Pinky (1949)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Elia Kazan
(more)

Writers:

Cid Ricketts Sumner (novel)
Philip Dunne (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

November 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The love story of a girl who passed for white!

Plot:

Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school...

Plot Keywords:

Will | Passing For White | Love | Doctor | South

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Jeanne Crain	...	Patricia 'Pinky' Johnson
Ethel Barrymore	...	Miss Em
Ethel Waters	...	Pinky's Granny
William Lundigan	...	Dr. Thomas Adams
Basil Ruysdael	...	Judge Walker
Kenny Washington	...	Dr. Canady
Nina Mae McKinney	...	Rozelia
Griff Barnett	...	Dr. Joe McGill
Frederick O'Neal	...	Jake Walters
Evelyn Varden	...	Melba Wooley
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Judge Shoreham
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shelby Bacon	...	Boy (uncredited)
Rene Beard	...	Teejore (uncredited)
Bert Conway	...	Loafer (uncredited)
Everett Glass	...	Mr. Jeffers Wooley (uncredited)
William Hansen	...	Mr. Goolby (uncredited)
Arthur Hunnicutt	...	Police Chief (uncredited)
Jean Inness	...	Viola, Saleslady (uncredited)
Tiger Joe Marsh	...	George, Wooleys' Chauffeur (uncredited)
Juanita Moore	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Robert Osterloh	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Tonya Overstreet	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Dan Riss	...	Mr. Stanley, Wooleys' Attorney (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Townsman (uncredited)

Directed by
Elia Kazan
John Ford		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Cid Ricketts Sumner		(novel)
Philip Dunne		(screenplay) and
Dudley Nichols		(screenplay)

Produced by
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
Joseph MacDonald		(director of photography) (as Joe MacDonald)

Film Editing by
Harmon Jones

Art Direction by
J. Russell Spencer
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Eugene Grossman	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Corey	....	grip (uncredited)
Les Everson	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Til Gabani	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Anthony Ugrin	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director (as Charles LeMaire)
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (as Edward Powell)

Other crew
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	presenter
Rose Steinberg	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1949) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #13731) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

William Hansen's feature film debut.

Quotes:

Melba Wooley: Cousin Em, what do you mean, gettin' sick like this?
Miss Em: When you're eighty years old, you expect to be sick. Sit down.
Melba Wooley: Now, now. Naughty, naughty. Eighty years *young* is what we say.
Miss Em: I don't. It's old, and I won't have it minimized. Takes a lot of livin' to get there, and pure, cursed endurance. Eighty years young indeed!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Two Bob Mermaid (1996)

Brave for its time

A light skinned black woman Pinky (Jeanna Crain) returns home to the deep South. She had been at school in the North passing as white and getting her training as a nurse. She's also fallen in love with a handsome, white doctor who knows nothing about her past. It's clear that Pinky HATES being black...but everybody in that town knows she is. She's going to leave but her grandmother (Ethel Waters) asks her to take care a sick mean white woman (Ethel Barrymore) who's near death. Pinky starts to learn to not be ashamed of who she is.

This film was well ahead of its time. In the late 1940s racism was alive and well in the US and this film attacked it. It also showed a black woman who's ashamed of being who she is because of white society. Those were revolutionary ideas at the time. Also there are some disgusting sequences in here that are now almost impossible to watch--the "n" word is used casually; the acts of racism are truly cruel and there's a harrowing scene where Pinky is almost raped just for being black! Still, these scenes need to be shown to see how terrible conditions once were. Still, the picture isn't as brave as it thinks it is. The ending was, for me, entirely predictable and way too "happy".

Top production values help and all the acting is great. Crain (who was white) pulls off a difficult role and was nominated for an Academy Award. Waters and Barrymore are also just great in their roles. This is dated (of course) but still powerful and well worth seeing. For some reason this film just disappeared over the years but now it's back and being rediscovered. Worth catching.