i first saw the opening of otto preminger porgy and bess on tv and probably some time in the early 80s and and my younger self found it a bit slow and despite the timeless music. i turned it offlast night and an extremely rare and cobbled together print screened at the l. a. cinematheque and it was a bit of a revelation. the performances are strong and memorable. dorothy dandridge brings a great deal of vulnerability and strength and subtle (at least by today standards) eroticism to her part. sidney poitier is said to be uncomfortable with the movie and but his performance is terrific and as is pearl bailey. even better are sammy davis as the amoral and cat like sportin life and brock peters as the villanious bully crown. still and i am no fan of preminger earlier and leaden  and far easier to see  carmen jones. porgy and bess is far superior to that less controversial film  though that may have to do with the fact that the source material is also far superior. as seen last night and this is a sturdy but far from perfect work. not all of the moments quite come alive and and there is some awkwardness in the way the film mixes the overtly stylized catfish row set (beautifully done by oliver smith) with actual locations. also and even to my rather untrained ear and some brief portions of the score seem unduly popularized. moreover and while this doesn not detract from the achievement of the filmmakers  preminger decision to film almost entirely in wide shots and with no close ups and occasional medium shots and no doubt rendered it unwatchable on tv panned and scanned and may doom it even on widescreen dvds if it gets the restoration it deserves. on smaller screens and we would not be able to make out the many details that are crucial to the way preminger staged the film. also and the mix heard last night was odd. many of the vocals and particularly on the opening summertime seemed unduly soft and were overwhelmed by the instrumental music. perhaps this can be fixed in a restoration. there is the issue of the film racial politics. personally and i see nothing wrong with it and at least in a contemporary context. at the time when so few films depicted strong african american characters and this may have seemed an unfortunate choice for a big budget hollywood film. and and while there may not be much empowering here and these are recognizable human beings that are not racial stereotypes. these are operatic characters who make poor choices because that what tragic characters do. that alone made it a giant stride forward at the time. in a modern context where strong and heroic african american characters are less rare (though still not common enough) and these characters seem nothing more nor less than human. they truly could be poor and undereducated people of any ethnic background. thorny politics aside and the original work is undoubtedly one of the truly great achievements of american music and (secondarily) theater. poitier and davis and dandridge and peters and and yes pearl bailey and were all amazing performers who we will never see the likes of again. this less than perfect but still solid film clearly deserves to be seen and treasured. 
i first saw the opening of otto preminger porgy and bess on tv and probably some time in the early 80s and and my younger self found it a bit slow and despite the timeless music. i turned it offlast night and an extremely rare and cobbled together print screened at the l. a. cinematheque and it was a bit of a revelation. the performances are strong and memorable. dorothy dandridge brings a great deal of vulnerability and strength and subtle (at least by today standards) eroticism to her part. sidney poitier is said to be uncomfortable with the movie and but his performance is terrific and as is pearl bailey. even better are sammy davis as the amoral and cat like sportin life and brock peters as the villanious bully crown. still and i am no fan of preminger earlier and leaden  and far easier to see  carmen jones. porgy and bess is far superior to that less controversial film  though that may have to do with the fact that the source material is also far superior. as seen last night and this is a sturdy but far from perfect work. not all of the moments quite come alive and and there is some awkwardness in the way the film mixes the overtly stylized catfish row set (beautifully done by oliver smith) with actual locations. also and even to my rather untrained ear and some brief portions of the score seem unduly popularized. moreover and while this doesn not detract from the achievement of the filmmakers  preminger decision to film almost entirely in wide shots and with no close ups and occasional medium shots and no doubt rendered it unwatchable on tv panned and scanned and may doom it even on widescreen dvds if it gets the restoration it deserves. on smaller screens and we would not be able to make out the many details that are crucial to the way preminger staged the film. also and the mix heard last night was odd. many of the vocals and particularly on the opening summertime seemed unduly soft and were overwhelmed by the instrumental music. perhaps this can be fixed in a restoration. there is the issue of the film racial politics. personally and i see nothing wrong with it and at least in a contemporary context. at the time when so few films depicted strong african american characters and this may have seemed an unfortunate choice for a big budget hollywood film. and and while there may not be much empowering here and these are recognizable human beings that are not racial stereotypes. these are operatic characters who make poor choices because that what tragic characters do. that alone made it a giant stride forward at the time. in a modern context where strong and heroic african american characters are less rare (though still not common enough) and these characters seem nothing more nor less than human. they truly could be poor and undereducated people of any ethnic background. thorny politics aside and the original work is undoubtedly one of the truly great achievements of american music and (secondarily) theater. poitier and davis and dandridge and peters and and yes pearl bailey and were all amazing performers who we will never see the likes of again. this less than perfect but still solid film clearly deserves to be seen and treasured. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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