Native Son (1951)

Director:

Pierre Chenal

Writers:

Pierre Chenal (writer)
Richard Wright (novel)

Release Date:

2 March 1951 (Argentina)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

I didn't mean to KILL her!

Plot Keywords:

Frame Up | Blind Woman | Chauffeur | Lawyer | Murder

Cast

Richard Wright	...	Bigger Thomas
Gloria Madison	...	Bessie Mears
Willa Pearl Curtis	...	Mrs. Hannah Thomas
Nicholas Joy	...	Henry Dalton
Ruth Robert	...	Helen Dalton
Charles Cane	...	Det. Britten
George D. Green	...	Panama
Jean Wallace	...	Mary Dalton
George Rigaud	...	Farley, a reporter
Leslie Straugh	...	Buddy Thomas
Lidia Alves	...	Vera Thomas
Charles Simmonds	...	Ernie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ned Campbell	...	Buckley
Don Dean	...	Max
Cecile Lezard	...	Peggy, housekeeper
Lewis MacKenzie	...	Stanley
Gene Michael	...	Jan Erlone
George Nathanson	...	Joe, a reporter
Georges Roos	...	Scoop

Also Known As:

Sangre negra (Argentina)

Runtime:

USA:91 min | Argentina:104 min

Country:

USA | Argentina

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:18

Filming Locations:

Argentina

Company:

Argentina Sono Film S.A.C.I.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Native Son (1986)

A definite curio

Author Tom Clancy has been very critical of the way his novels, including "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger," have been adapted for the screen, and he has been especially critical of the casting, believing that Harrison Ford is too old to play his CIA agent hero, Jack Ryan. Perhaps Clancy should do what black novelist Richard Wright did in 1950: play the lead role in the film version of his novel. The novel in question is "Native Son," the now classic tale of Bigger Thomas, a poor black youth who takes the job of chauffeuring the daughter of an affluent white liberal, only to kill the girl out of fear rather than malice.

The movie was produced on a miniscule budget in Europe, and despite poor acting, low-class production values, and a generally amateurish tone, it is of definite interest due to the casting of Wright as Bigger. Sure, Mickey Spillane would play his creation, the hard-nosed private detective Mike Hammer, in 1963's "The Girl Hunters," but whatever Spillane's merits as a writer, he has never been considered a "serious" novelist. Wright, on the other hand, was the first black author to break from the literary ghetto in which Negro writers were usually placed, and be acclaimed as a distinguished man of letters regardless of race. His is a prestigious name in literature, so it comes as quite a shock to see this great writer willing to be seen as a bad actor. But Wright is surrounded by thespians who are just as bad, and can't boast of having written a literary classic. Most of the cast is as amateurish in their portrayals as the stock company Edward Wood employed in such laughably inept productions as "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Bride of the Monster." The overall production is not as shoddy as Wood's films, but the middle-aged Wright's portrayal of 19-year-old Bigger Thomas is more than enough to thoroughly sink it.

Still, this is a definite curio, and worth a look for anyone as interested in literature as they are in cinema.