Review of Cabin in the Sky (1943) by Edith N — 26 Apr 2007

This is another one of those films where you find yourself using the phrase "for its time" over and over again. "For its time," this is a radical film--the more so if the scene with Lena Horne in a bathtub had been left in it! It's an all-black cast of a vaguely Faustian story, with Eddie Anderson--best known as Rochester from [i]The Jack Benny Program[/i]--as Faust, Ethel Walters as his wife Petunia, and Lena Horne as the film's version of Helen of Troy. I'm okay with that last.

This being of the era it is, you vaguely recognize about half the cast as being servants in other films. One of the angels is portrayed by the same actor who played Pork in [i]Gone With the Wind[/i], and Ehtel Walters originated the role of Beulah, which later went to Oscar Polk's [i]GWTW[/i] costar, Hattie McDaniel. Most of the remaining cast is well-known jazz musicians or else comedians. The tornado is played by the twister from [i]The Wizard of Oz[/i].

I'm a little concerned with the theology of the story, though. God and the Devil won't permit inappropriate thoughts--well, that's doctrine, in some faiths. But that they've got a total of ten Emissaries of whichever side working on the case of one man seems a little improbable. And they allow Petunia's prayer to bring him back from the dead (sort of). So does that mean that those of us who die just don't have anyone who loves us with strong-enough faith?

It's a charming movie, though again, "for its time" is an important phrase to use in summaries. And, of course, it [i]is[/i] a musical, which means that, even if the cast were white, there'd be breaking into song and dance for no real reason. That part isn't at all racist; it's a mark of the genre.

Lena Horne's bubble bath song was cut as being too racy--[i]because[/i] she was black. After all, various white women had been seen onscreen in bubble baths by 1943. But a black woman? Hollywood wasn't ready. Nor, I'm sure, was the South, which was then as now a major source of income for movies. And Gods alone know if the Armed Forces would've let them play it overseas.