Native Son aka Sangre negra (1951)

"No American Negro exists", James Baldwin once wrote, "who does not have his private Bigger Thomas living in his skull."

Argentine film directed by the French filmmaker Pierre Chenal (Sinners of Paris). 

Written by Richard Wright and Pierre Chenal and based on Richard Wright's novel. Cinematography was by Antonio Merayo, Music was by Juan Ehlert.

First off I'll admit that I never read the novel, so it was all fresh to me sans any preformed expectations. I've since read a synopsis of the novel.

Richard Wright as Bigger Thomas

The film stars Richard Wright as Bigger Thomas, Willa Pearl Curtis as Mrs. Hannah Thomas, Gloria Madison as Bessie Mears, Lidia Alves as Vera Thomas, Leslie Straugh as Buddy Thomas, Nicholas Joy as Henry Dalton, Ruth Robert as Helen Dalton, Jean Wallace as Mary Dalton, Charles Cane as Detective Britten, George D. Green as Panama, George Rigaud as reporter Farley, and Charles Simmonds as Ernie.

Lidia Alves as Vera Thomas

Willa Pearl Curtis as Mrs. Hannah Thomas with Vera and Bigger

Gloria Madison as Bessie Mears

Jean Wallace as Mary Dalton

Charles Simmonds as Ernie.

 Charles Cane as Detective Britten

George Rigaud as reporter Farley rt.

Bigger Thomas is a product of the South Side of Chicago. The oldest son of an absentee father family, he's part of a small time gang of crooks who pull small time capers.  Not much different from Sergio Leone's depiction of the childhood gang of Noodles and Max who knock over apple carts and terrorize newsstand owners. Bigger's gang progresses to making "zip guns." These are crude home made firearms that are basically pipes that you load with a bullet and that usually have a spring triggered nail that functions as a firing pin. 

The gangs hangout is a sprawling Southside club called Ernie's. Ernie's is big enough to hold pool tables, with a bar, also a night club area with a raised bandstand and a dancefloor surrounded by tables plus a boxing ring for additional entertainment.

Bigger and Ernie

The pool hall section of Ernie's

The gang was about to pull their first stick up of a man named  Blum a pawn shop owner. They scope out  their target and plan their robbery to the time it to when the target closes down for the night. Bigger getting second thoughts starts a fight in an alley with one of his gang buddies. This disrupts the robbery.

scoping out Blum's under the el

Bigger gets offered a job as a chauffer for the Dalton's, a rich white family. The  Dalton family is what we call today progressive. Bigger is not used to this type of treatment. Growing up in the ghetto he got just one sided opinion of whites. Sort of a tribal thing rather than a more nuanced worldly view. 

Bigger's new job

Mr. Dalton seems a pretty reasonable man and his blind wife is equally accepting. Anyhow, Bigger is happy and excited with his new job, his new threads, and the car he is able to use for various errands besides chauffeuring. 

Bigger drives down to the Southside ghetto to show his gal pal Bessie the car he's able to drive, and offers to take her on a date before she has to go to work at Ernie's. They go to an amusement park and then the beach.

Fun at the beach

After a fun day Bigger takes Bessie to Ernie's. Bessie is the featured singer with the jazz band that plays there at night. He drops her off and heads back to the Dalton's. 

Mary dressed to the nines

Back at the Dalton's Bigger is assigned to take Mary Dalton into town. She tells her folks she's going to see a movie with her boyfriend, instead they go to a meeting of lefties.

Mary and her boyfriend Jan the commie

Her boyfriend Jan is a big lefty sympathizer, not only that, but they both insist on treating Bigger as an equal. Jan telling him that he will drive and to take off his chauffer cap. He even offers Bigger a snort from their bottle. They want Bigger to be their guide to the hot jazz clubs on the Southside. Bigger is, of course taken aback by their friendship. 

Ernie's

Bessie jealous

They end up at Ernie's that Bessie works and Bessie gets a bit jealous of Mary and the affectionate way she treats Bigger as an equal. Mary and her boyfriend booze it up a bit too much. Bigger drops  the boyfriend off, then takes a passed out Mary home.

Drunk

At the Dalton's he can't quite keep Mary conscious enough up to get her to walk into the house. She keeps passing out. 

Bigger, understandably, begins to get a bit anxious over his present predicament. He scoops Mary up and carries her up to her bedroom without attracting the attention of the household. 

So far so good? No. Here is where it all goes Noirvsille. Once he lays Mary down on her bed, she comes to, she smiles a come on smile, giggles and puts her arms around Biggers neck. 

He kisses her and he's fucked, because just at that moment Helen Dalton comes into Mary's bedroom. What may have been one of Bigger's sweaty, ghetto, hot summer nights, whack off fantasies about forbidden fruit turns instantly into a nightmare. 

But maybe not. Old lady Helen is blind. She can't possibly see the apparent miscegenation tableau about to take place. Bigger panics, he grabs a pillow and puts it over Mary's face to quite her, all the while watching Helen Dalton. She speaks to Mary from the doorway. Mary doesn't answer. Helen steps into the room and calls again. Mary has by that time quit struggling. Helen approaches the bed and reaches down feeling her daughters foot. Helen remarks to herself that Mary's passed out drunk again and leaves the bed room. 

Whew, close one, can Bigger now get down, and get busy with it? No, poor unfortunate Mary is smothered dead. 

Back in serious panic mode Bigger decides to get rid of the body in the coal furnace. Bigger carries Mary's body down to the basement.

In the novel synopsis the tale is grimmer and much more macabre,  I read that Bigger had to cut off Mary's head to get her to fit in the furnace, in the film this grisly factoid is only alluded to vaguely in a dream sequence that Bigger has. From there things continue to spiral deeper.

Noirsville

According to Wikipedia, the initial American distribution was heavily edited by distributor Classic Pictures because of U.S. censors. About 30 minutes of film were excised as per the direction of the New York Board of Censors, as a result the New York Times described the film as "a sincere but strangely unconvincing film.."  describing, "many of the actors being amateurish." The reviewer added "The stature of Native Son has been reduced with this exposure of film." 

The fully restored uncut film premiered in the United States at the Museum of Modern Art in 2016. A 6.5/10