Bright Road (1953)

Based on the story, See How They Run (The Ladies' Home Journal June 51), and subsequently won that year's Christopher award. The story was written by Mary Elizabeth Vroman, a 4th generation... See full summary »

Director:

Gerald Mayer

Writers:

Emmet Lavery (screenplay), Mary Elizabeth Vroman (story "See How They Run")

Stars:

Dorothy Dandridge, Philip Hepburn, Harry Belafonte

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dorothy Dandridge	...	Jane Richards
Philip Hepburn	...	C.T. Young
Harry Belafonte	...	Mr. Williams - School Principal
Barbara Randolph	...	Tanya Hamilton (as Barbara Ann Sanders)
Robert Horton	...	Dr. Mitchell
Maidie Norman	...	Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
Rene Beard	...	Booker T. Jones
Howard Louis McNeely	...	Boyd (as Howard McNeeley)
Robert McNeely	...	Lloyd (as Robert McNeeley)
Patti Marie Ellis	...	Rachel Smith
Joy Jackson	...	Sarahlene Babcock
Fred Moultrie	...	Roger
James Moultrie	...	George
Carolyn Ann Jackson	...	Mary Louise

Storyline

Based on the story, See How They Run (The Ladies' Home Journal June 51), and subsequently won that year's Christopher award. The story was written by Mary Elizabeth Vroman, a 4th generation schoolteacher from the British West Indies. Jane Richards, a young 4th grade teacher in the South, faces a challenge in the form of 11 year-old C.T. Young, a backward boy, whose pride has made him a stubborn rebel and liar. Jane believes in him, then discovers his interest in nature when he spends his time watching a caterpillar in a tree trunk as it develops a cocoon. C. T.'s devoted to his family and especially to Tanya, who adores him. When Tanya dies, despite Dr. Mitchell's efforts to save her, the embittered C.T. stays away from school; when he returns, he gets into a fight and gets sent to Coventry. But when a swarm of bees invades the classroom and panics the students, C.T. takes charge, captures the queen bee, and leads the swarm outside, earning the school principal's praise. But C.T. has ...

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Plot Keywords:

reference to franklin d. roosevelt | school | bee | cocoon | teacher | 

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Taglines:

The award story from the ladies' home journal has become the most unusual picture of the year!

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

"See How They Run" was Mary Elizabeth Vroman's first published short story, written while she was a schoolteacher in rural Alabama. First published in Ladies' Home Journal in 1951, it also appeared in Ebony magazine in 1952. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the rights to adapt the story to film, Vroman helped write the screenplay, and as a result, became the first black member of the Screen Writers Guild.

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Quotes

Jane Richards: I like to be gay once in a while.

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Connections

Featured in Biography: Dorothy Dandridge: Little Girl Lost (1999)

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Soundtracks

Sweet and Low
(uncredited)
Written by Charles L. Johnson and Sidney Homer
Sung by Dorothy Dandridge

User Reviews

Another film celebrating education

This film falls into that genre of movies which celebrate education and the power of great teaching to influence and develop young minds and hearts especially through the medium of the fine arts. Besides the several films which your other reviewers cited I could add How Green Was My Valley, Renaissance Man, Konrack, Mr. Holland's Opus, The Chorus, etc. In this film the arts were represented by the students' staging of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, just as in Renaissance Man by the Shakespeare plays, in Mr. Holland's Opus by the ensemble music they all performed together, in The Chorus by all the music the students sang together, etc.

The CT character was admirably strong. Since he was by age a 7th grader in a 4th grade class he had already reached the stage of disillusionment and could strongly insist on the non-existence of Santa Claus as well as of a god in whose image they were all supposedly made but who had failed to solve the conundrum of two different images: white and black. CT wasn't having any of that and walked out.

I discovered that this was Harry Belafonte's first movie. Indeed he seemed rather stiff in his acting and delivering his lines.

I was surprised that the segregated school the students attended was a smart looking brick building. I always imagined them as wooden shacks. Was I wrong? A jarring note in the film was the white doctor at Tanya's bedside. It implied that black people weren't smart enough to become doctors, or more likely were prevented from being so.

I found the movie a rather sugar-coated version of black life in the south, but still, all the African-American characters were treated with respect and without condescension which I found admirable.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bright Road

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1