Band of Angels (C or 2/4 stars)
'Band of Angels' (directed by Raoul Walsh, of The Roaring Twenties, Dark Command) is, sadly, a fairly uninteresting 1957 antebellum drama that fails to bring much heat of any sort. The setting is Civil War era (1865) Kentucky, where Yvonne De Carlo stars as beautiful Amantha Starr, the pride & joy of her father, a plantation owner who treats his slaves with a fair share of dignity. When he unexpectedly dies, Amantha returns home from finishing school in Cincinatti to learn that her deceased mother was one of the plantation's slaves and, is then included as a slave to be sold to pay-off her father's debts {wild plot turn}. She is sent to an auction in New Orleans, Louisiana & is eventually bought by wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable).
He brings her home & treats her as if she were a guest. There, Amantha {or "Manty"} meets slaves Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier, stellar), who is treated like a son of sorts, & Michele (Carolle Drake), who is Hamish Bond's former mistress; who is madly in love with him. Of course, Amantha & Hamish soon they fall in love; but when Hamish divulges a distressing secret from his past, their relationship comes to an abrupt end. Meanwhile, the Civil War heats up & Hamish becomes a wanted man, while Rau-Ru enlists in the Union Army. War-time romantic, familial & tragedy entanglements ensue.
Sadly, this whole movie is just far too uninvolving as a drama about love & hate btwn. the races, or a star-crossed romantic tale, or a propulsive war movie. It's not "bad"; not at all. But I found it hard to care one way or another. I love me a good sweeping period romantic drama, replete with vibrant color cinematography, impressive production values, Max Steiner's stirring music, etc. But even all of that couldn't elevate the movie, for me.
Clark Gable is fine as the handsome, but rogue/shady plantation owner, Hamish. It's hard not to think of Gone With the Wind when seeing him in this Civil War era mode. But this film - and role - is a pale shadow of that 1939 classic. Yvonne De Carlo is lovely and, hot off of The Ten Commandments (1956), was a good match for Gable, here. But she can't save the film, either. Sidney Poitier comes off best as the conflicted, educated slave. Really, everyone seems a touch too old for these roles too and, they {and the film} just feel a bit belabored. Though I found most of this film inert, it's hard to completely pooh-pooh it. It has strengths sprinkled throughout, but this flamboyant period melodrama needed a jolt of cinematic juice.
He brings her home & treats her as if she were a guest. There, Amantha {or "Manty"} meets slaves Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier, stellar), who is treated like a son of sorts, & Michele (Carolle Drake), who is Hamish Bond's former mistress; who is madly in love with him. Of course, Amantha & Hamish soon they fall in love; but when Hamish divulges a distressing secret from his past, their relationship comes to an abrupt end. Meanwhile, the Civil War heats up & Hamish becomes a wanted man, while Rau-Ru enlists in the Union Army. War-time romantic, familial & tragedy entanglements ensue.
Sadly, this whole movie is just far too uninvolving as a drama about love & hate btwn. the races, or a star-crossed romantic tale, or a propulsive war movie. It's not "bad"; not at all. But I found it hard to care one way or another. I love me a good sweeping period romantic drama, replete with vibrant color cinematography, impressive production values, Max Steiner's stirring music, etc. But even all of that couldn't elevate the movie, for me.
Clark Gable is fine as the handsome, but rogue/shady plantation owner, Hamish. It's hard not to think of Gone With the Wind when seeing him in this Civil War era mode. But this film - and role - is a pale shadow of that 1939 classic. Yvonne De Carlo is lovely and, hot off of The Ten Commandments (1956), was a good match for Gable, here. But she can't save the film, either. Sidney Poitier comes off best as the conflicted, educated slave. Really, everyone seems a touch too old for these roles too and, they {and the film} just feel a bit belabored. Though I found most of this film inert, it's hard to completely pooh-pooh it. It has strengths sprinkled throughout, but this flamboyant period melodrama needed a jolt of cinematic juice.