Cabin in the Sky

In Vincente Minnelli’s (Gigi, An American in Paris) first feature film—the first all-black musical in nearly 14 years and only the fourth all-black film by a major studio since the advent of sound—Lena Horne plays the beautiful Georgia Brown, a temptress on Lucifer’s side in the battle for the soul of a gambler called Little Joe. The film stars Ethel Waters and Rex Ingram, who reprised their roles from the Broadway production of the same name. Before production, the filmmakers submitted the script to the NAACP. One of the scriptwriters later said he received a letter “congratulating [them] on the treatment of this black fable, which avoided clichés and racial stereotypes.”

Presented in 35mm