There's a lot going on in this very well made and very courageous (for its time) movie. It deals with questions of identity, justice and pride. It was directed by Elia Kazan, one of the great directors, who took the job after replacing another great director - John Ford, who left because of differences wit producer Darryl Zanuck."Pinky" is the title character - interestingly enough played by white actress Jeanne Crain, after black actresses such as Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge were rejected by Zanuck. I say "interestingly" because the character of Pinky is a "Negro" (in the language of the day) - a Negro with very light skin, whose southern grandmother sent her off to the north to school to become a nurse. While north, Pinky began to "pass" - others assumed because of her skin colour that she was "white", and much of the first part of the movie is about Pinky's struggles to adjust to being back in the south when she returns home. She's suddenly confronted with the reality of racial prejudice; she yearns to go back to the north. But her grandmother (Ethel Walters) wants her to stay and become the nurse to a white neighbour, Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore.) Pinky reluctantly agrees, and after an uncertain start bonds with Miss Em and becomes the heir to Miss Em's house and land after her death.At this point, the movie becomes about justice, and it's very well done. It's unthinkable that a black woman would receive such an inheritance. Those who expected to be the heirs challenge the will in court, and the struggle is a nasty one. Pinky wants what's rightfully hers, but is it worth the cost and the risk? After winning the case, her lawyer says to her (in the line that really stood out for me): "Well Pinky. You won. You got the house and the land. You got justice. But I doubt if any other interests of this community have been served." This was her own lawyer speaking. Shouldn't justice be the interest of the community? What other interests are there? What other interests are so important that her own lawyer apparently feels that receiving "justice" may not have been the best thing? But when the justice was being given to a black woman - even if she didn't look black - apparently there were other important things to consider. There's a sense of foreboding about this part of the movie; a fear that a mob mentality is going to break out; that violence will be the end result of the court case.The movie ends on a note of pride, as Pinky chooses to reject the possibility of leaving with her white fiancé from the north and instead stays and helps a local black doctor open a clinic and nursery school for black children in the house she inherited. In other words, Pinky chooses to embrace her heritage and her people. It was a very touching end to a somewhat troubling movie.Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Walters were all nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, and I can certainly appreciate that it was a courageous movie for 1949, dealing with the harsh reality of racism, and even featuring (if mostly in the background) the inter- racial relationship between Pinky and her fiancé Tom (William Lundigan,) which apparently (even though Crain was a white actress) caused the movie to be banned in some southern communities. (7/10)

What was fascinating and groundbreaking in 1949 is now a bit old fashioned when it comes to the film Pinky. Like Guess Who's Coming To Dinner a generation later, 20th Century Fox and director Elia Kazan went as far as they could and not hurt the box office.Remember after all even with 'message' pictures, people have to come to the theater to see and get the message. If it were done 20 years later someone like Lena Horne would have been cast in the part of Pinky. It was the kind of role that Lena wanted to do at MGM, but they wouldn't give her, they wouldn't be that bold. Still I can't fault Jeanne Crain's performance which got her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She lost the Oscar sweepstakes to Olivia DeHavilland for The Heiress.Crain as Pinky has come home to her southern town after many years of living in the north and passing for white with her light features. As she puts she started when a train conductor escorted to the white section of a train she was riding on back when she left to go to nursing school. Of course the news that she's done that is shocking to her grandmother Ethel Waters who raised her. It's also a culture shock to Crain to come home and relearn segregated ways after living in the north. When Sammy Davis, Jr. wrote his autobiography Yes I Can he said he learned about racism for the first time in the army. Working in show business with his dad and uncle where he was a child performer like Michael Jackson was with his brothers he was insulated from the realities of the outside world. Show business was a cocoon for Davis just as passing was for Crain's Pinky character. She has some nasty incidents including one with Nina Mae McKinney who resents what she sees as high toned ways.Still Crain through her grandmother accepts a position to be a nurse companion to grand dame Ethel Barrymore who owns quite a bit of property. Her family is the local gentry there and Barrymore is dying. When Barrymore dies she leaves her estate, house and land to Crain and that gets her blood relatives led by Norma Varden all bent out of joint and ready to contest the will.Which sets the film up for a trial similar to the one in To Kill A Mockingbird although this is a civil matter. The result of which you'll have to see the film for.Besides those already mentioned look for sterling performances by Basil Ruysdael as Crain's attorney, William Lundigan as a white doctor who has fallen for Pinky, and Griff Barnett as a sympathetic doctor.The two Ethels, Barrymore and Waters, both received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress. And as luck would have it Celeste Holm and Elsa Lanchester were also nominated in that same category for Come To The Stable. So with two double nominees for two pictures, Mercedes McCambridge went right up the middle and won for her performance in All The King's Men. Made easier of course by the fact that Mercedes was also in the Best Picture of 1949.Pinky is both old fashioned and groundbreaking. We'd never see casting like this again, but at the same time we can applaud the courage and daring it took for 20th Century Fox to make this film and for Jeanne Crain who got her career role out of it.

Outstanding 1949 film with director Elia Kazan matching his 1947 Oscar winner "Gentleman's Agreement." A very belated kudos for Mr. Kazan in tackling social issues, in this case racial prejudice.What performances are depicted here. Jeanne Crain is the trained nurse who returns to the south and is immediately caught up in its worst form of bigotry. She is the granddaughter of the kind, wisely, illiterate woman who takes in clothing and sacrificed all so that her granddaughter could get ahead. Ethel Waters was so adept in her performance here. She is equally matched by Ethel Barrymore, as a crotchety woman, never forgiven by Pinky for a childhood incident, but ailing now and as a favor to Grandma Waters, Pinky agrees to take care of her.What a social problem erupts when the Barrymore character dies and it is revealed that she left her property to Pinky. A cousin and a cousin by marriage contest the will in court. Evelyn Varden, as the heavy set, bigoted cousin-in-law is terrific and a scene stealer in every scene she appears.This is an outstanding film depicting racial inequity and ultimate redemption.William Lundigan is memorable as the doctor who loved Pinky, but could not marry her. He could not accept her way of life.The film showed that there was anything but racial harmony in America. Notice the musical theme throughout the film is exactly the same as the music played at the beginning of "Gentleman's Agreement." Am sure that Kazan and 20th Century-Fox had plenty to do with that.

Well-mannered nurse Jeanne Crain (as Patricia "Pinky" Johnson) returns to her poor "Black" neighborhood, in Mississippi. There, she is welcomed by washerwoman grandmother Ethel Waters (as Granny). The pair are confronted by racism both outside and inside their home. Most importantly, it is revealed that Ms. Crain has been "passing" as "White". Moreover, Crain has become engaged to Caucasian doctor William Lundigan (as Thomas Adams). While working at home, to support Crain's nursing education, Ms. Waters has grown close to ailing Ethel Barrymore (as Miss Em). At first, Crain does not understand or accept the friendship between Waters, a former slave, and Ms. Barrymore, a former plantation owner. But, for her grandmother, Crain agrees to become Barrymore's nurse."Pinky" is a nerve-rattling classic.Probably, the most obvious "debate" point was the casting of Crain in the title role. Crain was definitely "pink" enough (or, white-looking); but, her general "movie star" persona makes the casting decision seem risky. Yet, Crain, under Elia Kazan's direction, triumphs. There are so many ways Crain could have fallen into acting traps - she could have used mannerisms, make-up, and/or other stereotypical devices to "camp" up the "Black" - but, she avoids each trap. Crain performs the role with a great amount of dignity. She was deservedly honored with an "Academy Award" nomination.Barrymore and Waters also perform well (as you might expect).We are never, in the film, given a clear statement of facts regarding the heritage of Crain's "Pinky". My guess is that she is related, by blood, to both Waters and Barrymore. An attempted rape of Crain's character accounts, arguably, for her pink appearance; this might have occurred in more than one generation. It's also possible that a loving "mixed race" relationship was part of either Ethel's past. Making the "Black/White" history more clear would have only gotten the film into more trouble."Pinky" was quickly censored, and headed for the US Supreme Court.One of the Board of Censors' objections was, "a white man retaining his love for a woman after learning that she is a Negro." However, Mr. Lundigan's "Thomas" is only willing to retain his love under certain conditions; and, this leads to a sharp, less "Hollywood"-styled ending. The Supreme Court was correct. Some of the film's best scenes show the way Crain is treated after other characters learn she is not white. ********* Pinky (9/29/49) Elia Kazan ~ Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan