User Reviews

The Seattle International Film Festival was fortunate enough to arrange a screening of a recently discovered 70mm print, going so far as to fly it in from Germany. It was a bit faded, the sound could stand to be remastered, scores of frames are missing, and it has German subtitles, but all in all it was a special treat to see a film unlikely ever to be made publicly available again.

But I'm rather mystified as to why the rights are still in dispute. There's nothing overly offensive here, neither politically nor artistically. Unfortunately, neglect and apathy are probably to blame... it must be said that, while notable, the film itself fails to fully communicate the passion of this most American of operas. It's more of a historical artifact now.

The audience was most delighted by Sammy Davis, Jr. in a role that seems to have been conceived specifically for him. Rarely has an actor been so perfectly suited for a part. Unfortunately, Mr. Davis' persona eventually overwhelms the character- but one can't be certain if this is due more to his actual performance or to the peculiar place our image of him now occupies in popular culture.

Sidney Poitier was 10-15 years too young for Porgy, but acquits himself nicely (though he is dubbed less than precisely). Dorothy Dandridge is just right- but is denied Bess' climatic scene, which takes place offscreen. Best of all is Pearl Bailey, who gets only a few chances to make an impression but takes full advantage of them. The scene in which she is interrogated by the policemen is so funny, it practically derails the movie.

The songs have been pared down, some making only a cursory appearance, and the staging is static. These choices, commercial in nature, rob the film of the power it should have. Perhaps another movie will one day do justice to the opera.

In this "Porgy and Bess", the portrait of Catfish Row is what is most moving. This community mourns, celebrates together and protects itself from outsiders. When the detective grumbles "nobody lives here", it's quite apparent why the inhabitants of Catfish Row would want him to believe that.

I first saw the opening of Otto Preminger's "Porgy and Bess" on TV, probably some time in the early 80s, and my younger self found it a bit slow, despite the timeless music. I turned it off

Last night, an extremely rare, cobbled together print screened at the L.A. Cinematheque and it was a bit of a revelation. The performances are strong and memorable. Dorothy Dandridge brings a great deal of vulnerability, strength and subtle (at least by today's standards) eroticism to her part. Sidney Poitier is said to be uncomfortable with the movie, but his performance is terrific, as is Pearl Bailey. Even better are Sammy Davis as the amoral, cat-like Sportin' Life and Brock Peters as the villanious bully Crown.

Still, I'm no fan of Preminger's earlier, leaden -- and far easier to see -- "Carmen Jones." Porgy and Bess" is far superior to that less controversial film -- though that may have to do with the fact that the source material is also far superior.

As seen last night, this is a sturdy but far from perfect work. Not all of the moments quite come alive, and there is some awkwardness in the way the film mixes the overtly stylized Catfish Row set (beautifully done by Oliver Smith) with actual locations. Also, even to my rather untrained ear, some brief portions of the score seem unduly popularized.

Moreover, while this doesn't detract from the achievement of the filmmakers -- Preminger's decision to film almost entirely in wide shots, with no close-ups and occasional medium shots, no doubt rendered it unwatchable on TV "panned and scanned" and may doom it even on widescreen DVDs if it gets the restoration it deserves. On smaller screens, we won't be able to make out the many details that are crucial to the way Preminger staged the film.

Also, the mix heard last night was odd. Many of the vocals, particularly on the opening "Summertime" seemed unduly soft and were overwhelmed by the instrumental music. Perhaps this can be fixed in a restoration.

There is the issue of the film's racial politics. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it, at least in a contemporary context. At the time when so few films depicted strong African-American characters, this may have seemed an unfortunate choice for a big-budget Hollywood film. And, while there may not be much "empowering" here, these are recognizable human beings that are not racial stereotypes. These are operatic characters who make poor choices because that's what tragic characters do. That alone made it a giant stride forward at the time.

In a modern context where strong and heroic African-American characters are less rare (though still not common enough), these characters seem nothing more nor less than human. They truly could be poor and undereducated people of any ethnic background.

Thorny politics aside, the original work is undoubtedly one of the truly great achievements of American music and (secondarily) theater. Poitier, Davis, Dandridge, Peters and, yes Pearl Bailey, were all amazing performers who we'll never see the likes of again. This less than perfect but still solid film clearly deserves to be seen and treasured.

Middling adaptation of the Gershwin opera is hampered by Preminger's decision to shoot entirely in long shot and forego close-ups. It keeps the audience from becoming deeply involved in the story.

Poitier does a good enough job as Porgy but the obvious dubbing of someone with a far deeper voice than he for the songs diminishes his impact. Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey and Sammy Davis Jr. all have more success with their characterizations but again the camera's distance and the obvious sets are no help to them.

The amazing music makes it worth watching once but the film is a disappointment.

"Porgy and Bess" is an outstanding production of George Gershwin's masterpiece. It is tastefully done in muted colors. The voices are outstanding. Although Sidney Portier's voice is dubbed for his singing portion, he gives a very touching performance. There is a remarkable performance by Sammy Davis Jr. as Sportin Life. There is yet no DVD available for viewing, and this piece begs for one. All intelligent movie goers who enjoyed it in 1959 will appreciate the release of this masterpiece on the new medium. The screen is filled with a dynamic presentation that rivals all other musicals including the outstanding ones by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Be sure to ask for it an your video supplier. Like "Songs of the South" by Walt Disney, it may be the assumption of racial overtones that is preventing the marketing of this cinema.

I was a young boy in Houston when this motion picture was first released.It was one of,or perhaps maybe the first,to be filmed entirely in stereophonic sound.

I have no idea why there have been issues about this film.Whatever objections some groups may have or may still have to the showing of this film are just flat groundless.This film is beautiful.I do hope some kind people would think of the public and give this film back to us,be it on broadcast television or video.

I am sure that if this movie were to be released on videotape or DVD the public would just eat it up.Especially those of us with surround-sound systems.I can just imagine what a pleasure it would be to see and hear this movie at home on a big-screen and in surround sound.

I had the privilege recently of viewing what is said to be the last 35mm, Technicolor, stereo print and found it much livelier and more touching than remembered. Also closer to the original material -- basically, all screenwriter N. Richard Nash did was trim, change much recitative to spoken dialog, and insert a transitional scene or two (including a very amusing one for Pearl Bailey). Oliver Smith's production design is stagy in the "Li'l Abner"-"Guys and Dolls" '50s adaptation mode, but it works well for this work's folkloric, unrealistic quality. Stereotyping and racism are present, but not to a wince-inducing degree. Further, for a movie of its time, it's pretty frank -- the adultery, violent behavior, drug use, and self-destructive habits of the denizens of Catfish Row are not at all minimized in the telling. But there are debits, beginning with all that variation from the stage text. The loss of so much compromises Gershwin's brilliance -- no wonder the family doesn't like it. The reorchestration, especially of Sammy Davis Jr.'s material, is disconcertingly trendy and vulgar. George knew what he was doing, folks; you didn't have to mess with it so much. And while Poitier and Dandridge act well and their singing doubles sing well, there's a huge chasm between the characters' singing and speaking voices -- you're constantly aware of the artifice. What really counts here, of course, is the music, among the greatest ever written for the theater, anywhere. Despite all the tinkering, it survives,and you'd have to be made of stone not to be moved by it. If the treatment isn't entirely to the estate's liking (and it shouldn't be), there's still no reason not to spend some bucks to restore this ambitious filming of Gershwin's masterpiece and make new generations more aware of his genius.

I have always been a fan of this largely unseen filming of the Gershwin opera, since I last saw it in 1959. As many of you know, it has been unavailable on video or DVD; in fact, the Gershwin family sought to destroy all existing prints.

Yet, for some reason--hopefully signaling an end to its opposition, the Gershwin family recently approved the showing of a collector's print at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. .

Well, the wide-screen, Technicolor print was excellent! (Not perfect, but excellent.) The sound was outstanding, in road-show quality stereo. The folks who saw this in its original release wouldn't have seen a much better copy. (The program notes include the original Variety review, which cautions that people might balk at the steep limited-release ticket price of $3.50!)

And, as much as I loved it originally, PORGY AND BESS was better than I remembered it. It's just wonderful. Sidney Poitier as Porgy was at the point where his career was just beginning to catch fire, and his charisma shines through. Dorothy Dandridge as Bess is spectacularly beautiful. Brock Peters as Crown is aggressively masculine. Pearl Bailey as Maria provides a few comic moments, although her role is small. And Sammy Davis, Jr., as Sporting Life, steals every scene he's in; he's especially riveting in his two big numbers: "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "There's a Boat that's Leavin' Soon for New York." (That last one won applause in the screening I saw.)

PORGY AND BESS is set-bound, but it really doesn't matter when the set is as gorgeous as this one. The costumes are also outstanding.

Sidney and Dorothy's singing voices are dubbed in, but they are dubbed in extremely well. The exquisite "Summertime" is sung by Clara, played by a young Diahann Carroll; her singing also is dubbed. (Actually, only Pearl and Sammy do their own vocalizing.)

The music is sublime, of course, but what really struck me this time was how much emotion Preminger got out of the story. People were actually sniffling in the audience a number of times--once when Bess sings that beautiful "I Loves You Porgy." And I got a kick out of the audience actually laughing out loud at the lines in "It Ain't Necessarily So." Could it be they had never heard this song before-- or never really listened to it? I believe that much of the emotional impact of this film is due to Poiter and Dandridge's performances--you root for their love to win out.

A minor quibble with the 136 minute running time--one or two slow spot, and a stereotypical, Amos-n-Andy kind of scene about Bess seeing a shyster lawyer to get a divorce from Crown, even though she's not even married to him. (I would have cut that.) And the beginning is a little confusing--both title characters are introduced awkwardly--they're part of the movie before you realize who they are.

And I don't think Preminger used a single close-up in the entire movie. It all seems to be shot in 3/4, which I'm guessing was his way of working with the wide screen.

PORGY AND BESS has always been a cult film for those of us who saw it, for those of us who loved the soundtrack, and for some of us who have only heard about it. Let's hope they find a way to re-release this, and put it out on DVD. It deserves the widest audience possible.

I was @ 13 yrs of age when I saw this greatly underappreciated film at The ADAMS theatre in Newark, NJ, I purchased the Program, and later bought the soundtrack... still have both.... I am now 55 + yrs.. and have not seen it since (possibly once on network TV, in 1960's???) One of the greatest casts ever assembled, great score and production , please let another generation see this great film... It was my introduction to opera, and aided with my understanding of Tolerance.. Please family of Gerswhins or Premingers, release this classic soon !!

I've been waiting 30 years to see this film. I played the soundtrack album as a teenager and through my 20s. Recently, I located a reasonably priced dvdr and I watched it this morning. It was in widescreen, probably even a 70mm print, stereo, the colors were quite good, very little fading, certainly not remastered but I'm very very happy with this clean copy.

Now for the film. It's pretty good. I wouldn't say it's great though there are great scenes in it. Perhaps Premminger may not have been the right director for it, but I'll say this. For me the center piece of the film was the hurricane scene. Marvelously staged by Premminger. One of the great weather scenes of all time.

In fact, I'd go as far to say that the acting scenes are better than the musical scenes, not that the musical sequences are bad. Not at all. They did lack... something though. Perhaps it was the fact that there are no close ups and very few medium shots. It was almost like watching a filming of a stage production. Perhaps that was the feel that Premminger was going after. In the end it may not have been the right choice, but so it goes. It is far from a ruined movie.

Having said that, not everyone loves the singers on the soundtrack either. I always have. They are perfect for this film. I love the singing voices. The actors lip-sinking are excellent for the most part. I just wish the songs were staged more imaginatively. Sportin' Life's two numbers are fine, but the intimate numbers don't even feel intimate. They just feel... far away. In spite of that, you cannot deny the power of the music. And in the end, that is what comes through loud and clear. Once again, maybe what Premminger was trying to do was to stay out of the way of the incredible music he was working with. I believe he had the right idea but perhaps went too far in that direction.

The acting is terrific. Top kudos goes to the great Brock Peters who acts and sings the part of Crown. He is the ultimate meany. We just want him to leave poor Bess alone, and he doesn't. As proud, arrogant and nasty as he is, Sammy Davis Jr's classic rendition of Sportin' Life is the slick devil himself and a very charismatic one at that. Arguably, Davis's best film acting. Poor Bess just can't handle two bad men. I'm glad the Hermes Pan gave Davis a tap dance number to do.

Dandridge and Poitier, reportedly not impressed by being in the film, really are very sweet together. I don't know about chemistry... there was more chemistry between Dandridge and Peters than there was between Dandridge and Poitier. Still, it worked out fine for Dorothy and Sidney.

Even so, I think they should both be proud of the work they did on this film. They both managed to bring more than one tear to my eye. Their characterizations where very 3D and believable. Sidney Poitier's Porgy, however, seems almost out of place in catfish row. I couldn't help thinking he was Mr. Braithwaite in "To Sir with Love", very educated and well mannered and spoken, fallen on hard times. He probably wouldn't have been my first choice for the part of Porgy, but hey, he was a huge star at the time, so why not? Dorothy's Bess was as perfect as her Carmen Jones, in fact even more vulnerable this time around. Carmen was probably the flashier part for her to do.

A very very good film indeed, it is two sticks short of what I would call a classic. It just doesn't make the ultimate classic grade. Still, there is no reason on earth why the Gershwin estate has decided to keep this beautiful film, even with all of its flaws, hidden from the public as they have. Premminger may have made some odd choices as a director, but the film is nothing to be ashamed and embarrassed about for anyone involved with it. It is what it is and there are a lot worse movies than this that are embarrassing out on DVD and in theaters today. Porgy and Bess is not one of them.

I saw this movie when I was a kid and have been looking for it ever since.It rates up there with Cabin in The Sky, Stormy Weather and Carmen Jones as a must see in movies that showcased the awesome talent of African Americans.In the 60s the local Los Angeles TV stations would have a movie of the week and some stations would show the same movie for 5 days.Porgy and Bess was one of them and my whole family would be there all 5 nights in front of the TV and only moved on the commercials.South Pacific,Oklahoma and The Sound of Music are all musical classics that you can pick up at any video store. It would be a shame to let this collection of some of the best talent America had to offer be forgotten or locked in a vault.Please make the film available to the public.

I have seen and listened to many versions of Porgy and Bess the first being "selections" on a Decca LP with Todd Duncan (Porgy) and Anne Brown (Bess). I have heard and seen full casts of the opera in person (Metropolitan Opera/Houston Grand Opera/Seattle Opera) as well as seen video presentations (San Francisco Opera/Glyndeborn (Trevor Nunn) versions as well as the film version directed by Otto Preminger. I've seen some very bad performances (Metropolitan Opera) and seen some excellent ones (San Francisco Opera and Trevor Nunn's) and think the Preminger version is actually pretty good. The film takes the music and treats it basically as they do when Porgy and Bess is presented as a stage musical in that there is dialog instead of arias between major numbers. What I don't know and have not been able to determine from reading Wikipedia and IMDb is who does all the singing. I assume Pearl Bailey sings and Sammy Davis, jr. sings, but I find it hard to believe that Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge actually sing since the singing is really too operatic for them. I've not heard of Sidney Poitier or Dorothy Dandridge singing in other film so I have questions about who is actually singing and wonder if they are not why the actual singers have not been credited for their work.

If you're lucky enough to bump into one print of "Porgy and Bess" and think the hardest part is over, well, you've got another thing coming, my friend.

Indeed, on the most elementary visual level, let's just say that there have been theatrically released films recorded on VHS cassettes that would look like Blu-Ray quality videos in comparison to Otto Preminger's "Porgy and Bess" or its lost and found version. Now, a quick glimpse on Wikipedia or IMDb's trivia page will feed your curiosity with all the "why" and "how" of that sorry state of facts and speaking for myself, the amount of trivia I collected happened to be more interesting than the film itself.

Still, even Preminger couldn't use all these contextual elements as alibis and his legacy must suffer a little for that offering. Preminger had just directed or was about to direct "Anatomy of a Murder" in 1959, an innovative film to say the least, and it's unforgivable that a director of that caliber would indulge to the kind of auto-pilot filming any second-rate cameraman could accomplish. There's no single close-up in a film that merely consists of long single takes on musical sequences without any burst of creativity whatsoever in the editing or any energy as Preminger showcased in the pioneering Black opera "Carmen Jones" in 1954.

Now there's one thing I wish to make clear, the color of the skin has nothing to do with my comment, even if the cast consisted of the most WASPish ensemble of actors, they would have been barely recognizable, a symptom that actually killed my enjoyment of "How The West Was Won". And so whatever "Far Away PanaVision" process Preminger used, I considered myself lucky if I could recognize an actor, and if I didn't know the beautiful Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones herself, starred in the film, I would never have recognized her. Even the great Sammy Davis jr. Can only be spotted on the basis of his voice, his tap-dancing and shorter stature while the towering Sidney Poitier is the one who spends the whole film on his knees.

It's rather preposterous that the film doesn't gratify us with one single closeup in the whole thing, not one, which kind of understates the intimacy of the romance, and waste valuable presences such as Poitier and Dandridge. What is left to be enjoyed is of course the haunting resonance of "Summertime", which is a sort of leitmotif giving an eerie and yet absorbing aura to that Catfish Row, and the frantic "It Ain't Necessarily So" by a Sammy Davis on the top of his form, at least singing with his own voice... while Poitier is forced to sing with a sort of a low-pitched baritone voice that doesn't fool the viewer, nor the performers. But even the dubbing could have been accepted as a necessity.

The problem is with the film itself, which encapsulates the worst of Hollywood African-American stereotyping, where Black people are either bare-feet, talking in jive, singing and laughing loudly, big mamas, slick gamblers or drug-addicts, acting hostile one to another but subversive to the whites. That they accepted to do the part is certainly perplexing, especially actor Brock Peters who plays the one-dimensional antagonist. And that makes the directing even more subject to questioning, they're filmed from a distance as if the one behind the camera tried to capture a sort of raw and savage authenticity or didn't want to get mixed with these so peculiar people. What strikes as lazy film-making turns out to be more problematic, like a gaze of condescendence mixed with repulsion, like these infamous human zoos in colonial Europe.

The film was based on the 1935 opera "Porgy and Bess" by George Gershwin based on Dubose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy, that material is certainly more celebrated than the film version and if it wasn't for the sad passing of Sidney Poitier or the film's inclusion in AFI's Top 100 Love Stories, I wouldn't have bothered to watch it. And while it's difficult to see Poitier playing a 'diminutive' character, a crippled and good-hearted beggar and lowering himself in a film that reinforced some ugly stereotypes, I'd rather look at it as a concession he made that allowed him to star in Stanley Kramer's "Defiant Ones", a pivotal point in his career.

I would never dismiss "Porgy and Bess" as a racist film but the limited artistry of the film speaks very poorly about the high stature of Black people in American folk culture and history. But to end on a positive note, as a consolation, a meager one, let's accept the film as a reflection on the very roles Poitier detached himself to finally build his legend in the 60s and encourage other minority actors and actresses to go beyond all these silly or cringe-worthy archetypes... or to re-appropriate them by being the ones behind the camera.

Maybe that's what the film lacked after all, a proper vision.

This was/is an incredible movie, with incredible cast, music, singing, story, etc. It is a tragedy that some arrogant families (the Gerswhins or Premingers) can keep it from being available to generation after generation. I have wanted to see it again all of my life. I just found this site and read why it has not been available. Shame on these families for their pettiness. My wife is from Germany and she has never seen the movie. Neither have my step-children or my grandchildren. It is very sad that a movie of this depth and quality is not available for them to see. Where do these families get off making such a conceited, self-important, egotistical, condescending decision to prohibit generations from enjoying this film, these stars, these performances, this music! Release the video and let them world judge and enjoy!

My first knowledge of this film was in 1961 when I bought the soundtrack album, issued in the UK by Philips Records. I quickly realised this was a truly wonderful work, but at the same time was puzzled how I'd missed it at the pictures. The label said 1959, so was I on holiday when it came to Derby? Enquiries with a local cinema manager plus BFI Information revealed that the film had not actually arrived in England, delayed by "problems." The official reason given was that it could only be premiered at London's Dominion where South Pacific had taken over for four years, and producer Samuel Goldwyn insisted on Todd-AO equipment which was only installed at the Dominion. This was a highly dubious explanation that didn't really stand up. Were they honestly expecting us to believe that the film cost seven million dollars, but they couldn't afford a couple of new projectors at an alternative London cinema? Fortunately for me, when the film finally arrived at the Dominion in October 1962, it simultaneously had a "test" road show at the ABC in nearby Nottingham. Being so familiar with the album, I was easily impressed by the Todd-AO presentation. However, when the film went on general release on the ABC circuit in May 1963, I watched it again at the ABC Derby (in 35mm) and couldn't really see any reduction in the visual quality. Mr Goldwyn's fears, if they existed, were quite groundless and would suggest other reasons for the film's hesitancy in England. In truth, the general release proved to be half-hearted and short-lived. The advertisements focused on the lively performance of Sammy Davis Jr ("Swing with Sammy," "Sammy Steals the Show"), but the problem for Columbia Pictures was that they were really trying to release the equivalent of Verdi's Aida, a musical masterpiece certainly, but never a crowd pleaser. Witness Porgy's run in Leicester, a city of some 300,000. The ABC Leicester didn't have any time for Porgy and Bess, so the entire Leicester population had to make do with a three-day showing at the independent Westleigh cinema, a couple of miles from the city centre. Many small towns such as Coalville, Matlock, Whitby, etc. didn't even get that. This all goes to show that the 50-year controversy about withholding the film from the public has been quite unnecessary. A normal DVD release would have been bought by mainly Gershwin fans and probably watched once a year as a special treat. The arrogance and obstinacy of the Gershwin estate has pointlessly elevated this film to the rank of "cause célèbre."

"Porgy and Bess" was originally an operetta by George Gershwin. However, when this was made into a film, the Gershwin family was NOT happy as much of the music had been changed--shortened or even omitted in a few cases. Additionally, the story's portrayal of black America is sure to raise the ire of some today.

The story is set in South Carolina and most of the characters are played by black actors. Oddly, however, the emphasis seemed to be on well-known celebrities, as a few of them couldn't sing or didn't have the style singing voices needed for such a film. So, in typical Hollywood fashion, the actors were often dubbed...something that seems kind of sad, though it was typical of the era (such as with "My Fair Lady").

The story is pretty simple. Crown (Brock Peters) kills a man in the course of shooting dice. His woman, Bess (Dorothy Dandridge, is then taken in by kindly Porgy (Poitier)...a disabled man who has a big heart. But, being an operetta, you know that by the end all sorts of sad things will occur! I've been to about 10 operas...and only one ended happily!

This film must have been awful for Sidney Poitier. Not only is he dubbed, but he spends the movie walking on around on his knees...and that had to hurt.

So is this any good? Yes, if you like opera singing, it's a decent film. But it also perpetuates a lot of negative stereotypes as well...and I really doubt if it will be seen on TV because of this and the legal difficulties with the Gershwin estate. Overall, an interesting film...though one with rather limited appeal.

I saw this on television more years ago than I can remember, but never forgot the performance of Sammy Davis, Jr. I just by chance thought to look for it on video. This rendition of Porgy and Bess is a treasure. I would love to see it again and introduce my son to it as well. I just can't imagine why it is not heralded as one of the greatest performances Sammy Davis, Jr. every gave. Whoever is responsible for not bringing this to audiences should be ashamed of his/her ignorance. I will continue to look for it though. Maybe the execs responsible for such things will come to realize the forgotten work of so many African American actors.

The all-region DVD available of «Porgy and Bess» is definitely not a good representation of the motion picture released in 1959, as directed by Otto Preminger. It is also pertinent to say that, as far as cinema goes, this is not the great motion picture some persons say it is. It is neither a remarkable film adaptation of a stage play. Many persons exalt the motion pictures for reasons that are foreign to it.

For whatever reasons Preminger decided to make it entirely in long takes, and as if we were witnessing a live performance on a stage, the filmmaker turned a passionate tale into a too cold experience, keeping the characters too distant from us viewers, even in the most intimate moments. It must have been very good to watch this «Porgy and Bess» screen version in a wide, huge screen, but even in this case the end product is still filmed theater.

On the other hand, as long as purists and defenders of Gershwin's legacy interfere with people's right to access American film heritage, the poor copies, which keep the wide-screen format, are one of the few options we have to watch Otto Preminger's «Porgy and Bess». It takes some imagination to compensate for the lack of definition and color of the images, but it gives you an appreciable idea of what everybody, artists and technicians, did.

Perhaps with a fine, restored copy I would rise one star or two.

This movie is one of the only historical documents displaying the talents of so many black singers, actors, actresses, and dancers. Many who are no longer with us. Those which we are blessed to be able to enjoy today in 1999, through this film lets us recognize the talents that existed then. This is why those individuals still living today as well those who are deceased are super star icons. Due to the educational history in music, drama, filming, design, singing, etc., this movie alone belongs to the people of this country.

I viewed this movie recently. The sound was excellent! The movie appeared to be complete, color and clarity was fare, but good considering how old this movie is without any repairs on frames. I agree with all prior positive reviews. I do not have any negative views.

I only would like to make one request. Please to whom it my concern, please make this movie available so all can have this historical experience.

With all the talented people behind this project it should have been great. Granted, I have not seen it on the big screen as it was intended. But I did find a bootleg widescreen copy of it on DVD at my video store and I have just finished it.

Super actors (Dorothy Dandridge, Sidney Poitier, Brock Peters, Diahann Carroll, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis, Jr.), excellent designers (Oliver Smith's sets and Irene Sharaff's costumes), George and Ira Gershwin's music and lyrics overseen by Andre Previn, a director who often knew what he was doing (Otto Preminger) and a producer who usually knew (Samuel Goldwyn). And, yet, the thing never really comes alive.

I think the problem is that they were scared of the wide, wide screen and the camera is kept at a distance, so you never experience any of the drama subjectively, only objectively. Everything is long or medium shots except for 2 or 3 brief moments where you can really see the actors' faces. Maybe it works better on a big screen. But even then, the camera seems to be face level the whole time, like the way a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dance number was filmed: always tracking horizontal, as if filming a stage show. If Vincente Minnelli had directed it, that camera would have probably been all over the place.

Several of the scenes that are sung in the opera are spoken here. That's not so bad, but, if I remember correctly, one of the famous arias, "My Man's Gone Now," is missing. Of course it isn't meant to be sung by Bess, so maybe it made sense to delete it.

Still, I've wanted to see it for a long time and was excited to finally get the chance.

I was in my early 20's, just graduating from college when this movie appeared. Seeing it was event of great impact, not only because of the high quality of the film (as evidenced by its many awards), but because of its place in the historical context of 1959. Because of social progress since then, it is nearly impossible to fathom that my college had only begun admitting (carefully screened) black students in 1953. A mainstream, high-budget extravaganze with an almost entirely black cast was a distinct novelty in 1959.

The movie was given a deluxe roadshow (reserved seat) presentation in only the best theatres, complete with a souvenir program detailing the lavish care that had been taken with lighting and color, multi-track stereo sound, etc. Almost every black entertainer that we white people had any knowledge of was in the movie. Gershwin's music, superbly performed, and the sheer universal humanity of the story was tremendously moving.

I was recently able to obtain a faded copy of a two-hour cutting of the film, and repeated viewings have confirmed my opinion. Time has made what seemed steamy sex scenes in 1959 seem quite tame, but the musical quality has not diminished. Sammy Davis and Pearl Bailey are masterful in their portrayals. What a crime that the young black artists of today are unable to see these performers at the peak of their careers!

For long considered a lost film, I was surprised and felt quite privileged to easily track down and watch this admittedly truncated (coming in at just under 2 hours) and poorly-preserved copy of this rarely-seen movie.

A film adaptation of the ambitious 1935 opera with music and songs by the great George Gershwin, it finally came to the big screen in 1959 at the aegis of movie mogul Sam Goldwyn, indeed it was the last film he produced, with a big-name director Otto Preminger in tow and a starry cast of prominent black performers like Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge and the young Sammy Davis Jr. In a breakout role. Preminger had directed Dandridge, along with other black performers earlier in the decade in another feature drawn from the operatic world, "Carmen Jones", a movie I enjoyed, but this one I found a bit heavier going.

Nothing to do with the music which is excellent throughout but the main problem watching the film is the depiction of the desperate, poverty-stricken lives of the inhabitants of Catfish Row. Everyone talks in what I call a demeaning "Do-dat" patois and act very deferentially to the white authority figures who come along later in the action.

Many have commented on Preminger's directorial style which consists of long takes, the avoidance of close-ups and keeping the camera in a fairly static front-centre location, all of which gives the effect of a filmed play rather than a wide-screen movie. I understand that Preminger did this to negate any possible tinkering with the final cut of his movie by the powers that be but artistically it works to the movie's detriment in making the film flat and one-paced.

I must admit to being distracted by the sight of Sidney Poitier's disabled Porgy crawling about on his knees, even as I appreciate this must have been extrapolated from the original stage play, I just wished for someone to at least give him a set of crutches. It was also just too obvious that both he and Dandridge were lip-syncing their big arias all of which contributed to the general sense of unreal artificiality of the piece.

From the little I admittedly know of opera (I'm not a fan) I'm generally aware that they often tend to be thin on plot, characterisation and character motivation and felt that the characters here too were rather walked through their roles. The one performer who stood out somewhat from the (rat?) pack was Sammy Davis Jr. As the Mephistophelean Sportin' Life who has his own designs on Dandridge's Bess.

So, a patchy production at best which left me in the end with the impression that director Preminger, in trying to thwart Goldwyn's anticipated meddling with his movie, inadvertently threw the baby out with the bath water, by suppressing much of the emotional feeling which underpins the story here.

Songs like "Summertime", "Bess You Is My Woman Now", "I Loves You Porgy" and "I Got Plenty Of Nuttin'" have deservedly lasted down the years, but it's a pity that a definitive movie version isn't out there. This, sadly isn't it and I doubt these more enlightened times will ever permit a more intuitive and nuanced retelling of the story than we get here.

With the death of Dianne Carroll, the only remaining living cast members are Poitier and Nichelle Nichols! Oprah! Tyler Perry! Spike! President Obama! Anybody with Hollywood clout! We need to see and appreciate this historic masterpiece of African American talent while some of the originals are still with us.

I remember seeing this movie as a child in the 60's. It took my breath away then at young age. I was glued to my seat in front of the black and white TV. The cast was one of the best i have seen in my life. The musical was one the greatest ever have been written. Please to the Gershwin and Goldwyn Families please release this on video or DVD so that the generations now and in the future can experience what I'm sure what so many of us have done when we saw this great work of art .Please consider, let not this great man's work go unseen for years more. I,m praying and hoping that the hearts of these families will be soften and let the world see this great movie again.