Pinky (1949)

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Cid Ricketts Sumner (novel)
Philip Dunne (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

November 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The love story of a girl who passed for white!

Plot:

Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school...

Plot Keywords:

Will | Passing For White | Love | Doctor | South

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Jeanne Crain	...	Patricia 'Pinky' Johnson
Ethel Barrymore	...	Miss Em
Ethel Waters	...	Pinky's Granny
William Lundigan	...	Dr. Thomas Adams
Basil Ruysdael	...	Judge Walker
Kenny Washington	...	Dr. Canady
Nina Mae McKinney	...	Rozelia
Griff Barnett	...	Dr. Joe McGill
Frederick O'Neal	...	Jake Walters
Evelyn Varden	...	Melba Wooley
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Judge Shoreham

Also Known As:

En droppe negerblod (Sweden) [sv]
Herança Cruel (Portugal) [pt]
Kara damga (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
L'héritage de la chair (France) [fr]
Lo que la carne hereda (Argentina) [es]
Pinky (Denmark) [da]
Pinky i migas (Greece) [el]
Pinky la negra bianca (Italy) [it]
Veren perintö (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #13731) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

William Hansen's feature film debut.

Quotes:

Melba Wooley: Cousin Em, what do you mean, gettin' sick like this?
Miss Em: When you're eighty years old, you expect to be sick. Sit down.
Melba Wooley: Now, now. Naughty, naughty. Eighty years *young* is what we say.
Miss Em: I don't. It's old, and I won't have it minimized. Takes a lot of livin' to get there, and pure, cursed endurance. Eighty years young indeed!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998) (TV)

2 Ethels + 1 Kazan = Classic

It is not very "in" to like Elia Kazan right now, because he named names in the McCarthy witch-hunts and just received an honorary Oscar, but what a brilliant director he was. And if he didn't show much courage in the Fifties, he sure did in the Forties when he tackled racial prejudice head-on in two excellent movies: "Gentleman's Agreement" and "Pinky" (John Ford is said to have chickened-out of directing this one). "Pinky" is not as good as "Gentleman's Agreement", but it ain't half bad either. Here we see a deeply prejudiced South where black girls are attacked on the streets and shops refuse them service. The scenes are realistic, even brutally filmed, and the language strong for its day.

I'm sure Kazan must have been dismayed to have been given a Hollywood starlet to play the complex lead character - a black woman who looks white - but he managed to extract a damn good performance out of Jeanne Crain. The supporting cast is flawless, down to the smallest role. Kazan knew how to direct actors. Evelyn Varden deserves special mention as a vicious Southern matron. But the most praise must be reserved for the two Ethels - Waters and Barrymore - who are nothing short of brilliant.

Okay, the ending's a little dicky, and predictable, but the intentions of the film-makers are sincere and the results must have been revolutionary in 1949. I love the way Kazan shoots his movies too - long unbroken sequences and tracking shots, and excellent use of light and shadow - both of which probably coming from his stage experience. Kazan combined a strong ability to work with actors and a keen cinematic eye to create some of the best dramatic films of the century. And "Pinky" is one of these.