Too much of everything

Better Late Then Never

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Before you dismiss this story as too improbable to believe, particularly with regard to the very fair Jeanne Crain, read Jillian A. Sim's article in American Heritage Magazine: "Fading to White." It is the story of her great-grandmother, Anita Hemmings, the first black woman to attend Vassar College. Only Vassar didn't know she was black, until Anita's roommate did a little digging shortly before graduation and told everyone. This created quite a scandal that got a lot of press attention. Although long forgotten today, her story may have been the inspiration for Pinky.There are some other twists to Sim's account. But one she did not know about at the time was that Anita was a descendant of President Thomas Jefferson. It is a case of truth being stranger than fiction. What if the movie ended with the discovery that Pinky was a descendant of a U.S. President? No one would believe it!Pinky deserves far more recognition today for its bold theme of racial injustice, along with the better known Gentleman's Agreement two years earlier, both produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century-Fox. It is also a fine film, with some interesting twists to the plot.Some might criticize the negative depiction of some blacks early in the film as racist, but that's the kind of nonsense you see a lot of from oversensitive critics. Some whites in the movie are bad people, so why would you not expect that there might be some bad black people in the world, too? We see that there are very good black and white people, too, who rise above the issue of race. I see nothing particularly unrealistic or unfair about Pinky, but at the same time, one should remember this is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary.The theme of a light-skinned black woman passing for white did not originate with Pinky, but with Showboat, including the 1936 and 1951 films. Showboat's first musical incarnation was as a Broadway musical in 1927, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Before that, it was a 1926 novel by Edna Ferber.One of the strengths of the Pinky is the strong sense of atmosphere and place, and some fine cinematography. In the end, it is an inspiring movie, both for the ultimate resolution of the story, and for the fact that it was made in 1949, well before the birth of the modern civil rights movement.

I just do not get it. As much as I tried to like and understand this film called "Pinky", I just, after watching most of it along with a very good "narration", couldn't consign myself to the fact that Jeanne Crain looks anything even remotely like a black person. NO WAY! I have seen or have known black people that have a definite look of "Caucasian" in them BUT NO WAY does Mrs. Crain have an inkling of it! Hence I don't like and can't watch this film because of the "falseness" of it. What were the producers, Zanuck included, thinking? MInd you, I am a filmmaker myself and admire Kazan extremely, especially for films like "Streetcar" and "Waterfront", and I realize his momentum, power, and notoriety back then BUT still, I can't appreciate this film because of the "miss" casting of the role!

Before I saw this movie I thought Pinky should have been played by a Black actress but after watching it I think seeing a White treated like a Black made a much bigger impact on White audiences that were used to, one might say calloused to, Blacks being treated badly. Poor Tom. He loved her but he just didn't get it. Pinky's life was totally outside his frame of reference and he didn't even consider that if they had children it might make his tidy plans blow up in his face.I think this movie has a subtle grasp of race relations that was a credit to the writing, acting, and directing.I wonder what happened to the characters in the oncoming civil rights struggle. The movie necessarily doesn't have a happily ever after ending because it is set firmly in reality and we know too much about future events. Today's audiences might find it ominous that only one White person, the doctor, was even marginally on her side. It would be extremely easy for a small mob to destroy everything. The ending shot with Pinky by the signpost made me feel how alone she was despite being surrounded by people.

PINKY was a bold, cutting-edge movie 60 years ago (in 1949) and holds up solidly in 2009. How fortunate to find a Darryl Zanuck - Elia Kazan collaboration available on Netflix, thus avoiding once again the mindless drivel of most 2009 movies.There is enough honesty in the portrayal of race relations and other attitudes of 1949 America to make watching PINKY a learning experience for the open minded. Too bad this doesn't register with so many liberal empty-heads -- people who fault a 1949 movie for not being compliant with their 2009 hare-brained political correctness dogma. Oh, gosh! A small part of the story concerns the white doctor's plan to go ahead and marry Pinky after learning she's a Negro; but.. BUT.. moving away from his native Boston and setting up shop in Denver. Hush, now! He's not taking a Negro wife back to liberal Boston; no, NO! Subsequent to 1949 America had the entire school integration cause and tons of Boston Liberals hopped Freedom Trains and told Alabamans how to run their schools. Cute! But many remember that the FINAL and BLOODIEST battle of School Integration was fought in Boston, when Bostonians were simply shocked at the idea of their white kids going to school with blacks.The courtroom scenes in Pinky brought together the real clash of ideas in the community -- and this was so much better than in "To Kill a Mockingbird" where alleged hero Aticus Finch engaged in his bogus fight to save an accused Negro who everyone in town knew was not guilty. In Pinky the issues are sharp, and the suspense is genuine.My parents went to see PINKY in 1949, but left their 11 year old at home. I remember the film was controversial, and many wouldn't see it; but it wasn't a red hot issue in Maryland. Then, as now, it's a damn good movie.