Canada Lee

  • Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2022) I’ve been spending some time this February digging into Black Film History—Cable TV channels tacitly programmed black films all month long, and while I had a good grasp at the essentials (I also wrote an essay on the topic during the month), it was an occasion to rediscover the more obscure ones. One notable subcategory I was able to discover are the fairly rare movies featuring black leads during the 1950s—a time with few notable performers, and even fewer films featuring them in roles with deep characterization. Cry, the Beloved Country (from British producer-director Zoltan Korda, brother of naturalized British movie mogul-propagandist Alexander Korda) is a noteworthy footnote in that both lead roles are played by black actors, and no less than Canada Lee and Sidney Poitier. There’s a catch, though: the film had to go overseas to find a subject matter that would allow such a thing. Looking erringly prescient, it heads over to South Africa to talk about apartheid, looking very early on about the impact of such a policy on both white and black characters. The production history of the film is stomach-churning in itself—given apartheid, both lead actors had to pretend to the authorities that they were the director’s indentured servants to be admitted in the country, where they shot the film in near-guerilla conditions. It’s not an easy of a fun film to watch: the subject matter is difficult, and Korda doesn’t go for feel-good material. But it’s an amazing film in its own right—the last of Lee’s career, and one of Poitier’s first—thereby acting as a passing of the torch. Poitier was a self-assured presence even at that stage of his career, and there’s considerable interest watching him this early. I can’t say that I liked Cry, the Beloved Country, but it earns a spot in my version of Black Film History—and isn’t it the point to celebrate such successes?

  • Lifeboat (1944)

    Lifeboat (1944)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2019) It’s interesting to note that as Alfred Hitchcock grew older and more comfortable with his mastery of the suspense genre, he started placing more emphasis on gimmicky premises, including one-location films—whether we’re talking Rope, Rear Window or the first one of them all… Lifeboat. After a perfunctory prologue, the situation is made clear: An American ship has been sunk by a German U-Boat, and a diverse crew of passengers is now stuck together on a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. As with most lifeboat stories, Lifeboat quickly becomes a study in the ugliness of desperate humans with a side order of sadistic ethics. It’s also quite morally gray, especially toward the ironic end. Still, it does wring quite a bit out of its premise, keeping things interesting for its zippy 80-minute duration all the way to a surprising action-packed climax (“In a word, wow!”)  The obvious temptation in discussing Lifeboat is to focus on the technical challenges of presenting a story entirely set on water—the rear projection, for instance, is obvious but not necessarily intrusive. But there are some fine acting performances to discuss as well. This was the first film in which I can recall being impressed by Tallulah Bankhead, for instance and I can see what the fuss was about—although my sympathies go with the other female character. You can also see Brit Hume in an early role, showing the span of his career after seeing …batteries not included (1987) a few days ago. Also worth noting is Canada Lee’s performance, in a much better-than-average representation for a black character in 1944 Hollywood. Finally, let’s appreciate what’s possibly Hitchcock’s funniest cameo … in a one-location film in the middle of the ocean.