CABIN IN THE SKY

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CREDITS

1943, 99 minutes, B&W.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Vincente Minnelli; Screenplay; Joseph Schrank; Cinematography, Sidney Wagner; Art Direction, Cedric Gibbons and Leonid Vasian; Sound Direction, George Stoll.

CAST

Petunia Jackson, Ethel Waters; Little Joe Jackson, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson; Georgia Brown; Lena Horne; The Trumpeter, Louis Armstrong; Luciius/Lucifer, Jr., Rex Ingram; Reverend Green/The General, Kenneth Spencer; Domino Johnson, John W. Sublett ("Bubbles"); The Deacon/Fleetfoot, Oscar Polk; First Idea Man, Mantan Moreland; Second Idea Man, Willie Best; Third Idea Man, Fletcher Rivers; Fourth Idea Man, Leon James; Bill, Bill Bailey; Lily, Butterfly McQueen; Mrs. Kelso, Ruby Dandridge; Messenger Boy, Ford L. Washington ("Buck"); Duke Ellington and His Orchestra; The Hall Johnson Choir.

SONGS

Cabin in the Sky; Honey In the Honeycomb; In My Old Virginia Home by John Latouche and Vernon Duke; Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe; Life's Full of Consequences; Li'l Black Sheep by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg; Taking a Chance On Love by Latouche, Duke and Ted Fetter; Going Up by Duke Ellington; Things Ain't What They Used to Be by Ted Persons and Mercer Ellington; Shine by Lew Brown, Ford Dabney and Cecil Mack.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"The incomparable Ethel Waters stars as Petunia Jackson, a poor but devout woman burdened with a shiftless husband, Little Joe (Anderson). When Little Joe is critically wounded in a fight, the forces of heaven and hell battle for his soul. Petunia finds that she needs more than prayer to keep her beloved Joe out of the Devil's clutches. The beauteous Lena Horne plays Georgia Brown, sent by Lucifer to seduce Joe into sinning his way into Hell."
- Liner Notes from MGM/Turner Laserdisc

NOTES

"Vincente Minnelli made an auspicious directorial debut with Cabin in the Sky. . .most of the characters in Cabin were simplistic negro stereotypes whose homespun philosophies were pickled in a kind of whimsical folk-lore totally offensive to the more enlightened black. But, having accepted that, there was much to enjoy in it. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Whatever its box-office fate, a worthwhile picture for Metro to have made, if only as a step toward Hollywood recognition of the place of the colored man in American life."
- Variety

"It's a joyful, stylized treatment of faux-naif Negro folklore, with an all-black cast, and it's one of the best musicals ever made in this country. It becomes even better with the years: now, it's easier to ignore the weaknesses in the script, because it's so exciting to see legendary artists. . .as they were in the 40s."
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies


ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION:
Best Song - "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe"

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