Pinky :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Old-fashioned But Still Powerful

2008-08-25
A good story and fine performances from two old stage pros (Ethel Waters and Ethel Barrymore). Jeanne Crain as a black girl strains credibility, no doubt. But the ensemble scenes of white bigots and the way a handful of whites stand up to them is very anticipatory of To Kill a Mockingbird. A powerful film in the end.

Pinky-The Movie

2008-03-25
A very nice copy of an old classic. My mother called my daughter "Pinky" for years. I finally got saw the movie and saw what she meant. What an interesting movie which shows just how far America has come in her thinking since this movie was made. This movie and "Imitation of Life" are perfect rainy day movies!

PINKY

2008-01-08
THIS IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME CLASSIC FAVORITES!! I LOVED ETHEL WATERS & JEANNE CRAIN IN THIS BEAUTIFULLY CREATED MOVIE OF TRUE LIFE OCCURENCES! I LOVE THIS MOVIE, IT'S A TRUE CLASSIC!!
CECELIA P.
LOS ANGELES, CA.

RedsBaby

2007-11-22
Take you to a time where people look at you and judge, before knowing you. Which show us that much really hasn't change.

Interesting film for its time

2007-09-10
Despite this film punching all my uncomfortable buttons, I can appreciate what the filmmakers were TRYING to do. There's no sense in me trying to get irate about how the African Americans in this film were portrayed because according to my grandmother's stories, the film is pretty accurate for that time and place in America history. I think the controversy of the time or even now was the fact that the lead was portrayed by a white woman. But then again so was Sarah Jane in the Imitation of life. Of course if a black actress could pass for white, the last thing she would admit to Hollywood directors was that she black. Did that make sense? Ethel Barrymore was just born to act. Her performance was great and of course it's great to see Ethel Waters as well-though I perfer to hear her sing. For me, the ending makes this a good film for me. Pinky opens a Nursing School for African Americans, and at least that's a positive thing.

AN UNITENTIONALLY RACIST BUT INTERESTING MOVIE

2007-06-20
Pinky (Jeanne Crain), a black woman who works as a nurse in Boston, finds she is able to "pass for white." Afraid her true heritage will be discovered, she leaves her white fiancé (William Lundigan) and returns home to Mississippi. There, she helps her ailing grandmother (Ethel Waters) by caring for her employer (Ethel Barrymore), an imperious plantation owner. When she names Pinky heiress to her estate, the community rises in resentment, triggering a sensational court trial.

Subject of landmark Supreme Court case in film censorship, this story about a mulatto woman's rights against prejudice, became itself, a battle for civil rights.

PINKY 2007-05-09
very interesting story about a black mother, Ethel Waters, raising her mix color daughter. The mother washed clothes and baked goodies to sale to folks just to make money to send Pinky, her daughter, to nursing school. The old lady in this movie, who was very ill, showed a little racial differences in the beginning of the movie but understood that Pinky was to be a nurse and care for the needed. she dieds and leave the house to Pinky which she changed into a Hospital for children. Lovely story.

Pretty risky for a 1940's movie... 2007-01-11
This was a very good movie for its time. What I love about these old movies is that they don't rely on special effects and explosions to make a good movie. There's a strong story here, good acting, and I was left wondering at the end "what next?". Crain's character, Pinky, is a quarter black and she's been passing for white until she goes home to her southern town. Not used to the ill treatment of blacks at the hands of whites, she slowly adjusts as she begins caring for Miss Em (Barrymore). When Miss Em dies, she leaves her house to Pinky. This incenses her cousin's wife and the villain drags Pinky to court. I will most likely watch this again, as it had a real, honest feel to it, even though Lena Horne probably would have been good for the role of Pinky (I won't argue Crain's talent here, though; she's good).

Excellant, right up there with WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 2007-01-05
This is a great movie for "Thinking People." Lemmings & Rascists need not read any further.

This movie is a study in humanity and racism in this country. The protagonist is a young biracial woman who "grew up Black" in the deep south during the 30s-40s. When her grandmother sent her to the big city in the north, she "passed" as white. See there is a way of thinking which says that if you have "one drop" of Black blood in you (for those who don't understand DNA) that you are Black. Well, in polite, intelligent society- who cares?

After becoming a nurse, Pinky returns to her hometown and at first she is treated as White and once that her identity is discovered, you see her instant transformation to a Black person.

The movie full demonstrates the lunacy racism and shows you just how differently humans are often treated jjust because of ancestry.

Loved it. A lot to to ponder. It could easily be remade with modern examples.

When this film is not Controversial, we'll know we've arrived. 2006-12-11
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.