Dixie (film)
| Dixie | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | A. Edward Sutherland |
| Produced by | Paul Jones |
| Written by |
|
| Story by | William Rankin |
| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | William C. Mellor |
| Edited by | William Shea |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3.1 million (US rentals) |
Dixie is a 1943 American biographical film of songwriter Daniel Decatur Emmett directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Filming in Technicolor, Dixie was only a moderate success and received mixed reviews. Contrary to rumor, it has not been withdrawn from circulation due to racial issues (Crosby appears in blackface during several musical numbers) but is simply one of hundreds of vintage Paramount Pictures from the 1930s and 1940s now owned by Universal and not actively marketed. The movie was broadcast several times in the late 1980s on American Movie Classics channel. The movie produced one of Crosby's most popular songs, "Sunday, Monday, or Always".
The film opens with Dan Emmett (Crosby) and Jean (Marjorie Reynolds) seated beneath a spreading magnolia tree in the garden of her home while he sings 'Sunday, Monday or Always'. The house is seen on fire and though Dan rushes off to the fire-house for assistance it is burned down. Jean's angry father blames Dan for leaving his pipe in the hall and forbids Dan seeing his daughter again. Dan says that he wants to marry Jean after he has become successful as an actor and composer but Mason is so sure that Dan will fail he says that he will agree to the marriage if Dan returns successful within six months.
Dan leaves for New Orleans and on the river boat sings 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' and encounters another entertainer, Mr. Bones (Billy de Wolfe), who cheats him at cards and wins his 500 dollars. It is not until after Bones has left the boat that Dan discovers the cards are faked but he meets him again in New Orleans and demands the return of his money. Bones denies cheating but offers to put Dan in his act. Unable to pay for a meal they have in a restaurant they are assaulted and suffer black eyes. Bones takes Dan to the boarding house owned by Mr. Cook (Raymond Walburn) and his daughter Millie (Dorothy Lamour). Neither Bones nor two other boarders can pay the rent arrears demanded by Millie and she refuses to let Dan stay until Mr. Cook intervenes to tell Bones that the manager of the local Maxwell Theatre has said Bones could try out his act that evening. The other two boarders (Eddie Foy, Jr. and Lynne Overman) sing 'Laughing Tony' to Bones but he refuses to let them join his act. Dan reminds Bones of his promise that he should be in the act but Bones insists that his act is a single until Millie threatens to lock him in his room unless all four appear and she suggests that to cover their battered features they should use black make-up.
...
Wikipedia