Poor Georgette Harvey, the singer and actress who played the supporting role of Maria in both the original "Porgy" and its musical version, "Porgy and Bess". She made only a handful of films which document her acting on screen, unlike her stage work which is lost forever. In this way below Z grade exploitation film, she plays an evil mammy obsessed with revenge, directed to overact and thus be preserved as long as this film survives as a representation of one of the most sinister of black stereotypes. Coming off feisty but kindly in the first reel, she quickly turns, taking the light skinned young woman (Olive Borden) she claims to be her daughter back to her home to avenge the death of her father whom she claims was Borden's father. Of course, she's got all the facts wrong, and looks on with sinister intent as Borden falls in love with the white Reed Howes who works for wealthy plantation owner Francis Joyner whom Harvey blames for lynching her dead husband. The revenge includes the use of black magic, aka "voodoo", and that leads to a ceremony where Joyner's niece (Molly O'Day) is kidnapped and prepped to be a sacrifice.
I give this more than a "bomb" rating simply because it made me laugh (even though I felt guilty about laughing) at how ridiculous the whole story it was. I am way beyond judging films for long gone viewpoints of blacks and other minorities in films, even though this is obviously considered way beyond offensive today. I consider this a truly lousy film in the sense that the dialog is outlandish, the plot contrived, and any realistic motivations guiding the characters completely absent. Borden and O'Day, completely forgotten today, were once major young ingenues in early talkies, and other than one scene where O'Day makes her concerns known about welcoming Borden into the family known to her uncle, there is really no dynamic for intrigue concerning their characters. There's really a lack of a showdown between Harvey and Joyner, only the slightest resolution of their conflict, and never believable. Some stereotypical "Uncle Tom" type characters try to lighten down the presentation of blacks as evil devil worshipers, but even their patronizing behavior towards Joyner (pretty much made out to be almost saintly) is a bit disconcerting as well. This is the type of film I would consider like the presentation of "Glen or Glenda" as seen by a Paramount executive in "Ed Wood": the type of a film made and sent to someone in the hierarchy seemingly as a joke.
I give this more than a "bomb" rating simply because it made me laugh (even though I felt guilty about laughing) at how ridiculous the whole story it was. I am way beyond judging films for long gone viewpoints of blacks and other minorities in films, even though this is obviously considered way beyond offensive today. I consider this a truly lousy film in the sense that the dialog is outlandish, the plot contrived, and any realistic motivations guiding the characters completely absent. Borden and O'Day, completely forgotten today, were once major young ingenues in early talkies, and other than one scene where O'Day makes her concerns known about welcoming Borden into the family known to her uncle, there is really no dynamic for intrigue concerning their characters. There's really a lack of a showdown between Harvey and Joyner, only the slightest resolution of their conflict, and never believable. Some stereotypical "Uncle Tom" type characters try to lighten down the presentation of blacks as evil devil worshipers, but even their patronizing behavior towards Joyner (pretty much made out to be almost saintly) is a bit disconcerting as well. This is the type of film I would consider like the presentation of "Glen or Glenda" as seen by a Paramount executive in "Ed Wood": the type of a film made and sent to someone in the hierarchy seemingly as a joke.