Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)
*** (out of 4)
Universal dropped $2 million on this adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, which had been one of the best selling books other than the Bible. The film tells the story of slaves Eliza (Margarita Fischer) and George (Arthur Edmund Carewe) who, after being married, get sold off and spend the rest of the film trying to locate their kid. Also sold off and taken away from his family is Uncle Tom (James B. Lowe) whose prayers don't sit too well with his new master. One has to consider when this film was made and what people then actually thought about black people. This movie has its heart in the right place but I'm sure many would watch this film and find it nearly as racist as something like THE BIRTH OF A NATION. With this film, the blacks are shown to be human but we get the same stupid stereotypes that had hampered countless films before this one. We get blacks standing around with their eyes bugged out with large smiles on their face. We get the "so happy to be a slave" routine, which includes fun dancing and singing. It's always rather strange to see the slaves being shown as happy as their rich owners. The roles of Eliza and George were light-skinned characters in the book and they're played by white people here. That's somewhat to be expected as most black characters were played by whites in blackface but thankfully the director didn't do that here with Uncle Tom and many of the supporting characters. This film was groundbreaking in the use of black actors and on a historic level, this keeps the movie entertaining throughout. Lowe also gives the best performance in the film and delivers a character who will certainly touch the viewer in his strength. The actor does the role justice, which is all you can ask for. Virginia Grey made her film debut here and is quite charming. The rest of the cast members act as if they're doing a stage play but they're fairly good. The film does have a few interesting technical achievements with two coming during a death scene where we get a beautiful camera shot and then a nice special effect of a spirit going to Heaven. The ending is also quite powerful as Uncle Tom's master goes crazy and begins abusing various people.
*** (out of 4)
Universal dropped $2 million on this adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, which had been one of the best selling books other than the Bible. The film tells the story of slaves Eliza (Margarita Fischer) and George (Arthur Edmund Carewe) who, after being married, get sold off and spend the rest of the film trying to locate their kid. Also sold off and taken away from his family is Uncle Tom (James B. Lowe) whose prayers don't sit too well with his new master. One has to consider when this film was made and what people then actually thought about black people. This movie has its heart in the right place but I'm sure many would watch this film and find it nearly as racist as something like THE BIRTH OF A NATION. With this film, the blacks are shown to be human but we get the same stupid stereotypes that had hampered countless films before this one. We get blacks standing around with their eyes bugged out with large smiles on their face. We get the "so happy to be a slave" routine, which includes fun dancing and singing. It's always rather strange to see the slaves being shown as happy as their rich owners. The roles of Eliza and George were light-skinned characters in the book and they're played by white people here. That's somewhat to be expected as most black characters were played by whites in blackface but thankfully the director didn't do that here with Uncle Tom and many of the supporting characters. This film was groundbreaking in the use of black actors and on a historic level, this keeps the movie entertaining throughout. Lowe also gives the best performance in the film and delivers a character who will certainly touch the viewer in his strength. The actor does the role justice, which is all you can ask for. Virginia Grey made her film debut here and is quite charming. The rest of the cast members act as if they're doing a stage play but they're fairly good. The film does have a few interesting technical achievements with two coming during a death scene where we get a beautiful camera shot and then a nice special effect of a spirit going to Heaven. The ending is also quite powerful as Uncle Tom's master goes crazy and begins abusing various people.