Funny how much this film seems like an episode of 'FATHER KNOWS BEST', which ran from 1954 to 1960 for six seasons on various television stations. There is no doubt that the story could have used a little more grit as one reviewer remarked, and comes across as so well-intentioned that it is saccharine in spots. Wholesomeness can be a hard product to sell as people take so much delight in being bad! People speak about this film having its 'heart in the right place', much as Charles Bronson's television series 'MAN WITH A CAMERA' did in attempting to right wrongs by holding the affairs of the community up to the lens of the photographer so that it could really see and scrutinize itself in one episode. The problem is seeing people on their best behavior while they accumulate goodie points can get tiresome after awhile.
The great thing about this film is that there is no hint of minstrelsy in the performances. Dorthy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte make for compelling and attractive leads, but the range of emotion that they display is simply not comparable to what they achieved in CARMEN JONES (1954), some time later. While it may appear that Dandridge and Belafonte are performers of exceptional charisma, I remember as a youngster encountering African American teachers both male and female who were just as or even more physically attractive and of darker hue to boot. My Art Teacher Miss Price comes to mind as well as a Gym Teacher called Mister Singleton. I'm sure they possessed no desire to be movie stars, but I could easily see them in this movie without its quality suffering one bit.
This film is based on a short story by Mary Elizabeth Vroman entitled "See How They run". It was published in the Ladies Home Journal in 1951. I was fortunate to come across it in an anthology edited by Langston Hughes called THE BEST SHORT STORIES BY BLACK WRITERS. There is no doubt in my mind that had the writer Emmet Lavery and the Director Gerald Mayer stuck more to the story as it was written it would have been a better product. Also, the musical score by David Rose leaves a little something to be desired.
BRIGHT ROAD makes you want to root for it, as it is about something more than drug dealers trying to extricate themselves from the clutches of the mob, or superstud private eyes using Sam Spade as a role model, or whorehouse porn stars on the run from the law and screwing their way to freedom, and most of the black folks I know are more or less like Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge. That is, peculiar people of particular gifts doing what they can to develop them to the greatest dimension. BRIGHT ROAD starts out with high hopes and the best of intentions, but despite breaking new ground, devolves into something less than expected. In the end, it is a good idea for a movie, as indeed THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959) was a good idea for a Science Fiction film, but steps back from the challenges it presents at crucial places during the course of the story when it should boldly go where no race has gone before.
BRIGHT ROAD is a wonderful little film with engaging performances by its leads and young actors such as Phillip Hepburn playing C. T. Young and Barbara Randolph playing Tanya. You can easily see it as the precursor to such films as LEAN ON ME (1989), and AKEELAH AND THE BEE (2006). Adopting this perspective, one can easily see why it deserves its place in film history. I just wish that Belafonte had gotten the kids to sing along with him and that C. T. had displayed more of the mechanical aptitude he demonstrated in Vroman's short story.
The great thing about this film is that there is no hint of minstrelsy in the performances. Dorthy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte make for compelling and attractive leads, but the range of emotion that they display is simply not comparable to what they achieved in CARMEN JONES (1954), some time later. While it may appear that Dandridge and Belafonte are performers of exceptional charisma, I remember as a youngster encountering African American teachers both male and female who were just as or even more physically attractive and of darker hue to boot. My Art Teacher Miss Price comes to mind as well as a Gym Teacher called Mister Singleton. I'm sure they possessed no desire to be movie stars, but I could easily see them in this movie without its quality suffering one bit.
This film is based on a short story by Mary Elizabeth Vroman entitled "See How They run". It was published in the Ladies Home Journal in 1951. I was fortunate to come across it in an anthology edited by Langston Hughes called THE BEST SHORT STORIES BY BLACK WRITERS. There is no doubt in my mind that had the writer Emmet Lavery and the Director Gerald Mayer stuck more to the story as it was written it would have been a better product. Also, the musical score by David Rose leaves a little something to be desired.
BRIGHT ROAD makes you want to root for it, as it is about something more than drug dealers trying to extricate themselves from the clutches of the mob, or superstud private eyes using Sam Spade as a role model, or whorehouse porn stars on the run from the law and screwing their way to freedom, and most of the black folks I know are more or less like Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge. That is, peculiar people of particular gifts doing what they can to develop them to the greatest dimension. BRIGHT ROAD starts out with high hopes and the best of intentions, but despite breaking new ground, devolves into something less than expected. In the end, it is a good idea for a movie, as indeed THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959) was a good idea for a Science Fiction film, but steps back from the challenges it presents at crucial places during the course of the story when it should boldly go where no race has gone before.
BRIGHT ROAD is a wonderful little film with engaging performances by its leads and young actors such as Phillip Hepburn playing C. T. Young and Barbara Randolph playing Tanya. You can easily see it as the precursor to such films as LEAN ON ME (1989), and AKEELAH AND THE BEE (2006). Adopting this perspective, one can easily see why it deserves its place in film history. I just wish that Belafonte had gotten the kids to sing along with him and that C. T. had displayed more of the mechanical aptitude he demonstrated in Vroman's short story.