Band of Angels (1957)

Mantha Starr grows up as a privileged southern Belle in the ante-bellum South but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers her mother was black.

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Robert Penn Warren (novel), John Twist (screenplay),

Stars:

Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier

Cast

Cast overview:
Clark Gable	...	Hamish Bond
Yvonne De Carlo	...	Amantha Starr
Sidney Poitier	...	Rau-Ru
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.	...	Lt. Ethan Sears
Rex Reason	...	Capt. Seth Parton (Union officer)
Patric Knowles	...	Charles de Marigny
Torin Thatcher	...	Capt. Canavan
Andrea King	...	Miss Idell
Ray Teal	...	Mr. Calloway
Russell Evans	...	Jimmee (Bond's steward)
Carolle Drake	...	Michele (Bond's housekeeper)
Raymond Bailey	...	Mr. Stuart (plantation owner)
Tommie Moore	...	Dollie (Bond's house servant)

Storyline

Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her widower father, a wealthy plantation owner, dotes on her and he sends her to the best schools. When he dies suddenly however, Amantha's world is turned upside down. She learns that her father had been living on borrowed money and that her mother was actually a slave and her father's mistress. The plantation is to be sold to pay off her father's debts and as the daughter of slave, Amantha is also to be sold as property. She is bought by a Louisiana plantation owner, Hamish Bond and over time she grows to love him until she learns he was a slave-trader. She tries again to become part of white society but realizes that her future lies elsewhere.

---

Plot Keywords:

plantation | plantation owner | slave | kentucky | louisiana | 

---

Taglines:

You're no blue blood any more, honey. The master bought you...and now he's waitin'!

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Romance

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 August 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Weint um die Verdammten

Filming Locations:

Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation - State Highway 75, Geismer, Louisiana, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was derisively nicknamed "The Ghost of Gone with the Wind".

---

Quotes

Amantha Starr: [Wakes up in bed, stretches] Mr. Hamish Bond can't keep me here! I'm leaving the moment his back is turned.
Michele: [Offers a tray of food] The Master said those low-down men didn't bother to feed you. You must be very hungry.
Amantha Starr: [Frowns] I'll leave... as soon as I've had the chance to rest and recover my strength.
[Picke up a knife and fork and begins to eat]

---

Connections

Edited into La classe américaine (1993)

---

Soundtracks

"band of Angels"
(uncredited)
Music by Max Steiner
Lyrics by Carl Sigman
Sung by chorus over main titles

User Reviews

Very good - for several reasons

This is a better film than history has accorded it, and presents even more reasons to view it today than in times nearer to its production neatly 50 years ago. First, it is a later film directed by Walsh, who made and average of over 2-1/2 movies per year from 1912 to the early 1960's. (Unfortunately, one of his last, "Marines, Let's Go," is one of the greatest wastes of celluloid in the history of the industry, but doesn't obviate the quality and significance of most of his work.) Since this is a Civil War-era film, but made before the defining, sweeping civil rights occurrences, turmoil, and advancements generated by the 1960's - it provides an excellent presentation of the previous approach to this subject. I recall reading sometime back a comment about Walsh's "Tall Men" film, also starring Gable, along with Robert Ryan and Cameron Mitchell - using the now-antiquated term "lusty," in describing the characters and actors in the picture, as well as the types of films often made by Walsh, and those with Clark Gable. Clark, as Hamish Bond, personifies "lusty" in this film, with a CAPITAL "L" - part of the film's depicting quintessential 1950's work. Yvonne DeCarlo is a lovely presence, and while her physical beauty wasn't completely-hidden by her "Munsters" persona, it's pleasing to see her, in plainer view and when she was younger. Sidney Poitier is excellent as usual. but doesn't he always seem as if he is on the verge of grabbing a spear, and leading a horde of natives in storming the southern African British garrison, undermanned and commanded by, say, Jack Hawkins, John Mills or Alec Guinness? Rex Reason, as a union officer, former acquaintance of De Carlo, who turns smarmy when he discovers her in New Orleans, provides a time capsule example for the word "hipocracy." That the plot is one of those is one of those where you can see both the short- and long-term developments coming (right to the film's climax) from the proverbial "mile away," doesn't diminish the enjoyment of this presentation on many levels -- the final being that this is among several of the films Gable made in what was the unexpected end of his iconic career, from a heart attack only a few years following.