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The Green Pastures is a 1936 American film depicting stories from the Bible as visualized by black characters. It starred Rex Ingram (in several roles, including "De Lawd"), Oscar Polk, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. It was based on the 1928 novel Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun by Roark Bradford and the 1930 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Marc Connelly.

The Green Pastures
Directed by	Marc Connelly William Keighley
Screenplay by	Sheridan Gibney
Based on	The Green Pastures & Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun 1930 play & 1928 novel by Marc Connelly & Roark Bradford
Produced by	Jack L. Warner
Starring	Rex Ingram Oscar Polk Eddie Anderson Ernest Whitman
Cinematography	Hal Mohr
Edited by	George Amy
Music by	Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Distributed by	Warner Bros
Release date	July 16, 1936 (1936-07-16)
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$800,000 (estimated)
Box office	$3,300,000 (estimated by 1939)

The Green Pastures was one of only six feature films in the Hollywood Studio era to feature an all-black cast, though elements of it were criticised by civil rights activists at the time and subsequently.[1]

Plot summary

An elderly black woman reads from the Book of Genesis to a group of six young children in her house. She answers their questions about God and creation.

One of the girls starts to visualise heaven...

We enter the pearly gates to an all-black heaven, with winged angels sitting on clouds.

The Lord, Jehovah, appears dressed in a black double-breasted jacket. He is given a cup of custard to test. This inspires him to create "a whole mess of firmament". But the firmament is wet so he creates drainage and mountains to let the water gather in rivers and seas. He leaves Gabriel in charge and goes down to inspect his work. Just before leab=ving he creates "man".

Adam appears next a tree (fully clothed). God walks up and says Adam needs a family. He creates Eve (fully clothed) and tells them to enjoy themselves, but forbids them from eating from one tree.

Back in the old lady's house, she quizes the children and they explain the story of Cain and Abel.

In heaven Jehovah decides to visit earth again and finds a sassy young woman playing music and chastises her for doing this on a Sunday. She gives her name as Zeba. Her boyfriend Cain appears in a zoot suit and Jehovah leaves. He finds a circle of men kneeling and saying "praise the Lord", but they are playing dice, and he is shocked. He bemoans man's sinning. Then he meets a preacher, brother Noah, who invites him to dinner. Noah's wife is cooking chicken. Noah's knee twitches as it is going to rain. This gives Jehovah an idea... he will make it rain for 40 days and 40 nights. He tells Noah that he will destroy the world, but Noah must build a boat and place two of every animal on the boat... even the snakes. He also allows him one keg of liquor. He draws what to build and says he is to call it the Ark.

The people laugh at Noah building the Ark. A scuffle starts in the crowd and Cain stabs Big Joe and kills him. Noah starts to load the ark as the rain starts.

Back with old lady, she explains that everyone was drowned.

On the waters Shem releases a dove from the Ark. The dove returns with a green sprig, proving that it had found land.

But the sinning resumes on the new world. Jehovah complains that man takes up too much of his time. He asks for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (who are older angels). He asks them to help Moses, who is on earth talking with his wife Zipporah. He shows him a burning bush. He asks him to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt. He gives him a rod...

In Egypt the pharaoh is being entertained by magicians. Moses arrives and wants to show him a trick: he lays down the rod and it changes into a snake. He asks Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go. Pharaoh says no and Moses creates a swarm of bees. Moses strikes the Pharaoh's son dead and Pharaoh releases the Hebrews. They go to a mountain. Moses is old because they have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses tells them to walk around Jericho and blow their ramshorns.

Cast

• Rex Ingram as De Lawd Jehovah / Adam / Hezdrel
• Oscar Polk as Gabriel
• Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as Noah
• Frank Wilson as Moses
• George H. Reed as Mr. Deshee / Aaron
• Abraham Gleaves as Archangel
• Myrtle Anderson as Eve
• Al Stokes as Cain
• Edna Mae Harris as Zeba
• James Fuller as Cain the Sixth
• George Randol as High Priest
• Ida Forsyne as Noah's Wife
• Ray Martin as Shem
• Charles Andrews as Flatfoot
• Dudley Dickerson as Ham
• Jimmy Burress as Japheth
• Billy Cumby as Abraham / Head Magician / King of Babylon
• Ivory Williams as Jacob
• David Bethea as Aaron
• Ernest Whitman as Pharaoh
• Reginald Fenderson as Joshua
• Slim Thompson as Master of Ceremonies
• Clinton Rosemond as Prophet
• Hall Johnson Choir as Vocal Ensemble
• Willie Best as Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
• Jesse Graves as General (uncredited)
• Clarence Muse as Angel (uncredited)
• Fred Toones as Zubo (uncredited)
• Lillian Davis as Viney Prohack (uncredited)

Reception

Despite criticisms about its racial stereotyping, The Green Pastures proved to be an enormously popular film. On its opening day at New York's Radio City Music Hall, tickets sold at a rate of 6,000 per hour. The film was held over for an entire year's run at some theaters. It remained the highest-grossing all-black-cast film until the release of Carmen Jones in 1954.

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a generally good review, speculating that audiences "will find [it] continuously entertaining, if only intermittently moving". Greene praised director Connelly in particular, describing scenes of "excellent" melodrama, his "ingenious [use of] pathos", and the "admirable" restraint evident in the simplicity of the settings.

Greene's only complaints about the film was that "one may feel uneasy at Mr. Connelly's humour" and his depiction of "the negro mind". Greene observed "the result is occasionally patronising, too often quaint, and at the close of the film definitely false", but ultimately he concludes that the film is "as good a religious play as one is likely to get in this age from a practiced New York writer".[2]

A review in The New York Times under the byline of "B.R.C.," while portraying the "shuffling" of its opening-night audience in terms that might be deemed racist, praised the sincerity of the production's religiosity and the aplomb of its cast, seeing in the movie "not only the 'divine comedy of the modern theatre' but something of the faith that moves mountains."[3]

See also

• List of films about angels

References

External links

• The Green Pastures at the TCM Movie Database
• The Green Pastures at IMDb
• The Green Pastures at AllMovie
• The Green Pastures at the American Film Institute Catalog

На других языках

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- [en] The Green Pastures (film)

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[ru] Зелёные пастбища

Злачные пажити — это американский фильм 1936 года, показывающий различные сюжеты из Библии, с участием афроамериканских актеров. В главных ролях: Рекс Инграм (несколько ролей, в том числе и Бог ), Оскар Полк и Эдди "Рочестер" Андерсон. Фильм был основан на романе "Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun" Рока Брэдфорда (англ. Roark Bradford) и на одноименной пьесе Маркуса Коннели, позже стал лауреатом Пулитцеровской премии[1]. Фильм подвергся критике со стороны гражданских активистов в то время[источник не указан 1574 дня], но после стал одним из шести лучших фильмов Голливуда той эпохи[источник не указан 1574 дня].

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