Movie |
New Year's Eve | Mississippi River
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Best Foreign Film | 1936
Special permission had to be granted from the Hays Office in order to retain the famous miscegenation (interracial marriage) sequence in the movie. Miscegenation was banned as a film subject and the scene had been excluded from the 1929 film version.
"Ah Still Suits Me" was written especially for the film to give Paul Robeson a larger role.
Paul Robeson was the valedictorian of his graduating class at Rutger's University in 1919. He then earned a law degree from Columbia Univesity in 1922 and was admitted to the New York bar. But he never practiced a day of law. The acting bug bit him and led to an acting and singing career in the theater and films.
In the scene in which Paul Robeson sings "Ah Still Suits Me", Queenie (Hattie McDaniel) has a box of Aunt Jemima pancake mix on her work table. It's a subtle nod to Tess Gardella (stage name "Aunt Jemima"), who created the role of Queenie in the 1927 Broadway production.
The song "Ol' Man River", as performed by Paul Robeson in this film, was # 24 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 songs featured in films.
"Joe: I just shell them peas. Queenie: You ain't pickin' them up. Joe: No, but I could've if you didn't. I could do a lotta things if it was necessary. Queenie: Then why don't you? Joe: It ain't necessary."
"Chorus: [first lines; the opening credits are halfway through and still being shown, when we hear the black chorus singing offscreen:] Darkies all work while the white men play,/Loading up boats with the bales of cotton/ Gittin' no rest till de Judgement Day. /Git yourself a brand new gal, /A lovin' baby who's the apple of your eye,/ Coal Black Rose or High Brown Sal,/ They always bake the sparrer and the chickin pie!/ Darkies all work on the Mississippi,/Darkies all work while the white folks play/ Loadin' those boats with the bales of cotton, / Gittin' no rest till the Judgement Day. [steamboat whistle sounds offscreen and picture changes to a shot of the showboat arriving in the distance and the black chorus singing onscreen] Chorus: Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom,/ Long to see you growin' free,/When they pack you on the levee/ you're a heavy load to me!/ Cotton Blossom, Cotton Blossom/ Long to see you growin' wild... Young Black Man: There's the show boat! Chorus: [singing] On the levee, you're too heavy/ For this poor black child! [the workers run to the dock. The calliope plays as we see shots of townspeople running toward the dock. Then band plays] Parthy: [on the boat, over the noise of the band] Andy! Andy! Cap'n Andy Hawks: Goshamighty, woman, what's eatin' ya? Parthy: Did you tell the band to wear their new uniforms? Cap'n Andy Hawks: Course I did. What did we get 'em fer? Parthy: You'll have 'em all ruined! Cap'n Andy Hawks: Goshamighty, well, look, they're waitin' for us. That's our public! Hiya, public! [He waves and the crowd cheers]"
