Review of Cabin in the Sky (1943) by Orion W — 20 Jul 2008

This came out at about the same time as 20th Century Fox's Stormy Weather, but its obvious that Arthur Freed and Vincente Minnelli gave alot more credit to the African American entertainers than Fox did. They took this Broadway play and did it a great justice on the big screen and let the stars shine all by themselves.

Eddie Anderson Plays Joe, and he does a good job of portraying a man who has a good heart but just can't seem to say no to temptation. Eddie is most remembered for his role on The Jack Benny show on radio and TV, playing his Valet Rochester. As Rochester, Eddie may have been in a sub-servient role, but he was treated as an equal by Mr. Benny, and Jack gave him most of the best jokes. Looking back its amazing how many films Eddie pops up in. I only recently found out he was in Gone With The Wind, that I did not expect.

Ethel Waters plays Joe's wife Petunia, and IMO steals the whole film away with her performance. She was magnificent thats all I can say about it. Its a damn shame she didn't get more leading roles, but again the times didn't allow it. She was a strong minded woman who wasn't afraid to speak out when she didn't like something. This unfortunately got here blacklisted in Hollywood, which it one of the biggest mistakes ever made in Hollywood. They missed the boat with Ethel, she should be much better remember than she is.

Lena Horne plays the seductive Georgia Brown, and I have to say I applaud Joe for resisting her charms because I don't think I could have. Lena is another one Hollywood screwed up with, they could have made her a huge star and all because of the lousy southern states and their damn prejudice, she never got her chance as a film star. She and Ethel were great singers though, so they did quite well on that front I believe, but they deserved much better than they got.

Now there are people who paint this film as racist, but by all accounts, it was not meant to be and was not considered so by the African American community of its time. This film did not belittle the African American population, it was played with great diginity by its cast, In fact I'd venture to say that if they made this film with the usual all white cast, with no changes in the script whatsoever, it would be the same movie it is now. This is a tremendous film, and it should be more well known today.