One of the most entertaining musicals ever, MGM’s ‘All Black’ Broadway extravaganza wins over audiences with its big heart, tuneful song list and wickedly funny comedy. The all-star cast bursts with unique talent: Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Lena Horne, for a fantastic Film Blanc morality play. Additional musical magic is provided by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong; it’s Vincente Minnelli’s first solo directing credit.

Cabin in the Sky
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1943 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 98 min. / Available at MovieZyng / Street Date January 30, 2024 / 21.99
Starring: Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Rex Ingram, Mantan Moreland, Willie Best, Butterfly McQueen, Fletcher Rivers, Leon James, Bill Bailey, Ruby Dandridge, Duke Ellington, Joel Fluellen, Juano Hernandez, Juanita Moore, Nick Stewart Archie Savage.
Cinematography: Sidney Wagner
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Costumes: Irene
Film Editor: Harold F. Kress
Music: Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, Duke and Mercer Ellington
Screenplay by Joseph Schrank from the musical play by Lynn Root
Produced by Arthur Freed
Directed by Vincente Minnelli

When wartime came Hollywood was enlisted in a big way. Films were altered to highlight Washington’s Good Neighbor policy with neutral Latin America. Promoting homefront unity was an even bigger mandate. Race barriers were being blurred in the defense industries, and Roosevelt politicos wanted to stress African-American inclusivity. Hollywood certainly wasn’t going to integrate, but it did acknowledge the increasing popularity of black entertainers. In 1943 two studios produced ‘all black’ musicals, Andrew Stone’s Stormy Weather and Vincente Minnelli’s Cabin in the Sky. The explosion of African American talent on the screen was overpowering.

The cream of black film entertainers converged on MGM for Cabin in the Sky, adapted from a successful Broadway show. To direct it, Broadway transplant Vincente Minnelli received a promotion to director after only a year at the studio. MGM producer Arthur Freed had to fight for Minnelli. He kept several original key songs but tossed the dance numbers, preferring to add new material by MGM’s musical dynamos Harold Arlen, abetted by Duke and Mercer Ellington. Minnelli found a willing collaborator in cameraman Sidney Wagner, who helped him move the camera more than was the norm at MGM. Minnelli wasn’t a fan of Busby Berkeley’s independently spectacular production numbers. In his autobiography, he stated that he had little interest in songs and dances with no relation to a story.

Since the middle 1930s the liberal press had become more critical of racial representation in the arts and media. A frequent target were demeaning, white-created images of blackface performers. Blacks were always underrepresented in Hollywood movies, but with the advent of the Production Code they were almost always cast as servants and menials. ‘Folksy’ representations of black culture were dominated by gospel-singing mammies and shiftless unemployeds shooting craps in the alley. Vincente Minnelli mentions hearing a few complaints like that about the play, but the finished film was met with almost unanimous approval. The Morality Play aspect is satirized, but never disrespected. The hilarious script contrasts Bible-speak with some of the best jive humor ever put on film. Ethel Waters broke hearts with her song Happiness is a Thing Called Joe. It’s both honest and heartwarming.

There’s Nepotism in the Ideas Department.

A struggle between Good and Evil descends on a little community. So virtuous is housewife Petunia Jackson (Ethel Waters) that she exerts considerable influence in heaven. Reverend Greene and a heavenly Angel called The General (both Kenneth Spencer) pray that Petunia will be able to keep her weak-willed husband Little Joe on the straight & narrow. But Satan himself has decreed that Little Joe be made a test case. Lucifer Jr. (Rex Ingram) presides over the Satanic Ideas Department at the Hades Hotel. He tasks his imp Idea Men (Mantan Moreland, Willie Best, Louis Armstrong) to formulate a sure-fire scheme to make Joe backslide, and take Petunia with him. Their strategy weaponizes both a winning lottery ticket and the charms of Georgia Brown (Lena Horne), a demonic temptress with a proven record of irresistibility.

Cabin in the Sky is simply one of the best musical comedy movies ever, white, black or indifferent. The core idea is surefire sitcom marriage material — one partner can’t help but get into trouble, but the other’s wisdom and goodness is enough to redeem both of them. Petunia Jackson’s limitless positivity and faith are unequalled. Her prayers bend the very fabric of heaven, saving the bacon of her beloved Little Joe.

Little Joe’s deathbed is attended by Petunia and her friend Lily (Butterfly McQueen), a tableau surrounded by invisible emissaries from Heaven and Hades, waiting to claim Joe’s soul.  Rex Ingram gives Lucifer Jr. the booming voice we know well from The Thief of Bagdad. Junior visits Earth to inspire his unassuming agent Georgia Brown with Evil ideas.

He’s a guilty gambler: he calls his dice ‘Calamity Cubes.’

The moral struggle never gets a chance to become maudlin or preachy, thanks to Cabin in the Sky’s pack of devils, a gang of sassy sycophants. Junior’s minions brainstorm dirty tricks, and beam with delight at the prospect of corrupting yet another sitting duck mortal. Corruption follows its own logic: Little Joe is a hopeless gambling addict who directs his prayers at a lottery ticket. Joe is simply not salvation material, and without Petunia’s influence he’s a gone goose for sure.

Even in Hell, the stereotypes reflect the limited roles for blacks in American entertainment. The Idea Men wear bellboy uniforms. Clever hairdressing gives the devil’s men ‘horns’ made of tufted sprigs of hair. The heavenly emissaries wear starched white, and The General dresses like the leader of a marching band. In her modest home Petunia and her neighbor Lily work in aprons and bandanas.

“We received a powerful prayer from Petunia here. It was the most powerful piece of praying we’s heard up there in a long time.”

We identify with Petunia’s noble struggle. She’s an endearing soul who believes her love can steer Little Joe in the right direction. The goodness of salvation is felt in Ethel Waters’ singing and beaming, generous smile. Ms. Waters made her fame and fortune pitching torch songs in night clubs. She reportedly complained that she ought to be playing Georgia Brown.

MGM’s production takes no shortcuts. The songs perhaps include one too many reprises, but the sets are classy and the special effects slick. Exciting dance choreography coordinates with Minnelli’s moving camera. Duke Ellington’s band holds center stage in ‘Jim Henry’s Paradise,’ where the jitterbug dancing was reportedly arranged by a very young Archie Savage. In one of the dance asides John ‘Bubbles’ Sublett cuts a rug as an underworld character named Domino Johnson. Black audiences must have been dazzled by these dynamic scenes.

As the finale approaches, Lucifer Jr. is convinced that he’s won the cosmic duel. But Petunia fancies herself up and storms Jim Henry’s, determined to reclaim her man by beating the Devil at his own game. The wrath of God descends via a tornado, a stock shot straight from The Wizard of Oz. The slightly kitschy ‘stairway to heaven’ gimmick works better here than in other fantasies, owing to our emotional investment in Petunia. She couldn’t control her man while they were both still alive . . . but nobody’s perfect.

“Lord, do something about this. Hear my prayer. Send down your wrath and destroy this wicked place!”

The average golden-age Hollywood musical was a variety show. Lght romance and jokes provided a buffer between standalone musical numbers. Cabin sells a strong storyline: in his key song Life is Full of Consequence Little Joe shows his awareness of the penalty for ‘backsliding.’ The show may be a farce, yet we’re fully involved in Petunia’s dilemma.

The radio star Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson was chosen to play Little Joe. Minnelli’s preferred choice was Dooley Wilson, who would gain immortality as a piano player named Sam. Enough time has elapsed that Anderson’s fame as Jack Benny’s comic foil must now be explained. Sometimes, we also have to explain who Jack Benny was, too.

Top-billed Ethel Waters melts one’s heart when singing the touching Taking a Chance on Love. Petunia is too amorous to evoke the ‘Mammy’ stereotype. The powers of Hell can’t stop that woman’s goodness, even if she must act sassy to save her man. Ms. Waters is quite graceful in her dance number with ‘Bubbles’ Sublett. She was once so thin that her nickname was ‘The Beanpole.’ She resented the fact that Horne was now singing the torch songs she had introduced in her younger years. Show business is show business, egos and all.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet! The accessories are even cuter.”

Lena Horne proves adept with the temptress Georgia Brown, who is not a demon but an earthly sinner that Lucifer Jr. uses to seduce gullible suckers. When discussing her treatment by MGM, Ms. Horne often complained that the studio cut one of her solo songs: ‘somebody didn’t want to see a black woman in a bathtub.’  An excerpt was featured in one of the That’s Entertainment movies, taken from a short subject included in the WAC’s disc.

This is easily Lena Horne’s best picture. Several of her film appearances were limited to a single musical number. Her biggest disappointment was losing the plum role of Julie LaVerne in the 1951 remake of Show Boat to Ava Gardner.

The movie gets an extra lift from Duke Ellington and his jazz orchestra. Big star Louis Armstrong is a featured minion in the Hades Ideas Department, playing a trumpet, of course. He receives fourth billing for the relatively small role. That oddity is explained by the fact that his showcase musical number was deleted as well. A rescued audio track for it is an extra on the WAC’s Blu-ray. ^*

Cabin in the Sky employed a corps of popular black actors. Favorites Mantan Moreland and Willie Best are exceptionally good as Lucifer’s pop-eyed  Idea Men. Butterfly McQueen’s character Lily is perhaps slightly less ditzy than usual, like the maid she portrayed in Mildred Pierce. Dorothy Dandridge isn’t present but two of her relatives are: her mother Ruby receives screen credit but her sister Vivian does not.

It’s not like we’re experts on the history of Black Hollywood, but actors we know well from other movies include Nick Stewart,  Ernest Whitman,  Joel Fluellen,  Juano Hernandez, and  Juanita Moore.

The Warner Archive Collection’s Cabin in the Sky has always looked good on cable and DVD … but the super remastering job for this Blu-ray pulls a wider range of contrast out of the original B&W photography. The fine-grain image is sharp and rich, and the added detail flatters the film’s art direction. The cover artwork has been changed from the DVD. We now see a poster image of Lena Horne as Georgia Brown. Did someone decide that the stylized ‘jitterbug’ poster used before, was a demeaning caricature? →

The disc reproduces the older extras. A Pete Smith short subject preserves a couple of minutes of the excised Ain’t it the Truth number with Lena in the bathtub. Ms. Horn’s work shares the film with a tiny tot with a remarkable sense of balance. A surviving audio excerpt lets us hear Louis Armstrong’s deleted number, another version of Ain’t it the Truth. 

Behold the word ‘Problematic.’

The commentary from 2005 pairs USC professors Todd Boyd and Drew Casper. Minnelli expert Dr. Casper waxes dramatic when describing scenes (“It’s getting darker, look at the wind picking up”) and offers good making-of backstories. Dr. Boyd examines the film’s fantasy scheme and offers observations about its racial politics. He’s rather harsh in his criticism of Waters’ Petunia, who he feels fits the negative, cantankerous ‘Mammy’ stereotype.  Boyd rightly points out that the film’s Angels speak the Queen’s English while the Devils talk in black dialect. Ebonics, if you will.

Edited into the commentary track are the memories of the specialty dancer Fayard Nicholas, and Eddie Anderson’s widow and daughter Evangela and Eva. Older archived remarks by Lena Horne are included as well.

We still don’t understand why the WAC puts the audio commentary behind an entire second encoding on the disc — the old inferior Standard-Def transfer. At least it shows us the improvement in the main feature.

The presentation begins with the expected cultural attitudes text disclaimer. If that’s the price of seeing movies without revisionist censorship, we won’t complain. For the record, we don’t disapprove of the jive crows in Disney’s Dumbo, either. We love the demons and the crows.

Modern audiences will likely be amused by the definitions of good vs. bad offered by this only-partially satirical film blanc. The hopelessly foolish Little Joe becomes the Devil’s pawn the moment Petunia’s back is turned. Georgia Brown is assertively sexual and therefore sinful. The revelers down at Jim Henry’s Paradise are ‘fellow travelers’ with Evil — and by implication, hep black culture and jazzy music are slandered as part of the Devil’s domain. Cabin in the Sky doesn’t wink at the audience, as might a later farce employing racial stereotypes for ironic effect. Does it transcend its own race politics?  Maybe not, but the millions it entertained give it the benefit of the doubt.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Cabin in the Sky
Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements:
Audio commentary with Dr. Todd Boyd, Dr. Drew Casper, with input from Evangela Eva Anderson, Fayard Nicholas, and archived excerpts from Lena Horne
Pete Smith short subject Studio Visit
Audio-only bonus: Louis Armstrong Ain’t it the Truth song outtake
Original Theatrical Trailer.
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case
Reviewed: January 16, 2024
(7061sky)
^*  And let’s add here that many of the audio and video ‘outs’ featured on the WAC’s vintage musical discs — deleted and missing musical numbers, etc. —  exist thanks to the curatorship of executive George Feltenstein, who started saving them back when home video was on VHS and laserdisc. I witnessed a lot of these happy rescues when working for MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s.

Final product for this review was provided free by The Warner Archive Collection.

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Here’s John Landis on Cabin in the Sky: