As per the schedule of TCM here, viewers will get to see ‘Cabin in the sky‘ - A 1943 motion picture based on an American Broadway Musical of the same name.The film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.The movie was directed by Vincente Minnelli and starred Ethel Waters as Petunia and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson as Little Joe. Lena Horne co-starred as the temptress Georgia Brown in her first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Other cast members included Louis Armstrong as one of Lucifer Junior’s minions, Rex Ingram as Lucifer Junior, and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, who have a showcase musical number.
The plot of the movie is pretty interesting. It is about a man who is killed over gambling debts. He has six months time to redeem his soul and become worthy of entering Heaven, failing which it will be sent to hell. Cabin in the Sky was a groundbreaking production for its time due to the decision to use an all-African-American cast. It is also remarkable for its intelligent and witty script, which treated its characters and their race with a dignity rare in American films of the time.
The lead actress Ethel Waters used to perform jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts. Her best-known recording was her version of the spiritual, “His Eye is on the Sparrow”, and she was the second African American ever nominated for an Academy Award.
SOC review says ” It was parable of faith, temptation, loyalty, and salvation in the imagined life of American black people, told as a musical play by black actors and white studio filmmakers at MGM in the middle of World War II. The film is at the centre of the six all-black cast films made by the major Hollywood studios”
Original Source : http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/watch-ethel-waters-cabin-in-the-sky-tonight-on-tcm-20080717414
