Dorothy Dandridge Movies
African American actress, singer, dancer Dorothy Dandridge, the daughter of stage and screen actress Ruby Dandridge, began performing professionally in the song-and-dance duo "The Wonder Children" with her sister Vivian at age four; they toured parts of the South, performing at churches, schools, and social gatherings. In the 1930s her family relocated to Los Angeles, and she and her sister appeared briefly in the Marx brothers comedy A Day at the Races (1937). In their teens she and her sister enlisted a third singer and formed a new group, the Dandridge Sisters. They worked with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra and Cab Calloway, appeared at the Cotton Club, and turned up with Louis Armstrong and Maxine Sullivan in the film Going Places (1939). Dandridge started performing solo in the early '40s, appearing in a string of musical shorts made in 1941 and 1942; she also performed in several features in the same years, including Sun Valley Serenade (1942), during the production of which she met her first husband, the dancer Harold Nicholas. After her marriage she put her career on hold for a while, but the birth of a severely brain-damaged daughter strained her marriage and it soon ended in divorce, following which she put most of her energy into her career. She became popular and famous as a sultry nightclub entertainer, then began to make her mark in movies with her notable appearance in Tarzan's Peril (1951), in which she played a sexy African princess. For her work in Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones (1954) she received a "Best Actress" Oscar nomination, becoming the first black women to do so. Three years went by before her next role, in Island in the Sun (1957), in which she again made history by being the first black actress cast romantically with a white actor in a film. For her work in Preminger's Porgy and Bess (1959) she won the Golden Globe Award as "Best Actress in a Musical." After a few more years she found it difficult to get lead roles in films, and went back to nightclubs. In 1965 she signed a new film contract, but her rebounding luck was short-lived -- she was found dead from an overdose of anti-depressants. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2007
Soundies: A Musical History collects a number of short musical films that played on a film jukebox called Panoram in the 1940s. Many consider these films to be the very first music videos, and this documentary includes appearances by some of the most beloved musical artists of all time including Louis Armstrong. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2004
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From Kultur comes this documentary that looks at the Harlem Renaissance through the music that defined the era. Harlem Renaissance: The Music & Rhythms That Started a Cultural Revolution includes performances of such songs as Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher," Fats Waller's "This Joint Is Jumpin'," Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's "Let's Scuffle," Lena Horne's "Friday Night," and many others. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2003
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Hosted by Obba Babatunde, this documentary from Passport Productions studies the life and career of African American entertainer Dorothy Dandridge. Dorothy Dandridge: An American Beauty features interviews with such Dandridge admirers as Brock Peters, Lawrence Fishburne, and Academy Award winner Halle Berry who received an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the ill-fated actress and singer in the film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
In the Storyville Films series Harlem Roots, the fourth film deals with a more upbeat tempo. The popular "Soundies," which were short music programs featuring popular stars at the peak of their careers, were produced between 1941 and 1947. In Harlem Roots, Vol. 4: Jivin' Time, Nat King Cole performs "Got a Penny, Benny," Dorothy Dandridge sings "Zoot Suit," Mabel Lee does "Chicken Shack Shuffle," the Musical Madcaps offer "Rhythm of the Rhythm Band," and Dallas Bartley is "Cryin' and Singin' the Blues." ~ Alice Day, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This video captures the sounds of Nat Cole, the Mills Brothers and the Delta Rhythm Boys with titles such as "You Call It Madness" (Cole), "Paper Doll" (Mills Bros.) and "Take the 'A' Train" (Delta Boys). ~ All Movie Guide
- 1986
Volume 1 of this 2 video set feature title and film selections from black jazz bands such as The Lonesome Road (Tharpe/Millinder 1941), Jungle Jig (Dandridge 1941) and Hot in the Groove (Hawkins 1942). ~ All Movie Guide
- 1986
A music performance video that includes all of the sound-films of Fats Waller in performance. He made them in 1941. They include the songs "Your Feet's Too Big," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Honeysuckle Rose" and "The Joint Is Jumpin'." The tape includes seven performances by other artists. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1960
This routine crime drama with a dash of romance begins with a tense opening, a jewel theft is carried out almost without a word of dialogue. One of the thieves, John Bain (Trevor Howard) an expert locksmith plagued by a stint in prison, has been coerced into helping the master thief Peter Curran (Edmund Purdom) pull off the heist. Now that success is at hand, Peter double-crosses John and dumps his lover Gianna (Dorothy Dandridge) and takes off for Spain with the loot. Embittered and anxious for revenge, Gianna hooks up with John and the two of them head for Spain with an eye to getting even. As their quest brings them together, the two develop a special feeling for each other. Between their mutual libidinal interest and the intrusion of the search for Peter, the story itself becomes spread a little too thin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Dorothy Dandridge, (more)
- 1959
A stellar line-up of African-American actors and musical stars helped to bring DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin's classic operetta to this screen in this lavishly-produced adaptation. Porgy (Sidney Poitier) is a crippled man living in the shantytown of Catfish Row who has fallen in love with Bess (Dorothy Dandridge), a beautiful but troubled woman addicted to drugs. Bess is already being courted by several men, including Crown (Brock Peters), a muscular laborer, and Sportin' Life (Sammy Davis, Jr.), a sharp-suited hipster who deals narcotics. Crown gets in a fist fight with Robbins (Joel Fluellen) and ends up killing him; Crown goes on the lam, and Bess, needing companionship, takes up with Porgy. However, Crown soon returns, and Porgy kills him in a subsequent altercation, forcing him to hide from the police. Meanwhile, the fickle Bess follows Sportin' Life in search of the bright lights of New York City. Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll, Ivan Dixon, and Clarence Muse also highlight the cast; Robert McFerrin provided the singing voice of Porgy, and Adele Addison dubbed in Bess' musical numbers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, (more)
- 1958
Adapted from a novelette by Prosper Merimée, Tamango ran into censorship problems in the U.S. for several reasons, not least of which was the fact that its director, John Berry, had been blacklisted during the Communist witch hunt. Set during the early 19th century, the story concerns a slave revolt engineered by newly captured African warrior Tamango (Alex Cressan). Though the revolt is violently put down, the legend of Tamango lives on in the hearts and minds of black slaves everywhere. One of the most controversial aspects of Tamango was its depiction of a romance between white ship's captain Curd Jurgens and slave woman Dorothy Dandridge. This alone was enough to deny the film bookings in certain Southern regions of the U.S. Since that time, Tamango (which was filmed simultaneously in an English- and French-language version) has gained a cult reputation among film buffs, and as such is a movie that deserves to be better known. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dandridge, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1958
In this sea-going suspense drama, Edwin Rumill (James Mason) is the former first mate of an ocean liner who leaps at the chance to have a vessel under his full command. However, the S.S. Berwind is no ship to write home about, a freighter from the mothball fleet whose captain has recently died. The crew is often ill-tempered, and Mahia (Dorothy Dandridge), the wife of the ship's cook, doesn't make anyone more comfortable with her flirtatious nature. Rumill learns that the bad attitude of his crew has a sinister undercurrent: two of the hands, Leroy Martin (Stuart Whitman) and Henry Scott (Broderick Crawford), have hatched a scheme to murder Rumill and the rest of the crew, bring in the ship as salvage, and sell it to the highest bidder, expecting to earn close to a million dollars. Rumill must rally support if he and the other men hope to survive. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Dorothy Dandridge, (more)
Political intrigue and romantic gamesmanship send an already torrid Caribbean community to the boiling point in this drama. Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) and David Boyeur (Harry Belafonte) are two men running for political office in a British-controlled island in the West Indies. Maxwell is the son of a wealthy and socially prominent white family, while David is a black labor leader with a groundswell of popular support but little money. A scandal erupts in the press alleging that Maxwell is of mixed racial ancestry, but Maxwell is actually pleased about the news, thinking that it may endear him to black voters. Maxwell is not pleased, however, when he hears that his wife Sylvia (Patricia Owens) has been having an affair with the urbane but rootless Carson (Michael Rennie), taking the matter seriously enough to murder Carson himself. Maxwell's younger sister Jocelyn (Joan Collins) is also in hot water, romantically speaking; she has set her sights on Eun Templeton (Stephen Boyd), the son of the Island's governor, and she hopes to snare him into marriage by allowing him to get her pregnant. Elsewhere on the island, David is secretly having an affair with a white woman, Mavis Norman (Joan Fontaine), while David's former girlfriend, Margot Seaton (Dorothy Dandridge), has become involved with a white man, Denis Archer (John Justin). Based on the novel by Alex Waugh, Island in the Sun also features songs from Harry Belafonte, including "Lead Man Holler" and the title tune. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1956
For its first broadcast of the 1956-57 season, the monthly CBS variety anthology Ford-Star Jubilee offered a full-color salute to composer Cole Porter. Opening with (what else?) "Another Opening, Another Show (from Porter's Kiss Me Kate), the 90-minute special featured an all-star cast performing a veritable cornucopia of the songwriter's hits. Highlights included Dorothy Dandridge's renditions of "You Do Something to Me" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy"; Oklahoma costars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, dueting on a medley of Porter love songs; dancers Sally Forrest and George Chakiris (still five years away from his Oscar win for West Side Story performing to the tune of "Night and Day"; trumpeter Louis Armstrong, belting out "Blow Gabriel Blow"; and a few Porter comedy numbers, sung by Peter Lynd Hayes and Mary Healy. Also appearing in this live telecast were singer Dolores Gray, actor George Sanders and Cole Porter himself, with a filmed segment featuring Bing Crosby, who was then starring in a movie version of Porter's 1934 Broadway musical Anything Goes. David Rose conducted the orchestra for You're the Top, which currently exists in black-and-white kinescope form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was Carmen Jones. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen Jones, tempestuous employee of a parachute factory. Harry Belafonte plays Joe (originally José), a young military officer engaged to marry virginal Cindy Lou (Olga James). When Carmen gets into a fight with another girl, she is placed under arrest and put in Joe's charge. Succumbing to her attractiveness, Joe accompanies Carmen to her old neighborhood, where, after killing a sergeant sent to retrieve him, he deserts the army. Carmen tries to be faithful, but fortune-telling Frankie (Pearl Bailey) warns her that she and her soldier are doomed. Enter Joe Adams in the role of boxer Husky Miller (a play on Carmen's bullfighter Escamillo), who sweeps Carmen off her feet, ultimately with tragic consequences. Alhough both Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed in by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, (more)
- 1953
June Allyson plays a band singer working in New York City; Van Johnson is the manager of a fancy apartment house where a murder is committed. The victim is Allyson's wealthy uncle, and since she can't account for her actions at the time of the crime, Our Heroine is the principal suspect. The real murderer is an expert in hypnosis, who uses this skill to manipulate Allyson's actions--and to lure the girl to her potential doom. Johnson doesn't figure things out until it's almost too late. Remains to Be Seen was based on the Broadway comedy/mystery by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, which originally starred Jackie Cooper and his then-wife Janis Paige. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Allyson, Van Johnson, (more)
- 1953
Bright Road was a real rarity in 1953: a major-studio production with an all-black cast. Based on an award-winning short story by Mary Elizabeth Vroman, the film is largely set at a rural black school in an unspecified Southern community. Idealistic new fourth-grade teacher Jane Richards (Dorothy Dandridge) makes it her mission in life to "reach" troublesome failing student C. T. Young (Philip Hepburn). Just when Jane and the boy are making progress, tragedy strikes, plunging C. T. into the depths of depression and defeatism. But with the help of the school's compassionate principal (Harry Belafonte), Jane is able to get C. T. back on the right track--and as a bonus, the boy becomes an unexpected hero in a moment of crisis. Handled in a leisurely, understated fashion, Bright Road represents perhaps the best directorial effort of Gerald Mayer, MGM's resident "keeper of the 'B's" in the 1950s. Best scene: C. T.'s euphoric reaction upon earning a passing grade for the first time in his life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Dandridge, Philip Hepburn, (more)
- 1951
The story of the legendary Harlem Globetrotters takes second place to the rise to prominence of All-American athlete Billy Brown (a star Globetrotter, here playing himself). While still in college, Brown drops his education in favor of joining the famed basketball team. Lacking the esprit de corps of his teammates, Brown is only interested in fattening his bank account. It takes a few major setbacks, coupled with the no-nonsense devotion of his sweetheart Ann Carpenter (a surprisingly subdued Dorothy Dandridge) to realign Brown's priorities. Thomas Gomez heads the cast as Abe Saperstein, the real-life entrepreneur who organized the Trotters back in 1927. Oddly enough, The Harlem Globetrotters suggests that the team is comprised of serious hoopsters, rather than the zany clowns we've come to know and love. There are even times that it seems that the hand-picked other team will actually win! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Gomez, Dorothy Dandridge, (more)
- 1951
Two escaped convicts (George Macready and Glenn Anders) invade the jungle dominion of Tarzan (Lex Barker) to set up a gunrunning operation. One of the criminals has sworn to "get" Tarzan, who was responsible for his arrest, and to that end stirs up unrest between two African tribes. After narrowly escaping death at every turn, Tarzan quells the inter-tribal hostilities, rescues a voluptuous jungle queen (Dorothy Dandridge), and saves his mate Jane (Virginia Houston) from the murderous machinations of the criminals. Tarzan's Peril plays more like a serial than a feature film, but certainly lives up to its title. African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge's brief appearance as the jungle queen involves a "bondage" sequence that has been cited by several film historians (one of whom evidently had a crush on Ms. Dandridge) as being somehow symbolic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lex Barker, Virginia Huston, (more)
- 1945
Veteran action specialists Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins co-directed this below-average Universal serial featuring brunette starlet Lois Collier as a young woman swept up in international intrigue in Darkest Africa. Although the serial's nominal (and much imperiled) heroine, Collier did not play the title role, however. That dubious distinction went to a very young Ruth Roman, in her screen debut, as an ethereal jungle girl whose presence in the film remained vague throughout. The muddled story is something about the Nazi High Command (personified by that notorious blackheart Douglass Dumbrille) attempting to infiltrate and sway an unfriendly jungle tribe. Considering the real-world situation in 1945, The Jungle Queen was frivolous entertainment at its mind-numbing worst. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Yes, even Ida Lupino occasionally starred in screwball comedies during the 1930s and 1940s. Pillow to Post casts Lupino as free-spirited travelling saleswoman Jane Howard, who has trouble finding suitable lodgings during the wartime housing shortage. In order to secure a room at a motor camp catering exclusively to married servicemen, Jane pretends to be the wife of hapless young lieutenant Don Mallory (William Prince). Misunderstanding piles upon misunderstanding, and before long poor Mallory is facing a general court-martial. While Lupino pushes the envelope a bit in the leading role, the film's comedy content is also in the capable hands of Sidney Greenstreet, Stu Erwin and Willie Best. Pillow to Post is adapted from a stage play by Rose Simon Kohn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Sydney Greenstreet, (more)
- 1944
Definitely no relation to the 1980 Louis Malle film of the same name, 1944's Atlantic City is a tuneful Republic musical, not quite an "A" picture but certainly not a "B". Brad Taylor (who formerly acted at Columbia under the name of Stanley Brown) stars as Brad, an early-20th-century entrepreneur who decides to transform the sleepy oceanside community of Atlantic City, New Jersey into a mecca for vacationers and thrill-seekers. One of Taylor's visionary notions is the creation of a bathing-beauty contest, and that's where prim-and-proper heroine Marilyn Whitaker (Constance Moore) comes in. The plot is essentially an excuse to trot out several venerable entertainers doing their tried-and-true specialties. Guest stars include Belle Baker, Paul Whiteman, Louis Armstrong, Buck & Bubbles, and Joe Frisco, not to mention Al Shean (of Gallegher and Shean) and Gus Van (of Van and Schenck). Also adding to the general frivolity are Jerry "Ahhh, Yes!" Colonna and up-and-coming Dorothy Dandridge. Atlantic City demonstrated that Republic could make a 20th Century-Fox style musical even without Betty Grable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Moore, Brad Taylor, (more)
David O. Selznick's first production since 1940's Rebecca, Since You Went Away, based on Margaret Buell Wilder's bestselling novel, is a long but rewarding paean to the World War 2 "home front". Claudette Colbert plays the wife of a businessman who, though well past draft age, volunteered to serve his country as an officer (though the husband is never seen, he is "played"-via a photograph-by Neil Hamilton). Fighting back her own fears and anxieties, Colbert does her best to maintain a normal, stable household for the sake of her growing daughters Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple. She is offered moral support by cynical-but-kindly boarder Monty Woolley, by maid Hattie McDaniel (who willing foregoes her salary "for the duration") and by Navy man and friend-of-the-family Joseph Cotten, whose relationship with Claudette remains staunchly platonic. The harsh realities of war hit home several times throughout the film, first when it seems as though Colbert's husband is missing in action, and later when Jennifer's young boyfriend, GI Robert Walker, is killed in combat. From the vantage point of the 1990s, it is easy to see why Since You Went Away scored with its wartime audiences. Though the leading characters are slightly more financially secure than most of the moviegoers of 1944, the various vignettes presented throughout-complaints about rationing and priorities, shoulder-to-shoulder sacrifices, the weekly escape to the local movie house, tender partings, joyous reunions, the returning wounded, the dreaded wire from the war department-all had the ring of truth and topicality. Even today, the film's emotional highlights, particularly the much-imitated farewell scene at the railroad station, are sufficient to bring tears to the eyes of the most jaded viewer. Enhancing the film's heartstring tugging tenfold is Max Steiner's Oscar-winning musical score. If you can remain objective while watching Since You Went Away (it isn't easy), see if you can spot Ruth Roman, Guy Madison and John Derek, making their screen debuts in microscopic roles ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, (more)
- 1942
Lucky Jordan (Alan Ladd) is a tough but good-natured New York racketeer who tries to finagle his way out of Army service. Despite his efforts, Jordan is drafted, but soon goes AWOL, with a lovely USO worker (Helen Walker) dogging his heels. She tries to arouse Jordan's patriotism, but he is unmoved until a gang of enemy spies beat up an old lady con artist (Mabel Paige) whom Lucky regards as a surrogate mother. Using his underhanded "street smarts," Jordan rounds up the spies and agrees to complete his military servitude. Lucky Jordan was one of several wartime films in which otherwise larcenous individuals are redeemed by channelling their talents for the good of Uncle Sam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Helen Walker, (more)
- 1942
A talented cast hacks its way through a so-so script and miles of stock footage in Universal's Drums of the Congo. In the heart of Africa, naval intelligence officer Kirk (Don Terry) searches for a rare metal vital to the war effort (just why it's vital is never thoroughly explained). He is aided in his quest by missionary Ann Montgomery (Ona Munson) and by dishevelled "bwana" Congo Jack (Stu Erwin). Alas, a couple of minions of the Third Reich are also after the elusive metal, and they're not above committing murder to get what they want. The most novel aspect of Drums of the Congo is the casting of likeable, fresh-faced Universal ingenue Peggy Moran as one of the villains. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ona Munson, Stuart Erwin, (more)
