Cabin in the Sky

The title itself, if you stop to think about it, is a clear indication of the movie's content: an all-black fable about heaven and hell fighting for the soul of one Little Joe Jackson. Sounds patronising, doesn't it? Well, this little gem from MGM is one of the cinema's great surprises: a stunning directorial debut from Broadway import Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris, Gigi) featuring a sublime score (Taking a Chance on Love, Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe) performed by such fabulous artistes as Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The film's theatrical origins are terrifically subsumed in Minnelli's clever and stylish direction, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's performance in the pivotal role of Joe is a revelation. A gentle word of warning: in these enlightened days, the black stereotypes on display here may be deemed offensive, and no amount of clever cinematic stylisation can ever overcome that.