Band of Angels (1957) User Reviews

"Freedom's a white word"

[Steffi_P · 5/10 · 17 December 2010]

It's with some sense of poignancy that, in the late 1950s, the old guard of Hollywood began to finally fade away. With Band of Angels we have a middle-aged Clark Gable in one of his last ever archetypal he-man roles, Raoul Walsh, one of the few directors left who had been around since the beginning, and John Twist, a writer of adventures and romances who had started back in the silent era. These men were professionals of their day, still able to turn out a good production, and yet it was also clear they were becoming hopelessly out of time.

Band of Angels is one of many pictures from this time to take a stand on racial issues, and yet even by the standards of the time it is a woefully misguided attempt. Rather than using Yvonne De Carlo's situation to demonstrate the horrors of slavery and make the point that a person's colour is skin deep, it seems to present her being branded black as something horrifying in itself. It holds up kindly masters in mitigation of slavery, and even goes so far as to condemn a slave (the Sidney Poitier character) who is ungrateful for this condescending attitude. There's also a full supporting cast of cringeworthy stereotypes – including a "mammy" – and all the drawling and eye-rolling that cinema had mostly put-paid to by this time. The makers of the movie meant well, I'm sure, but it is clearly a case of old Hollywood trying to do The Defiant Ones while still stuck in Gone with the Wind mode.

And yet there is much to be said for old Hollywood. Walsh's dynamic direction brings an iconic look to scenes like Gable and De Carlo's kiss during the storm. He brings real intensity to the duel between Gable and Raymond Bailey, stealthily moving the camera forward as the two men get closer to each other (a trick he first used in his 1915 feature debut, Regeneration). Despite his age Gable is still very much the virile, eye-catching lead man, and this is a decent performance from him – check out the look in his eyes when he slaps his rival at the slave auction. There is also some achingly beautiful cinematography from Lucien Ballard, with some gorgeous Southern scenery and really effective lighting of interiors, achieving a look with candlelight and shadow that was hard to pull off in Technicolor. Band of Angels is, if nothing else, a movie to be enjoyed visually – and in this way more than any other harks back to a bygone age.

The story of a woman who denies her own people in turbulent time

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 15 April 2007]

The world was full of all colors during the time leading up to the Civil War in the South…The cry for freedom was in the air like a rising wind… Slaves have already gone wild on many plantations but not yet on Pointe du Loup, Louisiana, where it was still serene…

Hamish Bond maintains a plantation outside New Orleans… At the slave mart he buys a beautiful girl for $5,000… She is the daughter of a supposedly wealthy Kentucky planter… After her father's death she discovered he has left her nothing but debts… She also discovered her mother was a black slave and that, according to the custom of the time, she is classified of Negro blood and literally sold down the river to discharge her father's debts…

Amantha Starr is horrified and degraded at the treatment she—a well-bred white girl—receives when she becomes classified as a woman of mixed race…

Hamish doesn't relegate the proud dark-haired woman to slave quarters but treats her as a lady in his household, where romance develops… Clark Gable plays the New Orleans wealthy gentleman who got a past he'd like to forget… He knows better than most men that money is no cure-all… He used to think it was… He used to think it would open the door to friendship and other essentials more important than power… He used to believe it was everything: a drug for loneliness, a painkiller for certain memories, the whole apothecary shop for every problem of life…

He bought the attractive Amantha because she was on the slave block… Somebody else was bound to bid her on… That fellow with laced cuffs putting his hands on her and he hates lace cuffs…

Yvonne de Carlo plays Amantha, the lady of quality with Negro heritage… She didn't go on her way north, nor she jumped the boat at Pointe du Loup… She has suffered, and she always will, with Hamish or without him… There always will be the fires, the memories because she loves him, and because he's the only man she ever loved, or ever will…

The young Sidney Poitier plays the rebellious ambitious chief slave Rau-Ru who gets off the sidewalk for nobody… No constable or paddy roll ever stopped him…No steamboat captain ever asked to see his pass… Will he feels lucky enough to deliver his boss to the hangman one day?

A lot of our IMDb reviewers just don't get it!

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 2 July 2013]

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.

Grand Civil War Epic

[Kalaman · 7 January 2004]

I'm hesitant to call "Band of Angels" a masterwork or one of Raoul Walsh's best. I just saw it for the first time and I felt that it could have been better after all the hoopla and praises I have read about it.

A Warner Bros extravaganza based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren, "Band of Angels" is a grand and episodic Civil War epic, a lyrical love story between a virile slave owner named Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) and half-white, half-black southern belle Amantha Starr (Yvonne deCarlo). "Band of Angels" begins with Amantha as a young girl whose wealthy white father is a recently deceased plantation owner in New Orleans. Shocked and heartbroken, Amantha discovers that she is mulatto and her mother is long departed black nanny. To pay off her family debts, Amantha is forced into slavery. At the auction, Hamish, out of nowhere, buys Amantha, brings her to his mansion and treats her like a lady, regardless of her stubbornness. Initially uncertain, both soon grow into one another and they discover that they can't live without each other. The 30-year-old Sydney Poitier provides good supporting role as Rau-Ru.

"Band of Angels" has a striking Technicolor photography and rich, untamed emotions that are captured by Max Steiner's wistfully searing score. It is a warm nostalgic piece, slightly unfocused at times, but well handled by Walsh, though it is nowhere near his best.

Not a classic but it's worth seeing for Gable, DeCarlo, Poitier, and Max Steiner's music.

This film could have been good.

[Julius-10 · 6/10 · 9 September 1999]

This film is a typical pre-Sixties look at the Civil War. They are very progressive for the time, having one black actor in a major role and several in bit parts, but even still the film is startlingly unwitty. It would be great to study the politics behind this film. It follows the early Hollywood mode of having white actors play black roles, and I would not hesitate from assuming that they had Evon De Carlo to play the role because of the taboo of a black person kissing a white person on the screen. Sidney Potier delivers a fairly decent performance, while Evon De Carlo and Clark Gable could not get out of the Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'Hara mold. The film has some fairly good scenes, but overall it is just barely watchable.

Romantic Epic Soap Opera

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 21 May 2016]

In Kentucky in the antebellum of the Civil War, Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) is the pride and joy of her father, the plantation owner Aaron Starr (William Forrest) that treats her slaves with dignity. When he dies, Amantha learns that he mother was black and she is included as a slave to be sold to pay his father's debts. She is sent to an auction in New Orleans and bought by the wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) by a fortune. He brings her home and treats her as if she were a guest. Amantha meets the slaves Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), who is treated like a son, and Michele (Carolle Drake), who is Hamish's mistress and in love with him. Soon they fall in love with each other, but Hamish discloses a dreadful secret from his past, their relationship ends. Meanwhile the Civil War breaks out and Hamish becomes a wanted man while Rau-Ru joins the Union Army. Will the love of Amantha and Hamish be doomed by the war?

"Band of Angels" is a romantic epic that seems to be a soap opera with a story with many twists. The plot seems to be a melodramatic version of "Gone with the Wind" and Rau-Ru first attitude is ungrateful. The best moment of this melodrama is when Amantha discovers that she is considered a black woman and consequently a slave. Her situation is impressive and heartbreaking. The spoiled woman is suddenly transformed into a property of despicable men. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Meu Pecado Foi Nascer" ("My Sin Was to be Born")

It's not meant to be a GWTW

[rickrudge · 7/10 · 24 March 2017]

Band of Angels (1957)

A lot of people saw this as Clark Gable playing up the "Gone With the Wind" angle, but it's really a story about slavery and race in America. It's not a classic like GWTW, but it should stand on it's own merits. Sure, it's a bit watered down for the late 50s sensibilities, and yes, it's pretty melodramatic stuff, but it's not a bad movie and well worth a look.

A young, beautiful Yvonne De Carlo plays Amantha Starr, the daughter of a plantation owner. She's away at college when she is asked to come home. Her father has taken ill and by the time she arrives, he has already passed away. Then comes the realization that Amantha is really half black, and instead of the daughter of a plantation owner, she will now be sold along with all of the other property to pay off back taxes. Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) buys her, but sets her up like a lady.

A 30 year old Sidney Poitier plays Rau-Ru, a freed slave and raised as Hamish's son. Rau- Ru was educated, so he is all too aware of the atrocities that are performed on black people by people like Hamish, himself, so there's a love/hate relationship going on there.

This DVD was released a little before Yvonne De Carlo death, and it's good that we get a chance to see her before she became well-known as Lilly Munster.

Intriguing but lacking

[Chance_Boudreaux19 · 6/10 · 7 February 2024]

Band of Angels is an interesting movie that is let down by how "clean" it is. It's an intriguing portrait of the South during the Civil War era but it doesn't push the envelope far enough. Clark Gable's character is the best part of the movie. Well the character himself by the time we meet him isn't that interesting but its his past atrocities that he reveals through speeches that make him compelling. It's hard to find redemption for a person that was as brutal as he was towards slaves and the movie makes that redemption feel unearned. It is still commendable that they gave this character a very dark past, especially when he is meant to be the person we root for heavily in the film. In an ideal world, Clark Gable would've played a full-on mean bastard in this movie. Instead of the southern gentleman, he could've been portrayed as a ruthless slave owner with some hints of humanity. In that scenario, this movie would've been talked about a lot more to this day and we could've gotten the best role of Gable's career but I'm sure neither he nor the studio would've been willing to go that far. An anti Gone with the Wind would've been too much risk for that era of filmmaking and it's unfortunate.

In general, for everything interesting the movie does, it then follows it up with generic melodrama. Yvonne De Carlo is ridiculous in a role where she is meant to be partially black but I've seen Audrey Hepburn play a Kiowa so I can suspend my disbelief. However, her experiences as a slave are much too easy. There is a threat of harm coming to her but she quickly gets bought by Clark Gable and falls in love with him within a couple of days. I know it's a ridiculous romantic drama and all the movie goers at the time probably just wanted to see her and Gable kiss and live happily, ever after but I can't help but see the potential that was there. If her experience was much more gruelling, it would've truly elevated the film. Still, her story is quite interesting and the way she gets treated when her lineage is discovered is portrayed effectively. Overall, it's not a bad movie but it had potential to be much, much more.

That Old Northern Charm

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 30 June 2006]

It's obvious that Warner Brothers decided to duplicate the success of Gone With the Wind when they hired Clark Gable for the lead role in Band of Angels. As Hamish Bond, former slave trader, and now plantation owner in the Louisiana delta country, Gable is an older and more worldly wise Rhett Butler. A man deeply concerned about the sins he committed in this life as a slave trader, living it down as best he can.

One of his new charities is Yvonne DeCarlo who received one rude shock when her father died. Her mom was black, one of the plantation slaves and she is technically one also. She's not the mistress of her father's plantation, she along with the rest of the property, real and human, is to be sold for back taxes.

Gable buys her and sets her up in his New Orleans home. Also in that house is a young black man named Ra-Ru played by Sidney Poitier. Poitier, in violation of the laws of the time, has been educated. And he's acquired enough education to appreciate the situation he's in. He's got a great hate for his benefactor who he really sees as no different than other, crueler slave holders.

Today's audience which has seen Steven Spielberg's great true film Amistad about the illegal African slave trade, can appreciate far better Gable's dilemma. It's as if the owners of the Amistad grew a conscience. Gable's description of life in the slave trade when he levels with Yvonne DeCarlo is a high point of the film as is his description of the rescue of an African baby who grew up to be Sidney Poitier.

The film does borrow liberally from Gone With the Wind in terms of Gable's character. But it also borrows from Birth of a Nation. Catch the scenes at his plantation on the delta when his slaves greet him and DeCarlo coming off the riverboat. Very much in keeping with that flawed classic. Had Gable done this film at his former studio MGM, I'm sure Ava Gardner would have been cast opposite him. Though DeCarlo is fine, Ava would have made the part a classic.

Actually it's Poitier who walks off with the acting honors here. His Ra-Ru is filled with fire and passion. What Gable thought of as an act of kindness, is not perceived by Poitier as that. He's educated enough to see exactly the institution of slavery for the dehumanizing force that it is. His confrontation with another plantation owner, Patric Knowles, when he tries to force himself on DeCarlo is not something one with the slave mentality would do. Knowles makes a big mistake in assuming Poitier thinks that way.

Actually Patric Knowles has another important scene with Gable after Poitier assaults Knowles and escapes. Gable has no use for him at all. He's originally from New England and doesn't like southern aristocrats as a group. Though Knowles is reputed to be a dead shot as a duelist, Gable faces him down and makes him turn tail in my favorite scene in the film.

Band of Angels did not get the best of reviews at the time it came out. I think it was ahead of its time and can be better appreciated by audiences today.

not bad,...and well worth watching

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 18 March 2006]

If you watch this film more for its fun factor and less on its artistic merit, you will probably be more satisfied. While the movie does have some holes (such as Yvonne DeCarlo's adequate performance and the film's making slavery seem not quite so horrible), it is enjoyable on at least an emotional level. Fans of Clark Gable, for instance, are sure to be pleased and the settings around the bayous of Louisiana are are quite pretty. Sidney Poitier does a good job in the film as the angry ex-slave and it's interesting to see a younger Efram Zimbalest, Jr. playing a supporting role. This film will NOT change your life and at times it's pretty predictable, but it is better than just a time-passer and worth your time.

Some facts....some fictions!

[msladysoul · 5/10 · 6 April 2011]

This movie is something else I must say. I just don't know how to take it. I guess the thing that upset me the most was this movie was another example of Hollywood being racist, while telling a story about racism, their displaying racism. First thing that upset me was they cast a white actress to the part of a mixed black person, Hollywood did this often in movies about mixed race people (Pinky, Lost Boundaries, Imitation of Life, Show Boat), they always would cast white actors and actress and try to make them look ethnic, instead of hiring light-skinned black actress and actors to play the part, it would bring an authenticity to the role if a real black played the part. For this particular movie, Band of Angels, Hilda Simms (famous for playing Anna Lucasta on Broadway) who was a beautiful, talented, light-skinned black woman, would have been perfect as Manty, but as some reviewers have said, a true black and a white kissing and being in love on screen was taboo and something the world wasn't ready to see yet, but it was okay to see a "pretend black girl played by a white" and a white man in love, how much sense does that make??? Manty once lived as a white privileged girl, so when she finds out she's "black," she can't accept her blackness or the black side, and throughout the movie she's still acts like a white girl, detached in many ways. Yvonne De Carlo, doesn't even play the tragic mulatto well, she seems very cold, especially when she's on the black side. Its because she has no experience as a black, she can't bring that experience to the role, so she seems very detached and going through the motions in some parts of the movie. She couldn't bring the suffering and hardships of being black like a real black actress could.

This movie showed some truth about slavery, many white slave masters were sleeping with black women and having black mistresses. Where do you think all these different tones of black people come from? Many blacks have white ancestry, but most whites won't admit they have black relations. Many slave masters would keep their mixed race children a secret from their white families. President Thomas Jefferson has black descendants, from the children he had with his black slave mistress, but most white descendants of Thomas Jefferson haven't been as welcomed to them. I saw a common theme in this movie it seems the men couldn't wait to sleep with or rape the light-skinned Manty, proving that during slavery, many light-skinned black women were used as sex slaves back then, but yet still slaves.

Another thing about this movie is the "one drop of black blood" rule. This was something made up by whites to keep mixed race people out of their race. Whites wanted to keep their race pure, so even if a mixed race person looked more white, that drop of black kept them from being white. They didn't have a choice to choose to be black or white. White people were in denial of their black-white relations and gung-ho about not accepting mixed race ones, and that's still true to this day. Our President Obama is of mixed race, but people call him black. Also back then there was a rule that if your mother was a slave, you had to be a slave. That was one way slave owners could keep more slaves from being free. Quite a few black men were able to buy their freedom, but most black women couldn't afford their freedom and plus if a slave was of mixed race, she still had to be a slave, even if her father was a white man, if her mother was black she still had to be a slave.

There's some discrepancies in this film, I doubt in real life back then a Manty could just be crossing the color line back and forth, being black then being white. If you were lucky enough to pass and get away with it, you ran away somewhere no one knew you. If you were known as black, people would keep an eye on you so you wouldn't pass. Manty had more freedoms then a black girl would be given in true life back then, and she had more freedoms then even white woman would ever be given, so I doubt Manty would just be all over the place like she was in this film. Slave masters back then who were having affairs with blacks, didn't carry on so openly as this movie suggest. I doubt in real life Manty and Clark Gable would ride out into the sunset and live happily ever after.

I could understand the bitterness of Rau-Ru, Clark Gable's character buy slaves and supposedly treat them nice, to make up for being apart of the slave trade, but yet his slaves are still slaves, not free to go and come as they please. I wonder how many white slave owners back then thought they could make up for buying slaves by being nice.

Michele, played by model Carrole Drake, is a pretty house slave, who once was the mistress of Clark Gable, but when Manty was brought in, Michele had to move over, but she still loves him. It supposedly was taboo for a black and white romance, but anyone could see Michele and Clark Gable had something going on between them, without kissing. Carrole never did any other films, and that's ashame, she was wonderful in this part.

Tommie Moore was marvelous as the spunky, naughty, sassy Dolly, she was a wonderful black actress who people don't even know. She was a great actress, but like many black actress and actors it was hard to find work and get recognition. Juanita Moore, famous for Imitation of Life, was wonderful in her small part.

One of Clark Gable's best films

[NewEnglandPat · 8/10 · 5 July 2005]

Warner Brothers spared no expense in this lavish film production of a young woman of mixed parentage who falls in love with the man who buys her at an auction but denies her racial heritage. Clark Gable dominates the film as an ex-slave trader and plantation owner in the antebellum South. Yvonne De Carlo is the mulatto who becomes Gable's mistress and Sidney Poitier as a proud man who was raised as Bond's son. Gable and De Carlo make an appealing pair in the film but they spend a great deal of time quarreling with each other. Gable has a dark secret about his past that he'd like to forget and De Carlo struggles to accept the truth about her racial origins. Gable later is a fugitive from Union justice for burning crops and stores, thereby risking the hangman's noose. The film's title refers to a newly-formed Union regiment of black soldiers in the waning days of the Confederacy. The film has an excellent music score by Max Steiner, great technicolor lensing by Lucien Ballard and a solid supporting cast.

Improves with Age

[JasonC-4 · 7/10 · 14 February 2021]

I have to say this film was much better than the civil war potboiler I was expecting. Yes it definitely has overtones of Gone With the Wind but if you put Clark Gable in a Civil War movie that's what you are going to get. Warners have obviously spared no expense with this one and the money shows on screen. Gable's salary would have been a part of that and frankly he is too old for the role of a slave trader turned plantation owner in the old south but he brings a legacy with him that is there on the screen. His big scene where he comes clean to Yvonne De Carlo about his slave trading past could almost be paraphrased as "Frankly my dear you really shouldn't give a damn" and it's almost as if Gable knows it. De Carlo is also too old for her part by at least 10 years but she does some her best work here. The trouble is that her best work can only be described as competent when the part of Amantha requires more fire than De Carlo can offer. The real acting pleasures here are provided by some of the supporting players. Carolle Drake, in her only screen appearance, gives a cool and knowing performance as Gable's housekeeper and former mistress who still loves him. Likewise Juanita Moore makes something out of the nothing the script gives her in a brief appearance as a maid on a steamboat. Andrea King leaves you wanting more as Miss Idell who seemingly ends up with Amantha's inheritance. King's exit scene (quite early in the piece) as she walks away towards the plantation house with her back to the camera is beautifully shot. Sidney Poitier on the other hand seemed a little self-conscious to me as the educated slave (and by proxy Gable's adopted son figure). Overall this is a film that has improved with age and deserving of a re-evaluation today.

Twisted, Grotesque Artifact of White Denial

[Danusha_Goska · 5/10 · 3 December 2005]

"Band of Angels"

1957

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Starring Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Carolle Drake

Plot: a light-skinned daughter of a plantation owner and a slave is sold into slavery after living a young life of luxury. A series of men attempt to rape and/or seduce her. Finally, she embarks on her "happily ever after" with a slave trader.

Where to begin. How to summarize everything that is wrong with this ugly little movie.

It must be said that this film has its fans. One can see why.

"Band of Angels" has star power: Gable, who did not age well, is 56 here, and he looks ten years older, but he's still Gable. This is your one chance to see Sidney Poitier and Gable together. Yvonne DeCarlo is a great beauty.

The film has glorious sets of the old South, lovely gowns, and a series of bodice-ripper scenes that some will find arousing.

It has a tried and true bodice-ripper, romance novel plot: a woman falls in love with her rapist, and in this case, her owner: a slave trader who bought her at a slave auction.

Many viewers will find this plot, though, icky, and Gable is too creaky here to ignite the kind of spark he could once ignite that will get us past the ick factor.

The real problem with this movie is this: the movie thinks that it is a groundbreaking, truth-telling, realistic depiction of the horrors of the enslavement of African Americans. It's not, though. Rather, it is a tragic display of white denial.

I know what you're thinking. "This reviewer is politically correct!" The thing is, I'm not politically correct at all. "Gone with the Wind" is one of my favorite movies.

But "Gone with the Wind" has tremendous narrative and archetypal power that transcends its unrealistic portrayal of slavery.

"Band of Angels" has no such power.

Its "realistic" and "truth telling" depiction of slavery includes the following:

In the opening scene, two slaves are shown running away. They, like the other slaves in the movie, are very well dressed. Even GWTW has the decency to show slaves in ragged clothing.

Read descriptions of how real slaves actually dressed. They dressed in rags, or in nothing at all.

The runaways walk tall and quick. Their body movements announce that they consider themselves to be the equal of their captors.

Again, even GWTW depicted the deferential walk and posture that slaves had to adopt. Read Richard Wright. Blacks in the South had to assume a different posture and walk just to survive, right up until the Civil Rights Movement.

The runaway slaves' owner decides to punish them -- by having them pull weeds! Read any honest history of slavery. Runaway slaves were punished with horrible tortures. "Pulling weeds" was not one of them.

There is one bad white Southerner in the movie. Like most of the other men in the movie, he tries to rape Yvonne DeCarlo. She easily rebuffs him. Millions of real slaves were not so lucky.

Most of the white Southerners in the movie are well meaning, and most of the slaves are happy. Carolle Drake, whose dignified performance is the best thing about the movie -- it is a real tragedy that this is the only film she ever made -- plays a slave woman who is in love with her owner. She is light skinned, and is allowed to be dignified. Other, darker slaves are shown as idiotic and animal-like, or as so overjoyed by the presence of their slave owner that they burst into spirituals.

Sidney Poitier plays a slave who has been treated well by his master, Clark Gable.

Poitier repays Gable for this excellent treatment by scheming for Gable's death. It is only when Gable reveals that he is Poitier's father that Poitier realizes his appropriate love for the man who owned him and raped his African mother.

In the film's capstone scene, where Gable talks about the horrors of the slave trade, Gable describes savage Africans as doing most of the dirty work. Gable, poor, innocent white slave trader, physically fights against the Africans who are savaging their own people in order to supply him, Gable, with human cargo.

For any decent person, watching this scene of white denial is gut wrenching.

Finally, Yankees arrive. They are every bit as bad as the Yankees in GWTW. The poor, stupid slaves who welcome their arrival, Gable intones, are not intelligent enough to realize how lucky they had it under their beneficent Southern owners.

Again, if you like seeing beautiful women in pretty costumes, and if you want to see Yvonne De Carlo's bodice ripped -- six or seven -- I lost count -- men in the film attempt to have their way with her -- and if "woman falls in love with rapist" plots are your cup of tea, and if you can ignore the nauseating denial that underlies this exercise, then you may enjoy this movie.

Otherwise, it is more of sociological interest than aesthetic.

A fairly good 50s film: most of it very watchable

[bbailey-1 · 7 May 2002]

'Band of Angels' is an unusual 1950s melodrama with a fairly good cast. The script is not free of a few groaners, and some of the characterizations call for some endurance. The viewers' introduction to Gable's character, for one, is of a US bully from the we-saved-the-world 1950s. Also, a very cliche'd sailor friend's drinking scene at Gable's mansion was sheer torture for this viewer, and an excess of fawning slaves gathering to sing their Mass'ahs praises at the drop of a hat didn't help.

That now out of the way, there's more at work that to my mind saves this movie. Supported by Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Clark Gable and Yvonne deCarlo play the lead pair, who openly 'live in sin' and are otherwise reprehensible. All the same, both are portrayed sympathetically. Set in the 'Gone with the Wind' period, Gable plays an ex-slaver and cotton-grower who once prowled his plantation's slave shacks for his jollies. She is the shameful issue of a liaison with a slave on another plantation, and it's even suggested that she fools around on Gable while he's away on business.

This movie's clearly no gem, but it's no dreck. However maudlin and overdone, its basic theme of the redemptive power of love is fairly well handled. The era and settings are unusual and atmospheric enough to hold the viewer's interest, and I had no difficulty with plot over-entanglements even if my credulity was strained now and then.

It may well have been Yvonne De Carlo's best film, and Gable also did a fair job with an okay script (something not unusual while the studios struggled to survive). Sidney Poitier has a small but meaty role as an educated slave with a deep grudge. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. got his first speaking part in this film, and acquits himself smoothly with limited material. Max Steiner grinds out a spotty sountrack that's effective only in the chase scenes, and then only just ...yet a Rozsa or Korngold he never was.

The Warnercolour's glorious, and the art direction is especially fine, with atmospheric scenes especially in the Gable character's New Orleans pied-a-terre and (less so) in his plantation mansion. Mind you, it's all 100% 1950s Hollywood, and very pristine and polished ...but let's not expect too much from the era, when Edith Head primped up the women and the idea of onscreen grime, sweat or facial stubble as far off as spaghetti westerns.

A fairly good film from the 50s, in short: its eventful, sometimes quirky plot, more than passable acting and some unusual settings make most of it very watchable.

Luxurious and evocative costume drama with big budget shot in handsome fashion by Raoul Walsh

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 1 February 2021]

A nice attempt at costume drama with intense moments , plot twists and some weak incidents . Set in the Southern states at the time of the American Civil War concerning Amantha Starr : Yvonne De Carlo grows-up as a privileged Southern heir . But later on , Amantha learns has African-American blood and since it's the pre-Civil War era she promptly suffers from a distressed fate . Become an orphanaged woman and winds up on the auction block . Starr becomes both the property and the mistress of mysterious New Orleans landowner Hamish Bond : Clark Gable.

This epic movie is set in early American Civil War bringing mayhem, revelations and threats. A good film though tended to acquire the reputation of a poor man's "Gone With the Wind" and again Clak Gable as its top-drawer star . Overall, though , it is a big budgeted picture with impressive battles , expensive action , sparkles enough and enjoyable scenes especially on the pursuit set pieces through swamplands. Based on the best-seller book by Robert Penn Warren with interesting and moving script by John Twist and Ivan Goff . Clark Gable is pretty good , playing in his ordinary style . Yvonne De Carlo looks properly surly in this really luxury drama . Performance honours, however, are stolen by a young Sidney Poitier in his starts , as he clearly robbing the show as a rebellious African-American overseer . Very good support cast with plenty of notorious secondaries, such as : Efrem Zimbalist Jr. , Rex Reason, Patrick Knowles , Torin Thatcher , Andrea King , Ray Teal , among others .

It displays a stirring and agreeable musical score by grand maestro Max Steiner . As well as colourful cinematography in Warnercolor by Lucien Ballard that sets off the action in glamorous and haunting fashion . The motion picture was well and professionally directed by Raul Walsh . He was one of the best Hollywood craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres , such as : "Big Trail" , "Distant Drums", "Along the Great Divide" , "Dark Command" , "Gun Fury" , "Gentleman Jim" , "They Died With their Boots on" , "Tall Men", "The Thief of Bagdag" , "White Heat", "Northern Pursuit" , "Roaring Twenties" , "Blackbeard Pirate" , "They Drive by Night" , "Pursued" , "High Sierra" , "Strawberry Blonde" , "Battle Cry" , "Naked and the Dead" , and several others . Rating : 6.5/10 . Worthwhile watching. The flick will appeal to Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo and Sidney Poitier fans .

Gable Proves Acting is Harder Than it Seems

[rcshepherd · 6/10 · 13 July 2007]

(William) Clark Gable was a towering figure in American motion pictures from their the birth of sound into the middle of the 20th century. But this film is proof that neither he, nor the studios that employed him, could figure out what to do with his talent(s) after WWII.

Most commentators on Band of Angles comment about the film's overall quality, and the work of emerging (Sidney Potier) and established (Yvonne DeCarlo) character actors who turn out professional, above average performances. In doing this they show kindness to the professional history of Mr. Gable and the studio(s); and in fairness to the memory of the beginnings of the careers of actors like Mr. Potier. But standing on its own, the poor quality of this film is striking, and its problems begin and continue with Mr. Gable and the failure of he and the film's produces to have any idea about what to do with him as a motion picture actor - Leading Man Type.

The studio faces this problem squarely by the very choice of its production. Of course Band of Angles is a re-play of the cinematic setting of "Gone With the Wind". The heaving bosoms; the passionate cavaliers; the hot-blooded creoles; and the angry Negroes, all lead to the conclusion that the studio was thinking backward not forward. And this film was not produced by MGM. It is inconceivable that a studio would have produced this film in 1957, if it did not already have Clark Gable under contract.

But what else could the studio do? Another Love triangle between Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly? Who are we kidding? Gable was no Cary Grant. Gable's screen sexuality was based upon overwhelming power. His prowess was not to charm his way into a women's heart; but to kick down the door, as he did in GWTW. Its so sad to watch; in GWTW era films, if Gable has a walking stick, its for swagger; to show his hands are idle, unless he's handling a woman. In Band of Angles he can be seen resting himself on his walking stick as a cane. It conveys a totally different impression.

When in the film Gable confronts a rival plantation owner, he is, in the scene, holding himself up by his cane; while he's talking to his rival. In his pre-war films Gable doesn't talk to a man who's confronting him; his fists do the talking. Or the threat of their use get's a Gable male plot rival to back down in advance of a physical confrontation.

It was combination

If it wasn't for...

[pipster101 · 6/10 · 10 June 2002]

the combination of De Carlo and Gable then this film would be worth than awful - a parody of all that is wrong with cinema. In fact, in retrospect, it is terrible. The only reason I sat through it was to see Yvonne looking beautiful in period costume - if you're not a fan of hers then just don't bother! A terrible film that has not stood the test of time at all...

"The skipper tried to beat me once. Just once. I took his ship and I took his name: Hamish Bond."

[boscofl · 7/10 · 31 March 2021]

While inevitably compared to Gone With the Wind for obvious reasons, Band of Angels suffers in comparison to that classic and will likely be derided by modern audiences for its dated take on slavery. However, when accepted on its own terms and with an understanding of the time in which it was produced, the film has a certain entertainment value that manifests as a guilty pleasure for old cinephiles like myself. Helmed by veteran Raoul Walsh, scored by Max Steiner, lensed in glorious Warnercolor, and produced by Warner Brothers (no strangers to tackling sensitive subjects) Band of Angels has competent hands at work to tell its story.

The narrative follows Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo), the daughter of a plantation owner in pre-Civil War Kentucky, who discovers upon her father's death her long deceased mother was black and, by law, so is she. Naturally the shift in station from southern belle to slave is pretty traumatic for her. However she is fortunate enough to be purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), a kind southern gentleman whose good deeds are a mask for his despicable past as a slave trader. At first resentful of Hamish Amantha soon comes to love him and their relationship takes center stage. The story progresses into the Civil War where their devotion is severely tested as the Confederacy is destroyed and Hamish becomes an outlaw.

Considering Band of Angels was released in 1957 the film is remarkably frank in dealing with the issues of slavery and takes a firm moral stance against it. In doing so practically all the white characters are presented as degenerate scoundrels while the majority of the blacks are presented as noble and sympathetic. Some of this is pure melodramatic Hollywood fantasy - the slaves at Hamish's plantation serenading him as he arrives via steamboat comes to mind - and will likely rankle modern audiences. On other fronts the movie is technically sound with brilliant color photography, impressive sets, and a catchy musical score by Max Steiner. The script isn't the best with coincidences, questionable character motivations, and silly dialogue propelling the action but this is a film best enjoyed when not questioning logic or expecting a realistic take on the 1860s.

Clark Gable gives his standard star performance as a man confident in his own abilities, direct and honest in how he deals with people, and overly macho. He convincingly portrays his disapproval of the slavery institution and his self-loathing for having a bloody hand in perpetuating it. The inevitable comparisons to Rhett Butler will be made but Hamish Bind is a lot more grim and disgusted (There's a priceless moment when Hamish is made aware of being hunted by a "General Butler" and he spits out the name "Butler!" with glorious contempt). As the linchpin of the narrative Yvonne De Carlo is hopelessly out of her depth as Amantha Starr. The role cries out for a star performer but Miss De Carlo was never that and she struggles with the emotional scenes and the mostly trite dialogue she is given to mouth. The other obvious problem to anyone is the enormous age difference between her and Gable (to be fair Clark is way too old for the role) combined with the fact they generate minimal chemistry.

Leading the supporting cast is the relatively unknown (at the time) Sidney Poitier who nearly steals the show in a role he invented: the intelligent and thoughtful black man in a white world. Here he is Hamish's adopted (possibly biological) son Rau-Ru who struggles with many complex emotions. He is conflicted because Hamish treats him so well and, in Ray-Ru's mind, entraps him into the worst kind of slavery: being a willing participant. The film goes to great lengths to portray Hamish's love and admiration for the man Rau-Ru has become (he is clearly intellectually and morally superior to all the white folks) while nearly making the young man seem ungrateful. It is a credit to Poitier's brilliance as a performer that this never happens.

There are a handful of notable performances out of the relatively mundane cast. Patric Knowles, an old Warner Brothers contract player who specialized in romantic secondary roles, is cast as a neighbor of Hamish Bond and the exact opposite: superior, cruel, lecherous, and cowardly. He is surprisingly brilliant in this role. Torin Thatcher enthusiastically enacts one of Hamish's old sailing buddies and tears up the scenery more than the hurricane that accompanies him to his buddy's house. As a bible-beating reverend loudly preaching the equality of all men Rex Reason delivers a pompous performance that culminates in a near-rape of Amantha (quite an unnecessary development as it does nothing to further the plot). In perhaps the showiest performance Tommie Moore inhabits the slave girl Dollie who naively believes the arrival of the Yankees will deliver all the slaves to nirvana. Her bits of spouting off flowery dialogue and whirling around singing with exaggerated gestures makes one wonder if she thought this would be a musical.

Band of Angels will certainly be a polarizing experience for many. The central theme of coming to grips with one's identity in a segregated society was bold for its time but likely laughable in its presentation for modern viewers. The film certainly suffers from the absence of a huge personality in the role of Amantha Starr (undeniably tricky casting for a role that requires a female who would appear unquestionably white to the folks of 1860 yet believable to audiences as being of mixed race). At its best the movie will emerge as a guilty pleasure for those immersed in classic cinema and fans of both Gable and Poitier. In the final analysis the enjoyment level of this picture will be determined by one's sensibilities.

Gable's last Civil War epic.

[weezeralfalfa · 8/10 · 12 January 2008]

Well, we have quite a range of reactions to this film from the greatest film ever to the worst film ever seen. I prefer it to the more polished "Gone with the Wind". I believe it was one of Gable's most significant roles after 1939, along with "The Tall Men". Yes, Clark Gable was no longer the swaggering rogue, man of action and lady killer of the '30s. Here, we have a more mature weathered-looking Gable, who has settled down to the genteel life of a southern plantation owner, after a financially successful life as a rough and tumble Yankee slave trader. Yet, he is still something of a rebel. He has a guilty conscience about his former life as a ruthless slave trader and wants to make partial amends by treating his large group of slaves decently. In fact, he plans to leave his estate to one of them. He tends to see the born southern aristocracy as largely decadently effete, as exemplified by a neighbor who takes a liking to his recent light-skinned mulatto acquisition((Yvonne De Carlo, as Amantha). Clearly, Gable, as Hamish Bond, has no interest in supporting the recent unsettling changes in the political scene and the impending Civil War. He recognizes that these events will probably shatter his idyllic life and that the lives of many of his slaves will likely be changed for the worse if they are liberated by the Yankee troops. Perhaps, he recognized that secession failed to solve the looming problem of a lack of new territories for the expansion of plantation slavery, thus depressing the monetary value of young surplus slaves. Perhaps, he also recognized that a separate South impeded the legal demands slave owners could make in recapturing escaped slaves who made it out of the Confederacy. On the other hand, Hamish refuses to support the cause of the Yankee troops who want to sell his soon-to-be harvested cotton. He risks execution in burning his cotton crop and most of his equipment.

Hamish rescues, in dramatic fashion, a beautiful cultivated mulatto(Yvonne De Carlo, as Amantha) from a fate she could not bear, although she initially shows little gratitude. He does not require that she become his mistress and in fact gives her a chance to escape his world, but she has a last minute change of heart and decides to remain with him. Amantha has experienced two benevolent slave owners: her father and Hamish. This is in marked contrast to her treatment as a slave on the auction block. The dialog makes it clear that her father and Hamish are rather exceptional in this regard. Thus, I don't buy the criticism that this film provides an unrealistically rosy picture of the typical lives of slaves. The film makes the viewer feel deeply the horror of a sudden change in status from a southern belle to a life-long slave. If you want a much more extreme example, read the book "Skeletons in the Zahara", in which shipwrecked Yankee sailors are transformed into barely living slaves of fearsome tribes or Arabs near the coast of northwest Africa.

The relationship between Hamish and his slave and appointed successor Rau-Ru(Sidney Poitier)is another key element of this story. Rau-Ru hates the institution of slavery and hates Hamish even more for his rather successful attempt to make slavery agreeable to his slaves. The fact that he is the heir apparent for this plantation does nor change his attitude. The last portion of the film deals mainly with the critical relationships between Hamish and Rau-Ru, now a Union soldier, and between Hamish, Amantha and a certain Union Caucasian soldier, against a background of Union troops overrunning Hamish's plantation. See the film to find out how this cliffhanger complex of relationships turns out.

band of angels

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 5 September 2022]

Probably the best of the bad 50s ripoffs of GWTW. Lucien Ballard's corruptly beautiful cinematography and a nice, low key, late Clark Gable performance (call it Rhett Lite) help to get the viewer over the boring humps of over acting by Ms. DeCarlo and over writing by woman's pic scribe John Twist and Goff and Roberts of "White Heat" fame whose dialogue sounds like they'd rather be doing a noir but can't quite swing it. Caught in the middle are Sidney Poitier who at this early stage of his career alternates moments of power with moments of bathos and, of course, director Raoul Walsh who excels in the action scenes but slows down considerably during the intimate ones, particularly those between the two leads. And there are many such scenes in this two hour and twenty minute bloviation.

Bottom line: DeCarlo won't make you forget Vivien Leigh but Walsh sure eclipses Eddie Dmytryk (of "Raintree County" infamy). C plus.

Atrocious acting and music

[HotToastyRag · 2/10 · 21 November 2017]

While Band of Angels has a very captivating premise, it's so terrible you'll wonder why you didn't just watch Gone with the Wind for the thirtieth time instead of taking a chance on it. It's another Civil War drama that takes place on a large Southern plantation, starring Clark Gable without a Southern accent. The costumes, designed by Marjorie Best, are breathtakingly beautiful, however, and every bit as lovely and authentic looking as Walter Plunkett's costumes in Gone with the Wind. The clothes are really the only good part of the film, so if you're the type of person who watches movies only to look at the costumes, rent this one.

Yvonne De Carlo is a Southern belle, but when her father dies, her mother's race is revealed. Not only is Yvonne the descendant of a slave, but she has lost her inheritance to her father's plantation and fortune, and she's carted off to the selling block and sold as a slave. Wealthy plantation owner Clark Gable buys her with intentions to make her his mistress. I know the plot sounds like something you'd want to watch—it sounded that way to me, too—but there are lots of reasons why the film was so torturous. Either director Raoul Walsh gave his actors atrocious advice on how to deliver their lines, or everyone was naturally atrocious without his help. Clark Gable rattles off his lines the way he always does, quickly, without feeling, and with a sense that he's not really listening to himself. Carolle Drake, Clark's former slave mistress, reads her lines with worse delivery than a cold audition. And, as if to make up for it, Tommie Moore, another of Clark's slaves, hams up every single line as if she belongs in a bad community theater production.

If horrible acting doesn't bother you, Max Steiner's score will. Just as an example, when Rex Reason announces he's been recruited to make speeches for President Lincoln, Max's music plays "I've Been Working on the Railroad" as he triumphantly leaves for his assignment. It's classic Max Steiner, which means he'll use silly ditties and score a drama as if it's a cartoon.

On a side note, Sidney Poitier plays Clark Gable's "head slave". In the story, he seethes and resents Clark's kindness, and in his major scenes, he plays more a villain than a hero. I can't imagine white audiences in the 1950s were pleased with his character; it's pretty amazing he had a career after this movie.

" There is a vast difference between what you think you are and what you really are "

[thinker1691 · 8/10 · 6 April 2011]

This film is called " Band of Angels " and with such a title and with Clark Gable as the star, one would expect it to be a motion picture about flying. Instead it's a great surprise to see it is set during the Civil War. Based on the novel by Robert Warren, it tells the story of Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) an attractive young white girl raised on a southern plantation in a well-to-do fashion. When her father dies, she discovers her wealthy father was in terrible debt and she is sold into slavery, and it is further discovered she is actually the daughter of a female Negro. Fearing the worse, she attempts suicide when she realizes she will be put up for sale at auction. Purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) a wealthy southern gentleman, introduces her to a fine house and unusual servants. Sidney Poitier is in great form as one sees the early caliber of his acting. Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Rex Reason and Torin Thatcher, make fine additions to this surprisingly good film. Recommended to any who seeks a good movie. ****

While it was fascinating to see Clark Gable and Sidney Poitier team up in Band of Angels, that was it for me

[tavm · 4/10 · 26 February 2014]

Just watched this DVD of the movie after 30 years of remembering it being promoted on a local station for a late Sunday night showing. Clark Gable plays Hamish Bond, a slave owner who treats his employees with kindness like Carolle Drake as Michelle (we find out she was also his mistress) and Tommie Moore as Dollie. Also, Sidney Poitier as Rau-Ru, who later joins the Union Army. Oh, and Yvonne De Carlo plays a mulatto named Amanda Starr who passes for the lighter race. I'll just now say that while I was fascinated by the fact that one legend was teamed with someone who would become one himself, part of me was bored with the way the plot kept meandering along. I'm sure Robert Penn Warren's novel must have been more exciting than this. In fact, I feel asleep a couple of times so I had to rewind to find out what I missed sometimes. So on that note, I say Band of Angels is at the least worth a look. P.S. I recognized that white Union soldier Poitier was talking to as William Schallert who would later appear with Sidney in In the Heat of the Night. I was a little distracted that the general in this film had the surname of Butler. And I liked the Louisiana locations that were showcased since I happen to live in the state.

In defense of Band of Angels

[helene-hazera · 10/10 · 3 September 2005]

I saw Band of angels at the Cinemathèque in Paris about thirty years ago, and yet i have not forget the film. What a splendid melodrama, a melodrama like Emilio Fernandez "el indio" could do in Mexico, or the great Philipino author of "Insiang". A melodrama with political flavor. Of course we are in the United States in the Fifties, and we know Yvonne DE Carlo will not leave at the end with Sydney Poitier! But the idea -which is totally possible- of a person with black blood, appearing totally white, and even ignoring her family links was a good way to help a white audience realise the cruelty and the insanity of racism (didn't Upton Sinclair wrote a novell on this theme?). The scene in the boat where the slave merchant tries to rape Yvonne, and she commits suicide, films frankly a theme that was not common on an Hollywood film, the institutionalised rape of afro-American women by whites. In the same time the scene where she is sold in auction, (and bought up by Clarck Gable, one the most wanted man of the time), bring another strange dimension, the s&m one: its no longer filmed realistically, but like a nightmare or a dream, or a erotic fantasy. We are no longer in Gone with the wind but in Histoire d'O.

Of course, politically, for today standards, it is quite poor, and Sydney Poitier fight for his share with gusto in a film unable to make anything else than a stereotype. It seems the script didn't knew really what to do for him.

The black Mistress of Gable is better treated by the script: her role is to be remembered. She plays it with great sharpness. Was she a theater actress?

And the style of Hawks, those slow movements of camera, those colors...

You have to put back the film in the context...Its a courageous film. Its a clever film. It a very beautiful film.