Director King Vidor wanted to make an all black drama musical back in 1928. No studio would finance it--they figured it wouldn't make a cent. MGM agreed to distribute it--but not pay for it. Vidor financed the entire movie by himself--he also wrote the story. He used mostly non-actors (it shows) and shot it on location in the South. To everyone's surprise it was a big hit and Vidor was nominated for Best Director. So, HISTORICALLY it's important as the first all-black movie distributed by a major studio. Too bad it really isn't that good.
It's about how a poor cotton-picker Zekial (Daniel L. Haynes) becomes a preacher and is tempted by bad girl Chick (Nina Mae McKinney). It leads to a VERY obvious ending involving murder.
First off, it's racist. All the black people are cotton pickers but gee--they're SO happy! And they're all singing spirituals in the field too. Maybe in 1929 this was OK--it's pretty sickening now. Also the acting is REAL bad--Haynes has to be the worst easily. McKinney is just OK. The plot is boring and there is a funeral sequence and preaching sequences which are so over the top you have to wonder if Vidor was kidding.
On the plus side, it IS well-directed with nice use of light and shadow, the sound recording for a 1929 movie is very good and there is some truly great music, singing and dancing here. When the music is going the movie is just fantastic--full of energy--and all the songs are good. When the dramatics come on you have to deal with the stilted dialogue and bad acting.
So, I'm giving it a 7 for the music sequences alone (there are plenty of them). See it for that.
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