Home of the Brave (1949)

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Carl Foreman (writer)
Arthur Laurents (play)

Release Date:

14 September 1949 (France)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Excitement - Movie of the Year! Suspense! Action! Adventure! You have never seen a motion picture like it!

Plot:

A sensitive, educated black man's World War II-time problems. This is essentially the duplicate of his...

Plot Keywords:

Black White Relations | African American Man | Racist Insult | Racist | Racial Prejudice

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Jeff Corey	...	Doctor
James Edwards	...	Private Peter Moss
Lloyd Bridges	...	Finch
Douglas Dick	...	Major Robinson
Frank Lovejoy	...	Sergeant Mingo
Steve Brodie	...	T.J. Everett
Cliff Clark	...	Colonel Baker

Also Known As:

High Noon (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

Apparently, former American President Harry S. Truman requested to see a film print of this movie by Screen Plays according to The Hollywood Reporter of 30 March 1949.

Quotes:

Mingo: Divided we fall, united we stand, coward take my coward's hand.

Movie Connections:

Featured in How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass (2003)

Soundtrack:

(Sometimes I Feel Like a) Motherless Child

IMPORTANT STEP TOWARDS THE END OF BLACK STEREOTYPES IN HOLLYWOOD

The importance of this film cannot be overstated. 1 - It gave us JAMES EDWARDS, thus ending Hollywood's Heroic-Black-Man Prohibition. Without Mr. Edwards there would be no Sidney Poitier, no Denzel. 2 - This film, hot on the heels of President Truman's Executive Order integrating America's segregated military, examines the possible pressures of this new policy on both the races - without demeaning either. 3 - Until this time Hollywood had managed to fight two world wars on screen without any major assistance from America's Black population except as domestics. 4 - The existence of HOME OF THE BRAVE put pressure on subsequent films (which only a scant few bowed to)to present a more accurate racial and ethnic portrayal of America's fighting forces. So (with the exception of SAHARA) every Black man in a Hollywood war film owes thanks to Mr. Edwards.

The irony is Mr. Edwards' last film, PATTON, has him portraying a valet. The insult is that Patton's most important victory - The Battle of The Bulge - was facilitated in great part by the contribution of The Big Red One - a battalion of Black truck drivers - who risked all to keep Patton's front supplied until the weather cleared enough to allow cargo flights. This historic fact (the race of the drivers in this segregated unit) is ignored in the film leaving Mr. Edwards with the only Black speaking part in a sweeping biography about a WWII general - isn't this where we came in?

If you examine Mr. Edward's filmography (by which I mean screen the films) it is difficult to understand the spottiness of his career and his relative obscurity. Part of the explanation may lie in the murky machinations of HUAC, McCarthyism, the Hollywood Blacklist and Mr. Edwards' worldwide tour with this film (it included a stop in the then Soviet Union). If you have any information regarding this aspect of his life please post it here.

CeOTIS