Customer Reviews

Pinky [VHS]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a landmark film, as it tackled issues that were considered to be taboo at the time. Race hate, miscegenation, and passing for white are some of its themes. Unlike "Imitation of Life (1934), which in its own fashion dealt with the themes of passing for white and the unequal opportunities afforded blacks, this is not a sentimental tearjerker of a movie. Rather, there is an undercurrent of anger and righteousness that permeates it, and rightly so. It is a hard edged, no holds barred type of film. There is nothing sentimental about it.

Controversial in its time, the film is about a young bi-racial woman known as "Pinky" (Jeanne Crain), sent up north by her southern granny (Ethel Waters), so that she could receive an education. While up North, she begins passing for white inadvertently, as that is how she is apparently perceived, and makes no move to correct that perception. She studies and works hard, becoming a nurse. She then meets white Dr. Thomas Adams (William Lundigan), and they fall head over heels in love. He has no idea, however, of her background and knows her as "Patricia" not "Pinky".

Pinky, leaving him behind, returns home to the South one last time to confront her past and her personal demons. She ends up meeting bigotry head on, as down South where Pinky is known she is treated as blacks are treated, and does not like it one bit. It hardens her resolve all the more to return North and continue passing for white. She would like nothing better than to put as much distance as is possible between herself and her racial heritage. Helping out her grandmother, however, she ends up playing nurse to Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore), a crotchety, crusty, and ill eighty year old former plantation owner who has come down on hard times.

When Miss Em dies, she wills her estate to Pinky, creating a controversy that rocks the town when the will is challenged by distant relatives, the Wooleys. They are outraged and claim that the "colored girl" used undue influence over the elderly Miss Em. This galvanizes Pinky to stand up for her rights, enduring a mockery of a trial. Moreover, when Dr. Adams comes looking for her, Pinky finds herself taking a position with respect to their relationship that is a revelation to herself.

This is a film that at the time was highly controversial, due to its themes. It was a film that was certainly daring for its times. Why they cast a white woman for the part of a biracial character may seem puzzling to those of us in the twenty first century. I presume that this casting was mandated because there were love scenes between Pinky and her fiance, Dr. Adams, and this type of scene would have been forbidden in those days, if the actress cast for the part of Pinky were other than white. While a bi-racial woman was cast for the role of Peola, the woman who passed for white, in "Imitation of Life" in 1934, it was a safe bet to do so, as she had no love scenes with which to contend. Notwithstanding the casting of Jeanne Crain in the role of Pinky, this film was cutting edge stuff in 1949.

Wonderful performances are given by the entire cast. Ethel Waters, Jeanne Crain, and Ethel Barrymore all received Academy Award nominations for their roles in this film, though none of them won. While Jeanne Crain's casting was a stretch for her as an actress, she did give it her all, letting the viewer sense Pinky's discomfort and angst over the racial divide. Ethel Waters is superb as the hard working, humble soul who did the best that she could for her beloved Pinky. As the imperious Miss Em, Ethel Barrymore was perfectly cast and gives a superlative performance, imbuing the character with a humanity that a lesser actress may not have. All in all, this is a movie that lovers of classic films should enjoy and one that should be in any serious movie lover's collection.

Although this movie is somewhat dated, it has a message that is still important: you must be true to yourself. This was one of the first films to successfully deal with racism. So controversial was this film in 1949 it was banned in the south. The performances by all three women are very good. Jeanne Crain's scenes with Ethel Barrymore are especially moving. I'm surprised by the review from Amazon. You can't look at this film with the eyes of someone living in the 1990s. Pinky should be appreciated for addressing a subject that hadn't been addressed at all up until this film was made. From a technical level, this film is nicely put together. The music, the cinematography are all first rate. As film history, it's worth taking a look.

"Pinky" is one of those old-fashioned "issues" movies popular in the 1940s, such as "Gentlemen's Agreement," which tackled anti-semitism (of note, both of these films were directed by the great Elia Kazan). Unfortunately, these movies don't tend to age particularly well, and even the sympathetic characters often end up looking quite intolerant. However, we shouldn't dismiss these films summarily, as they obviously had an impact on their audience.

Jeanne Crain stars as the title character, a young black woman raised by her grandmother. Granny (Ethel Waters) is a poor, uneducated Southern washer-woman - the kind of good-hearted woman who cares for sick neighbors without compensation. When Pinky was a child, Granny saved every penny she could and sent Pinky up north to go to school and escape the harsh life of segregated Alabama. Pinky is so light-skinned, though, that she begins to "pass" as white; when she returns to Alabama, she has a white fiancé and has been living as a white nurse.

Pinky is shocked by her return to the South and suddenly being treated as a second-class citizen again. Further conflict occurs when Granny asks Pinky to tend to a sick white neighbor - Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore) who lives in a giant, slave-era colonial mansion. Pinky has memories of Miss Em treating her and the other black children poorly. Not surprisingly, Pinky refuses to tend to the racist Miss Em, but when Granny insists, an unlikely bond forms between Miss Em and Pinky. Unfortunately, the plot is awkwardly handled, and the final conflicts are resolved unrealistically.

To a modern audience, this movie certainly doesn't offer any answers regarding racial relations; however, the historical perspective is of interest and the acting is fairly good. A behind-the-scenes drama helps illustrate the status of blacks in 1949 Hollywood - Lena Horne, who was a major star, wanted to play "Pinky," but the producers were not willing to incur the controversy of having a love scene between a black actress and a white actor. Thus, the white actress Jeanne Crain received the role, as well as a later Oscar nomination. Overall, "Pinky" is a decent 1940s drama of added interest for its history. I enjoyed the film, despite its being outdated and somewhat creaky.

When you first look at the cover and the name of the main character you can already tell she is miscast for this role. Then again black people "passing for white" was not a new topic for Hollywood in 1949. It was part of the plot of "Imitation of Life" in 1934, but in that film, an actual black actress, Fredi Washington, played the role of the young woman who "passes" in the white world. In 1949, there were two films dealing with this issue: "Pinky" and "Lost Boundaries," and in both cases, the black person was played by a white actor.

"Pinky" stars Jeanne Crain as Pinky Johnson, a black woman who looks white, so much so that she when she studies nursing in New York, she easily enters the white world and becomes involved with a white doctor who wants to marry her. Needing time to think over her situation, she returns home, which is a shack where her grandmother (Ethel Waters) lives in a black section of their southern town. There she is reminded of the prejudice and cruelty she left. When her grandmother asks her to care for an elderly white woman (Ethel Barrymore), hostility between patient and nurse leads to an uneasy bond.

This is a great film all the way, magnificently directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, who loved taking on these controversial social issues. The acting is superb: Jeanne Crain gives the best performance of her career as a woman who comes to grips with her true identity. She is as dignified as she walks through the town, soft-spoken yet strong, refusing to come down to the level of those around her. Ethel Barrymore is the elderly terminally ill woman Pinky reluctantly agrees to care for, and she nearly steals the movie with a no-nonsense performance. She's a woman set in her ways and opinions, but she's fair person who can see the human soul. It's probably the best drawn character in the film.
I read that Lena Horne was deemed not white-looking enough. I suggest that the same is true for the beautiful Dorothy Dandridge. There may have been black actresses who looked white enough to play this role, but would anyone have answered such a casting call? Most importantly, "Pinky" would not have been made without Jeanne Crain, because Zanuck wanted her to do it, and it's a film that deserved making. The other sticking point in the film is Pinky's fiancée, a white doctor. His easy acceptance of her as black - and the fact that she kept it from him - is a weakness in the script. This was done perhaps to highlight that he wanted to her to continue to pass for white, therefore making it clear that Pinky has to the make the decision, but the scenario does not seem believable.

You can predict the ending of "Pinky," and despite complaints that it's a typically neat Hollywood one; I found it vastly satisfying as I found the entire experience of watching this truly classic film, "Pinky."

PINKY was Jeanne Crain's greatest movie role, the story of a young African American woman whose light complexion causes friction in her small Southern community. Patricia Johnson, nicknamed `Pinky' for obvious reasons, returns home after several years of studying nursing up north, where she was able to pass and live as white without the day-to-day prejudices. Pinky's return is bittersweet when her mixed race is continually pointed out and used against her. After nursing the dying Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore), she inherits her stateley mansion, but the will is contested forcing Pinky to endure a humiliating trial, where she is effectively fighting for her rights as a human being. PINKY is a powerful study of human prejudice and greed, a remarkable film for it's time, and still stands up well today.

Jeanne Crain finally got the respect she deserved in Hollywood, with her portrayal of Pinky. One of Twentieth Century-Fox's main contract players, Crain had previously been cast in uncomplicated, one-note ingenue roles in films like "State Fair", "Cheaper By the Dozen" and "Leave Her to Heaven". Crain was helped no end by talented director Elia Kazan in shaping and developing the demanding and, at times, gritty role of Pinky. Playing Pinky's loving grandmother Dicey, Ethel Waters brings a quiet dignity and strength to every scene; and Ethel Barrymore adds a great deal of humour and heart to the misunderstood Em. All three ladies were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, but this is much much more than a "women's picture". Nina Mae McKinney and William Lundigan (playing Pinky's white boyfriend) offer top supporting turns.

The new DVD from the Fox `Cinema Classics Collection' handsomely packages the film in a cardboard slipcase (featuring the original poster art), audio commentary with historian Kenneth Geist and an envelope containing 4 postcard-sized lobby card reproductions.

Let's start with the casting of Jeanne Crain. There ARE mixed race women who are as light as Jeanne Crain, but because of the "one drop rule," they were in 1949, and often still today are considered black. In today's multi-cultural society these women often embrace their heritage, but the issues they face remain sadly the same today in many facets. African Americans today who are educated are often told they are "talking white."
There is a reason that "she's passing" became an understood term. Very light skinned women & men DID try to do what Pinky here does.
I find this film completely, sadly relevant. These conversations of segregation and intermarriage are STILL going strong. There are African Americans who talk about "white women taking our men" or "stay with your own race." This is segregationist, this is racist, and it still exists very strongly in all racial communities.
Dorothy Dandridge and Lena Horne - great talented beauties, are often mentioned as possible contenders for this role. They were NOT light enough to pass for white, it hampered their careers, and they have both acknowledged that.
Hollywood in general likes their races obvious, casting is still largely done by type and stereotype, no matter what race - even today it would be hard to find an actress of stature who identifies herself as black, but who can totally pass as white; the market doesn't hire these women. Even today my dark skinned actress friends have been told they don't "talk black enough" in auditions. Ethel Waters & Ethel Barrymore are cases in point here. Both fine actresses are playing the same roles they have played in other movies. Both are wonderful, both were completely type cast.
The greatness is in little things like the scene with Nina Mae McKinney next to Frederick O'Neal, next to Jeanne Crain, all 3 differnet skin tones, all playing black folks. THAT is the reality of mysogenation in the South, and that is what people still have trouble with: sometimes race is not just black and white. (McKinney is fantastic, and fills every single second of her screen time to the brim, from the pebble in her shoe to coyly playing piano on the top of a fence.)
Jeanne Crain had enormous courage to portray this role. Not only is she perpetually faulted for being a white woman playing this role, but it was a career risk, some people questioned her heritage in a racist age. That is a tribute to the reality and sensitivity she brought to the role, and her acting, which is often maligned because she had reserve. Her "under" acting is actually the preferred style today in tv and film. She was ahead of her time. Even Kazan eventually credited her work.
This movie is sensitively done in all respects with really great performances top to bottom. It is not glossy or simple, neither race is soley good or soley bad. It is a disservice to have the only commentary done by someone who clearly still does not like the film and doesn't appreciate the complexity of Crain's work here. That a New Yorker thought the court trial didn't look real because people were all fanning themselves shows he has never spent time in the south in a public gathering place.
This film is gauling and aggrivating, and unfortunately still very real. While some call it old-fashioned, it is still much too true. This is not a fun film, it is a great film, that speaks just as much to attitudes held today as it did then.

And "Pinky" came 10 years before "Imitation of Life."

The criticism of casting "lily-white Jeanne Crain" for the part of Pinky is quite unjust.

I was born and raised in the South and and I saw nothing unbelievable in casting Ms. Crain in this part. Genetics - skin color, eye color and other physical characteristics are capable of being quite capricious.

The fact that this film was banned in the South should tell us something about the power in this movie "Pinky."

The movie itself was a wee bit over-acted as old dramatic flicks sometimes are, but I really enjoyed it. A lot of substance in the message - about how to define what we really are and how to define what makes a family and the power of unconditional love to heal and to save.

But my favorite character was Ethel Waters (the Aunt who raises Pinky). She was an incredible actress and completely believable in this role. Humble, gentle, self-sacrificing and ever-loving - while enduring her thankless jobs as nursemaid to a grouch and washwoman who worked for pennies - her part stole the show.

I love the fact that when she came back home that she didn't hide her heritage. Pinky, who called herself Patricia when 'passing' as white. Came back to her hometown to see her grandmother and a patient, (who is her grandmother's employer) tells her to accept who she is. And that the black side of the town needed medical attention,and schooling young,black women to
become nurses also.

"Pinky" has been unfavorably compared to "Imitation of Life" - which results in an unfair conclusion, especially considering the fact that "Pinky" came out in 1949, eight years earlier. The use of Jeanne Crain, as opposed to a light-skinned black woman (who, by the way, would not have been allowed to do the love scenes with the fiance), has also been criticized. However, I found it to be an excellent film, and I applaud the courage of those involved in its making. At the time it was made, such issues were not discussed, and were rarely challenged. Any review must take those obstacles under consideration.

While I would have preferred Dorothy Dandridge or Lena Horne to have payed the titled lead in this interracial romance,produced any released by Fox in 1949, Jeanne Crain does an excellent job of portraying "Pinky" Johnson,a Mississippi "colored" girl,who up north(boston) "passes" for white and falls in love with white doctor William Lundigan,who does a fine job,in a not realized role.3
Ethel Waters as Pinkys' granmother and Ethel Barrymore as a family friend do excellent work as do Frederick O' Neal,Nina Mae McKinney,in smaller, but important roles.3
Elia Kazen,not one of my favorites,for a number of reasons,directed after John Ford was taken ill(actually fired?) and had to leave the production,Kazen did not care for Jeannes' performance.Dudley Nichols(fired because he would not change his downbeat ending) and Phillip Dunne(How Green Was My Valley) wrote the screenplay.
I don't like to use the term "colored",but thats' how Pinky is repeattedly referred to in the film.Maybe 4 and 1/2 stars is a better rating,also Jeanne and both Ethels received AA nominations.