King Vidor’s first ‘Talkie’ was a long held dream project to make an African-American (‘all-colored’) film, & it remains both naive & beautiful. Part One uses too many stereotypes for modern sensibilities (songful cotton sharecroppers, gambling dens, loaded dice, shifty jazz babies & childlike men), but it’s remarkably fluid moviemaking for its date (only Lubitsch & Sternberg could have matched it), filled with unmatchable documentary flavor & music. (Irving Berlin ’s two uncredited numbers fit right in.) In Part Two, our hero finds religion and the revival, baptismal & church scenes remain extraordinary on any level even as the melodrama bumps along. It’s noticeable in this transitional period that Vidor ’s amateurs now look more comfortable on screen than the pro actors. Watch especially for Everett McGarrity as Spunk.
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