Directed by:
Pierre ChenalCinematography:
Antonio MerayoComposer:
Juan EhlertCast:
Richard Wright, Jean Wallace, Nicholas Joy, George Rigaud, Charles Cane, Cecile Lezard, Willa Pearl CurtisVOD (1)
Plots(1)
Richard Wright’s legendary novel is at once an American classic and an incisive examination of what it means to be black in America. The writer himself stars in this superlative adaptation of his story. The setting is Chicago, a vast modern metropolis with much to offer in the way of diversion. However, an invisible color line separates the haves and have-nots in the Windy City. Young Bigger Thomas finds himself trapped within the confines of that line. He lives with his mother and two siblings in a rat-infested ghetto hovel. Bigger has spent his entire life reading, dreaming about machines and planes. His desire is to become an explorer or flyer. Because of his race, he has learned early on that it is better to keep your dreams locked in your heart. Anger constantly seethes within Bigger, who already has been involved in committing petty crimes. However, he is pleased when a kindly and wealthy white man hires him as a chauffeur. Bigger proudly drives the man’s fancy automobile through the ghetto and takes his girl on an outing to an amusement park and the beach. On his first evening at work, he is assigned to drive his employer’s daughter to her school. The spiraling events and ensuing tragedy that culminates on that fateful night serve to mirror the manner in which, by Wright’s way of thinking, the inequities in the American system wreck lives and breed savagery and disorder. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Richard Wright
USA
Jean Wallace
USA
Best movies:
The Big Combo (1955)
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
No Blade of Grass (1970)
Nicholas Joy
France
Best movies:
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Desk Set (1957)
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
George Rigaud
Argentina
Best movies:
The Black Tulip (1964)
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Grand Slam (1967)
Charles Cane
USA
Best movies:
The Killing (1956)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Big Heat (1953)
Willa Pearl Curtis
USA
Best movies:
The Lost Weekend (1945)
The Valley of Decision (1945)
Unconquered (1947)