This long forgotten B movie from 20th Century Fox magically popped up on the Fox Movie Channel this morning. The fact that among its cast members was Stepin Fetchit, naturally drew my curiosity. The only previous film I'd seen with Fetchit was John Ford's "Steamboat Round the Bend", which was without a doubt the worst portrayal I had ever seen of an African-American on the big screen (except perhaps "Birth of a Nation"). Fetchit, along with Willie Best, were the two most well-known of the Coon stereotype. The coon is a lazy, worthless, unreliable, clumsy, slow-witted, big bulgy-eyed (looks like they're stoned), butchers the English language, making his speech incoherent. His sole purpose is for comic relief. While Best's portrayals are pretty awful too, they're nowhere near as bad as Fetchit's. (If you're interested in learning more about this and the four other major stereotypes, I highly recommend reading Donald Bogle's "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks", an excellent read). The film also features very briefly a well spoken, intelligent Tom in two separate scenes.
This film centers on a gangster hiding in a small town in California, now number one on the FBI's wish list. Realizing he won a small fortune in a sweepstakes, he hops on a train to Kansas City to collect it, convinced nobody will catch onto him. On board, he meets an undercover agent disguised as a reporter and an actual reporter (played by a very young and beautiful Gloria Stuart, who by far and away shines brighter than everyone else in this movie) disguised as a runaway witness to a political crime. The entire 2nd act takes place on a train where we are introduced to the porter, played by Fetchit. Here, Fetchit is no exception to the above-mentioned characteristics, except even worse. Here, he appears to be downright mentally retarded. No joke. The one small positive is that the film counters Fetchit's comic relief with the white gangster's side kick (unintentional I'm sure). He's more of the big oaf, moron type. However, he's also lazy, worthless, slow-witted, unreliable and clumsy.
Aside from the offensive portrayal of Fetchit, the rest of the film isn't too bad. None of the other studios could match Warner Bros. back in the 1930s with the gangster picture, but this is a reasonably well done picture that will keep you entertained. Well worth watching as a time capsule and if you're interested in seeing Fetchit for yourself.
This film centers on a gangster hiding in a small town in California, now number one on the FBI's wish list. Realizing he won a small fortune in a sweepstakes, he hops on a train to Kansas City to collect it, convinced nobody will catch onto him. On board, he meets an undercover agent disguised as a reporter and an actual reporter (played by a very young and beautiful Gloria Stuart, who by far and away shines brighter than everyone else in this movie) disguised as a runaway witness to a political crime. The entire 2nd act takes place on a train where we are introduced to the porter, played by Fetchit. Here, Fetchit is no exception to the above-mentioned characteristics, except even worse. Here, he appears to be downright mentally retarded. No joke. The one small positive is that the film counters Fetchit's comic relief with the white gangster's side kick (unintentional I'm sure). He's more of the big oaf, moron type. However, he's also lazy, worthless, slow-witted, unreliable and clumsy.
Aside from the offensive portrayal of Fetchit, the rest of the film isn't too bad. None of the other studios could match Warner Bros. back in the 1930s with the gangster picture, but this is a reasonably well done picture that will keep you entertained. Well worth watching as a time capsule and if you're interested in seeing Fetchit for yourself.