IMDb RATING
6.2/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
Judge Priest, a proud Confederate veteran, uses common sense and considerable humanity to dispense justice in a small town in the Post-Bellum Kentucky.Judge Priest, a proud Confederate veteran, uses common sense and considerable humanity to dispense justice in a small town in the Post-Bellum Kentucky.Judge Priest, a proud Confederate veteran, uses common sense and considerable humanity to dispense justice in a small town in the Post-Bellum Kentucky.
Hattie McDaniel
- Aunt Dilsey
- (as Hattie McDaniels)
Melba Brown
- Black Singer
- (uncredited)
Thelma Brown
- Black Singer
- (uncredited)
Vera Brown
- Black Singer
- (uncredited)
Grace Goodall
- Mrs. Maydew
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia"Based on Irvin S. Cobb's character of 'Judge Priest'" was a compromise onscreen source credit. Fox wanted to use "Based on the Judge Priest Stories by Irwin S. Cobb," but Mr. Cobb objected because he had written over 70 stories, was still writing them, and the statement might inhibit future sales of them.
- Quotes
Judge William 'Billy' Priest: Your honor, as I recollect the procedure, at the time bein' I'm an ordinary member of the bar in good standing.
Judge Floyd Fairleigh: Not ordinary, sir, but absolutely in good standing.
- Crazy creditsOpening card: The figures in this story are familiar ghosts of my own boyhood. The war between the states was over, but its tragedies and comedies haunted every grown man's mind, and the stories that were swapped took deep root in my memory. There was one man Down Yonder I came especially to admire for he seemed typical of the tolerance of that day and the wisdom of that almost vanished generation. I called him Judge Priest, and I tried to draw reasonably fair likenesses of him and his neighbors and the town in which we lived. An old Kentucky town in 1890. --- --- Irvin S. Cobb
- ConnectionsFeatured in Of Black America: Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed (1968)
- SoundtracksMy Old Kentucky Home, Good Night
(1853) (uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Foster
Played during the opening and end credits, and often in the score
Also Sung by Hattie McDaniel, Melba Brown, Thelma Brown, Vera Brown,
Will Rogers and others
Featured review
This is warm movie with plenty of sympathetic characters. And plenty of nasty ones. A young love is threatened by a class-conscious mother, while the uncle is
well, he's Will Rogers. (The character's name is the title, Judge Billy Priest, but I suspect he's the "Will Rogers" character.) As with anything cast in the deep south in the 1890s, there are some moments and characters with which you might find yourself uncomfortable. I was taken aback by "Jeff Poindexter," portrayed by then-popular black actor Stepin Fetchit. (Fetchit has an awful, partisan political bio here at IMDb the man deserves much better -- but he is an interesting story.) He seemed to me to be a set of overblown stereotypes, but the Judge befriends him and my wife was simply taken with him.
There's a lot to like about this film, although it does drag in places. (I was surprised when the lawn party ends.) I had to smile, though, when the judge got to play lawyer, called on witness, and the universe stood still to the strains of "Dixie."
There's a lot to like about this film, although it does drag in places. (I was surprised when the lawn party ends.) I had to smile, though, when the judge got to play lawyer, called on witness, and the universe stood still to the strains of "Dixie."
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Old Judge Priest
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 20 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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