dimplet Before you dismiss this story as too improbable to believe, particularly with regard to the very fair Jeanne Crain, read Jillian A. Sim's article in American Heritage Magazine: "Fading to White." It is the story of her great-grandmother, Anita Hemmings, the first black woman to attend Vassar College. Only Vassar didn't know she was black, until Anita's roommate did a little digging shortly before graduation and told everyone. This created quite a scandal that got a lot of press attention. Although long forgotten today, her story may have been the inspiration for Pinky.There are some other twists to Sim's account. But one she did not know about at the time was that Anita was a descendant of President Thomas Jefferson. It is a case of truth being stranger than fiction. What if the movie ended with the discovery that Pinky was a descendant of a U.S. President? No one would believe it!Pinky deserves far more recognition today for its bold theme of racial injustice, along with the better known Gentleman's Agreement two years earlier, both produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century-Fox. It is also a fine film, with some interesting twists to the plot.Some might criticize the negative depiction of some blacks early in the film as racist, but that's the kind of nonsense you see a lot of from oversensitive critics. Some whites in the movie are bad people, so why would you not expect that there might be some bad black people in the world, too? We see that there are very good black and white people, too, who rise above the issue of race. I see nothing particularly unrealistic or unfair about Pinky, but at the same time, one should remember this is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary.The theme of a light-skinned black woman passing for white did not originate with Pinky, but with Showboat, including the 1936 and 1951 films. Showboat's first musical incarnation was as a Broadway musical in 1927, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Before that, it was a 1926 novel by Edna Ferber.One of the strengths of the Pinky is the strong sense of atmosphere and place, and some fine cinematography. In the end, it is an inspiring movie, both for the ultimate resolution of the story, and for the fact that it was made in 1949, well before the birth of the modern civil rights movement.

Lechuguilla Racial issues overlay this B&W film about a young Black woman who returns to her roots, only to find that little has changed among the townsfolk or in the life of her poverty-stricken grandmother. The story makes Pinky (played by Jeanne Crain) a light-skin Black. Her attitude starts out bitter and resentful, but later changes.If the story were made in modern times, the racial message would be too heavy-handed. The villains are starkly obvious. But given the 1940s, the message probably was rather daring.The plot gets off to a slow start. And Pinky is not all that sympathetic. But the plot picks up later in sync with Pinky's evolving attitudes. I think the script could have done a better job of setting the story within a specific geographic locale. I don't recall any cues or dialogue that indicates exactly where the story is set. The script is actually rather weak; the viewer can easily pick apart the story's logic.Visually, the film is something of a dud. Although the B&W lighting is good, sets look cheap and minimal. One gets the impression that the film was shot entirely on Hollywood back-lots. There's no real sense of a Southern environment.That a White woman was cast as a Black woman was a convention that apparently continued even into the 1950s. Given the era's racial attitudes, I suppose that's the only way White viewers would accept Pinky ... how dreadful. Sixty years later, the casting of Jeanne Crain as Pinky is enormously distracting; it just doesn't work. Casting Ethel Waters as the grandmother makes her character something of a stereotypical Aunt Jemima, though Waters does a fine job in the role.Overall acting is above average. I've never understood why Ethel Barrymore gets such rave recognition. In this film, she's no better than other actors, including the quite effective Evelyn Varden as a greedy, prejudiced old White woman.Probably the best that can be said of "Pinky" is that the story was ahead of its time, for the 1940s. And that's saying a lot. But sixty years later, the film seems like something from out of the Twilight Zone, with that upside-down casting.

edwagreen 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.

gamay9 I feel that the user reviews were articulate and genuine but the casting improper. Jeanne Crain is too fair to portray a black woman. A better choice would have been Jennifer Jones. It is not only skin color, but features. As beautiful as Halle Berry is, for example, she is not as white as Jeanne Crain. The grouchy relative of Ms. Em even said: "Why, she's whiter than me."The film is good but the one thing that left me disappointed was this one factor. I know women who have no black heritage in their ancestory yet they have a darker complexion and broader features than Ms. Crain.Trite point? Probably, but it distracted me from the essence of the film.