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Native Son

Screening on Film
Directed by Pierre Chenal.
With Richard Wright, Gloria Madison, Jean Wallace.
US/Argentina, 1951, 35mm, black & white, 91 min.

Richard Wright stars in the screen adaptation of his acclaimed novel as Bigger Thomas, a chauffeur who accidentally kills the daughter of the family he serves and is forced to go on the lam. Wright’s acting skills are limited (and stretched a bit far considering the vast age difference between the actor and his character), as are those of most of the B-movie cast. Yet this quintessentially American tale, filmed in Argentina on a shoestring budget, is an interesting curio in its frank confrontation of racial representation which prompted U.S. censors to cut over thirty minutes of footage from the film.

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