Uncle Tom's Cabin

When this German-Italian film production came to town in 1968 I sadly missed it and didn't get a new opportunity until now, when it was 50 years old, but its age has not impeded its impact. It was a sensationally positive surprise to observe how interestingly the book has been tampered with to make it an even better film. The book was certainly one of the most important and influential novels of the 19th century, and, as Lincoln said, it was what started the war; Leo Tolstoy ranked it as one of his favourites especially for its consequences, only books like 'Oliver Twist' and 'Les Miserables' had similar social effects, in all its roughness the book remains an absolute classic, and the film lives more than well up to it.

The credits are many. The first one must go to John Kitzmiller, who makes a perfectly convincing Uncle Tom in an intensely warm and sustained human performance, and what a wonderful idea that he starts singing and has such a wonderful voice at that! The Negro Spirituals of the film greatly enhance its emotional pathos and add a glowing colour of aesthetic charm and human dignity to the film. He is seconded by Olive Moorefield as Cassy, whom the film successfully makes more of than the book, while Herbert Lom as the supreme villain Simon Legree, who is allowed to dominate the film from the very beginning, has never had a better time for a full range of his acting since he was Napoleon in 'War and Peace', the best Napoleon ever, by the way. The others fall in line and support the drama satisfactorily well.

Max Ophuls would have loved this film for its wonderful details. The riverboat journey is a highlight, much effort has been given to reconstruct a perfect and intact 1850s environment in homes and towns, there is a marvellous sequence from old New Orleans with a circus and parade, there is a splendid tavern brawl, and where did they find that fascinating music box? I have never seen one so large. Another striking detail is the guest appearance of Juliette Greco, she didn't appear in many films and only exclusively, and while she appears you can't take your eyes from her fascinating character.

The alterations from the book are on the whole well construed. That Legree is in from the beginning sets the drama off directly, the invented cause of little Eva's sudden death adds another interesting intrigue not at all implausible, Eliza's amazing escape never fails to impress both on screen and in the book, and it's a good idea not to let her come home until the very end, to at least give the end one good turn of relief.

On the whole, this is a film that never reached its appropriate recognition, it is indeed worth discovering and loving, while at the same time it constitutes an enriching and well deserved compliment to the book.

Although well known in the whole world "Uncle Tom's cabin" has never been the subject of a major American motion picture.It's easy to see why;the paternalistic side of this mammoth novel has grown unbearable to some:who among the most famous black actors would accept a "yessir " part?It's easily understood,even if Hattie MacDaniell received a colored actor's first AA, for just that kind of role.(Gone with the wind)

So this big budget European movie.Like the precedent user,I saw this production a long long long time ago,but I've got a vivid memory of it. It's interesting to note that the director,Geza Radvanyi, made one masterpiece "Valahol Europa'ban"(somewhere in Europa) and after soon degenerated into what the German critics call "films limonades" (mushy movies).

"Uncle Tom 's Cabin" is more an European movie than a German one:Italian actors(Eleonora Rossi-Drago) meet German (Herbert Lom) or French ones (Juliette Greco,Mylène Demongeot)ones. Mrs Beecher -Stowe would be turning in her grave if she saw some of the scenarists' "adaptations":On the boat,there's a steamy (for the time) scene between Legree and Cassy.Exit chaste old cousin Ophelia,and make way for a vivacious gorgeous young Harriet.Besides,the deadly serious M.Saint-Clare goes to see a hostess in a bar .(Juliette Greco).The end of the movie becomes epic,as the slaves rise up against their "owners".

On the plus side:beautiful Negro spîrituals during the Mississipi shots and a nice Evangeline Saint-Clare played by Gertraud Mittermayer.However,it's doubtful that this movie should be reissued some day.

"Run's house" if you have listen to some old RUN DMC classic hit. But in this case it's Uncle Tom's house ... although it's also not quite his, him being a slave and all ...

But let's rewind and start off with the fact, that this is based on the very popular novel. That it is a European production and that I can't tell how true to it's source material it is. My feeling says, that's it's not going "by the book". But it's only a feeling. What I can say for certain, is that I had mixed feelings, watching this movie and even afterwards. I'm pretty sure that was intended, but it still got to me. And unfortunately it's not that this feeling makes me view the movie with better eyes. Even if you haven't read the book, the title should ring some bell and if you like the ring of it, than watch it, it's worth-while, though not a classic.

Many years have passed since Geza Radvanyi directed this movie, an adaptation of an abolitionist cult novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, a very famous literary work that, similarly to other voices of truth in history, cried out for freedom, righteousness and equality in spite of attacks from politically correct people. The many I met as well as some reviewers on this board expressed their strong criticism claiming that the film is more a European uncle Tom interpretation. They also say that there are so many discrepancies between the book and the film that it is absolutely useless to see it. I agree, it is different, it is more ONKEL TOMS HUETTE than UNCLE TOM'S CABIN in its direction style and acting style; but it does not mean that Radvanyi's work is bad as a film.

Let me first analyze the beginning scenes that really captivated me as original and raised my interest in the movie. What we are exposed to is something like "double retrospection." First, we see modern skyscrapers, Statue of Liberty and...the monument of Abraham Lincoln, a man who changed the destiny of many Americans, as the narrator adds. Immediately, the action moves more than 100 years back - April, the 14th, 1865: we see President Lincoln in the famous theater. On that day of his death, he is given the book UNCLE TOM'S CABIN by its author Harriet Beecher Stowe who thanks him for changing America. When things turn bad for Lincoln, we are supplied with the view of the novel's cover. This memorable close-up appears to constitute the answer why such a good man as Lincoln had to be assassinated... Was America still divided? From this moment, the film constitutes the adaptation of the novel. I described this beginning in such a detailed way because I found it exceptionally accurate and memorable. Later, it is true that the action seems to be quite slow, the film is long. Nevertheless, it has, sometimes unnoticed but important advantages that make it a nice film or at least significant to be seen by any film lover.

It is, undeniably, the music. The wonderful Negro songs based on the Biblical texts as well as on their hard experience and thoughts raised in sorrow and suffering moved me to tears. The musical pieces about Moses and the Red Sea or the Missisipi River which was a sort of symbolic reference to the Bible are beautifully executed. The viewer, even if not very knowledgeable of the historical period, has a clear picture of the lifestyle, of dreams those people had, dreams of better times when the black and the white may join hands as free men. Therefore, with this music comes the idea, comes the American dream of liberty. This idea is more a universal subject of American history from abolitionists to Martin Luther King and those who will come after. And that makes the film a must see, no matter how faithful to the novel it is.

It is also some performances that make Radvanyi's film worth a look. Herbert Lom, a German actor born in the Czech Republic, memorably portrays the cruel Simon Legree, a man for whom a slave is less than animal. Similarly to the book, he represents the whole system of the southern plantations where tears, beating, rape and overworking were the daily bread for the black slaves (not 100% plantations were like that for sure, which raised negative reactions towards the book among many southerners and the content was regarded as subjective). A lot of moments with Mr Lom remained in my memory but in particular the unforgettable scene when Legree comes to Shelby's house. The two world views are beautifully contrasted and this behavior of his, obscene and vulgar, is something that Herbert Lom accurately expressed. I also liked the Italian actress Eleonora Rossi Drago and Vilma Degischer, an Austrian who plays Mrs Shelby. They do fine jobs.

Except for those facets, the movie is not that great as some other productions of the time. It's a pity that the colors and the cinematography in this film are seriously dated. Faded colors indicate the older years of cinema when the film was made but it is, I agree, the fact that lowers the value of this production from today's perspective. There were many better movies with magnificent cinematography in the 1960s than this one.

All in all, if you look at this film as only a novel adaptation, you will be confused or even disappointed since each of us who reads the book first has his/her own view, imagination which is usually disturbed by the director's vision. If you look at this film from the perspective of the modern viewer, you will find it dated and not very attractive, perhaps. You should look at it independently, as an optimist viewer, frank one who can find good sides in each piece of art. Then, the movie will be worth seeing.

UNCLE TOM'S CABIN has one thing absolutely in common with the book. It asks, of course nowadays a different generation, the questions that our ancestors were asked by Mrs Stowe: "Is there a right to humiliate someone, deprive him/her of dignity only because he/she was born black?"

I saw this film some 30 years ago. Yet I rate it as an unusually interesting film 30 years later because of the marvellous songs and the interesting use of modern shots of the skyscrapers at the beginning of the film. While the film is true to Harriet Beecher Stowe's story, the director's implicit comparison of the past and present America (skyscraper skyline shown during the credits) is interesting. Eartha Kitt's song at the end is unforgettable. The film is distinctly European (the director is Hungarian) in style and the story and songs could merit a re-release. Herbert Lom is notable among the actors. Many versions of the film exist but watch the version with Eartha Kitt's singing the song with the end credits.