Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Harry A. Pollard

Writers:

Harriet Beecher Stowe (novel)
Harvey F. Thew (continuity) ...

Release Date:

2 September 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

Carl Laemmle's $2,000,000.00 Romance of the Old South.

Plot:

Slavery tears apart a black family in the South before the start of the Civil War. |

Plot Keywords:

Slavery | Beaten To Death | Escape | Wedding | Ghost

Cast

Margarita Fischer	...	Eliza
James B. Lowe	...	Uncle Tom
Arthur Edmund Carewe	...	George Harris (as Arthur Edmund Carew)
George Siegmann	...	Simon Legree
Eulalie Jensen	...	Cassie
Mona Ray	...	Topsy
Virginia Grey	...	Eva St. Clare
Lassie Lou Ahern	...	Little Harry
Lucien Littlefield	...	Lawyer Marks
Adolph Milar	...	Mr. Tom Haley
J. Gordon Russell	...	Tom Loker (as Gordon Russell)
Gertrude Howard	...	Aunt Chloe - Uncle Tom's Wife
Jack Mower	...	Mr. Shelby
Vivien Oakland	...	Mrs. Shelby
John Roche	...	Augustine St. Clare

Runtime:

144 min | 112 min (Kino Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent | Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Arkansas, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Debut of Virginia Grey.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Naughty Nineties (1945)

Soundtrack:

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Another Golden Epic

This is perhaps the best film adaption of the classic Harriet Beecher Stowe novel. One of the more expensive films for the time, a price tag of $1.8 million, it is brimming with brilliant photography and fine performances. A film beautifully restored with the original movietone score and one of the few surviving works of director Harry Pollard, a lesser known name in the annals of cinema history but nonetheless an innovative filmmaker. Mr. Pollard successfully captures the mood of the old pre-war South while emphasizing the horror and immorality of slavery. James Lowe gives a fine performance in the title role, obedient yet not lacking integrity. Some characterizations may seem degrading to today's audiences, but this film was groundbreaking for its sympathy for African-Americans of the time. This film is also important in that it features a great actress of the silent period and wife of the director, Margarita Fischer. I had seen many striking photos of Ms. Fischer in Daniel Blum's Pictorial History of the Silent Screen and was delighted to find one of her few surviving films on video. She stars as Eliza, a fair skinned servant who eventually falls into the hands of the sinister Simon Legree, played by George Siegmann. Ms. Fischer gives a powerful performance of a young woman defying the evils of a cruel world and there is a memorable scene of her flight to freedom across the ice flows with her son. This was this lovely actresses' swan song, for she retired prematurely after this film and lived many more years. An early appearance of Virginia Grey as Little Eva, Harry Pollard's mastery of filmmaking, and Margarita Fischer's beauty and talent all combine to make film preservation an important cause.