ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Charles Herold (cherold) There are two ways to view this movie. You can consider it as an antebellum romance, and talk about the scenery and Clark Gable, or you can consider how it deals with the whole slavery thing.Looked at in purely cinematic terms, it's pretty terrible. At least the first hour is; I couldn't wade through more than that. The dialogue is absolutely atrocious. The movie is slow and tedious, most of the characters uninteresting. As is often the case with latter-day movies by great directors, it has an archaic feel, as though the directory knows he can't make movies just like the ones he made 20 years ago yet can't quite get the hang of modern film-making.The unfortunate thing is I wanted to see this movie for Sydney Poitier but he comes in on the late side and by the time he arrived I'd reached the point where I couldn't take any more.Then there's the slavery thing. Some people feel it's unfair to make political judgments on a movie from long ago, and that is in part true. There are things you really couldn't do in the 50s. If you'd cast a black actress in the Yvonne De Carlo role then kissing Gable would have got the movie banned in most of the country.At the same time, people weren't idiots in the 1950s. There were movies earlier than 1957 that showed a greater understanding of race dynamics and were able to treat black characters in more interesting ways, because there were people, even white people, who understood these things. In fact, I suspect the book this movie was based on was far more nuanced (one would hope).So things like the well-dressed slaves, the benevolent slave-owners, the happy singing black folk, they're not "the best that could be done at the time." They are examples of lazy, thoughtless filmmaking. And the way black folks taunt Yvonne for being one of them, as though being one of them is disgusting; well, I doubt slaves commonly treated one another that way.But I'm not going to say more about the politics, because I haven't seen the whole movie and because the reviewer here who wrote a review titled "Twisted, Grotesque Artifact of White Denial" sums up the issues with this movie very well.And as I say, I don't need to worry about being fair to this movie for its political shortcomings, because as art and entertainment it's just awful.

vincentlynch-moonoi I believe this to be a seriously underrated film. And, it's main problem is that it's Clark Gable's picture, and here he's Hamish Bond, not Rhett Butler. Since it's a Civil War pic, there are the inevitable comparisons to "Gone With The Wind", and no film compares to that.For those who think the film is too tame in the way in deals with slavery, miscegenation, and related topics. This film was made in 1957, long before things in cinema opened up; keep in mind that the dramatic way "Roots" dealt with the same topics was in a different era 20 years later. But, stop and think about the first 30 minutes of this film (during which Clark Gable doesn't even appear): a young White girl finds out she's not really White...she's a Negress (the term used in the film). Her father dies and she is stripped of her family estate and heirlooms. At a slave market in New Orleans she is sold into slavery after she learns first hand of the sexual abuse many slaves underwent and she attempts suicide. Pretty powerful stuff for 1957. And then there's Gable's character who we think is a fairly kind slave owner...but later in the film he admits that he was a slave trader who partook in atrocities in Africa. Again, pretty powerful stuff in 1957 to have a leading man take such a position.Clark Gable is excellent here, particularly when he admits his past. I didn't always like Gable's films, but when the part was right he could be very powerful on screen...and he is here. Yvonne DeCarlo, as the "Negress" is excellent here. This is probably her best role, and it is a shame she eventually succumbed to making "The Munsters".In supporting roles, Sidney Poitier is key as Gable's slave that he has raised as a son. Poitier was just building his acting career here, but he was an impressive actor even then. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is good as a Union soldier, although I would like to have seen more of him; I feel he is an underrated actor. Rex Reason is just right an the evangelical lover who plays a continuing (but ever-changing) role in DeCarlo's life. Patric Knowles plays a cowardly plantation owner very well. A gem of a performance is put in by Ray Teal as a slave dealer...can't say you'll like the character, but it's great acting.I don't find a lot to criticize here. There are some plot twists, particularly toward the end of the film, but I found them enhancing the story line. Too many of our IMDb reviewers here are trying to review a 1950s film about race from a 21st century perspective. Sorry, that's not fair and it doesn't work.Watch for yourself, keep an open mind, and learn about an era before Dr. Martin Luther King.

clestaffordy2 I seldom register just to review a movie. But this film evoked my heart and cried while watching it twice. The film is a gem but was underrated; good thing I saw this yesterday in TCM and I fell in love all over again with Clark Gable. He has more depth here and more character and passion than Gone with the Wind. I love the tension of love between him and Amantha; I love both of them. I wish there were more kissing, though. All their acting and lines were great; script was great. There were few flows though like too much singing and early complaints of Amantha being bought by Hamish. She should be grateful that he bought her and treated her like a queen; but I guess she was in shock to just find out that she has lost everything. I like Michelle, she's elegant and simple. What I don't like personally, that other woman slave with Michelle that kept on singing, she's obnoxious. Lastly, I did not like Sidney here for the most part because of his ungratefulness to Hamish; but later on realized his mistake. He's always angry; of course, he's a great actor, don't get me wrong.

MarieGabrielle certainly not "Gone With The Wind" but living in the south, and since yesterday was the anniversary of the Civil War, I watched the TCM marathon.The acting isn't superb and yes, Gable is looking a much older Rhett Butler here, and seems to walk through the part of swaggering blockade blackguard and tradesman, a familiar role. Yvonne DeCarlo though is rather good, and stunning as Amantha Starr, a woman who is sold down the river once it is discovered her background is mixed race. Sidney Poitier is very good here, I will not spoil the ending so you should watch for his performance.But the sets of New Orleans courtyards, balmy evenings, and Spanish moss conjure up the romantic unspoiled south which we no longer see today. Yes, the chanting and singing of slaves is rather Hollywood factitious: and we saw similar productions like this in "Jezebel" with Bette Davis. Also it occurs to me this plot is similar to the Elizabeth Taylor film "Raintree County" although that was based in Kentucky.If you can put aside the race issue and simply take it as a B-picture, no message here, but it does show Technicolor sweeping version of a lush and romantic American South we have never seen, and never will see. 8/10.