Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)

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 | Lawyer | Wedding | Croquet | Extradition

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) | USA:93 min (edited) (1958 re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent | Mono (Movietone) (musical score and sound effects)

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:

(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land

Impressive Silent

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)

*** (out of 4)

Universal dropped $2 million on this adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, which had been one of the best selling books other than the Bible. The film tells the story of slaves Eliza (Margarita Fischer) and George (Arthur Edmund Carewe) who, after being married, get sold off and spend the rest of the film trying to locate their kid. Also sold off and taken away from his family is Uncle Tom (James B. Lowe) whose prayers don't sit too well with his new master. One has to consider when this film was made and what people then actually thought about black people. This movie has its heart in the right place but I'm sure many would watch this film and find it nearly as racist as something like THE BIRTH OF A NATION. With this film, the blacks are shown to be human but we get the same stupid stereotypes that had hampered countless films before this one. We get blacks standing around with their eyes bugged out with large smiles on their face. We get the "so happy to be a slave" routine, which includes fun dancing and singing. It's always rather strange to see the slaves being shown as happy as their rich owners. The roles of Eliza and George were light-skinned characters in the book and they're played by white people here. That's somewhat to be expected as most black characters were played by whites in blackface but thankfully the director didn't do that here with Uncle Tom and many of the supporting characters. This film was groundbreaking in the use of black actors and on a historic level, this keeps the movie entertaining throughout. Lowe also gives the best performance in the film and delivers a character who will certainly touch the viewer in his strength. The actor does the role justice, which is all you can ask for. Virginia Grey made her film debut here and is quite charming. The rest of the cast members act as if they're doing a stage play but they're fairly good. The film does have a few interesting technical achievements with two coming during a death scene where we get a beautiful camera shot and then a nice special effect of a spirit going to Heaven. The ending is also quite powerful as Uncle Tom's master goes crazy and begins abusing various people.