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen , sung by the Hall Johnson Choir, Traditional Negro Spiritual
  • Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child sung by Bobby Breen and the Hall Johnson Choir
  • Peter, Go Ring Dem Bells , sung by the Hall Johnson Choir, Traditional Negro Spiritual
  • Oh, the golden slippers! sung by Clarence Muse, Ralph Morgan, Bobby Breen and "Stymie" Beard
  • Some Folks , sung by Bobby Breen, Steffi Duna and others
  • Nobody Pray sung by the Hall Johnson Choir
  • Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? , sung by Clarence Muse and the Hall Johnson Choir
  • Lord, If You Can't Come, Send One Angel Down

criticism

Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times was unimpressed by the film adaptation and said it was indeed a sad story, just as sad as singing the Hall Johnson Choir with Negro Spirituals like 'Nobody Knows de Trouble I. See ',' Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child 'and' Lord If You Can't Come, Send One Angel Down '.

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1940 , Victor Young was nominated in the "Best Film Music" category. However, the Oscar went to Richard Hagemann , William Franke Harling , John Leipold and Leo Shuken for their music in the Western Ringo .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Way Down South (1939) Articles at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  2. ↑ Way Down South (1939) Notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  3. ↑ Way Down South (1939) Original Print Information from TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  4. ↑ Way Down South (1939) soundtracks on IMDb. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  5. ^ Frank S. Nugent: Way Down South (1939) In: The New York Times, August 18, 1939. Retrieved January 8, 2014.