Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) is the spoiled daughter of a rich Southern slave holder who doesn’t understand why her mother isn’t buried with the rest of the family at Starwood Plantation in Kentucky. Her father tells her it’s because he wants her mother’s grave close to the main house.
When Aaron Starr dies, Amantha learns the truth. Miss Idell, the woman in charge of the finishing school where she’s been sent, has been her father’s mistress and inherited his home. Amantha can inherit nothing because she’s the daughter of one of her father’s slaves.
And in the eyes of the law, that makes her black. So when a Mr. Calloway (Ray Teal) marches all of her father’s other slaves off for auction, she’s taken away for sale as well. A pretty young thing like her will fetch a fine price, Calloway tells her. Of course, they’ll share a cabin on the boat ride to the New Orleans auction house first.
A failed suicide attempt convinces Calloway not to defile his new acquisition. And on the auction block, she’s purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) for the tidy sum of $5,000.
He’s a more patient sort, not to mention a man who treats his slaves with kindness.
In time, Amantha grows to love him. When he gives her a chance at freedom in the North, she instead follows him to his cotton plantation, though there’s no promise of marriage.
Hamish is sympathetic to Amantha’s plight because he’s been running from his own past. He was once a ship’s captain in the slave trade, watching villages being destroyed in Africa and the fit survivors rounded up for passage into a life of servitude.
He’s also aware that his time as Hamish Bond, the southern aristocrat, is coming to an end thanks to the outbreak of the Civil War. What he can’t predict is the impact that will have on Amantha or Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), the slave who has served as his right-hand man and whom he’s treated like a son since rescuing him from one of those villages in Africa.
Review:
The unusual subject matter makes this more interesting than most. DeCarlo looks ravishing; Gable turns in one of his better performances.
But the film’s handling of the slavery issue is uneven to say the least. Both Amantha’s father and Hamish are kind and understanding masters. In one particularly fanciful scene, Hamish’s slaves line up on the riverbank and sing hymns as their master arrives home by boat. Then they parade behind his flower-adorned carriage, still singing on the way back to the plantation.
Fortunately, Poitier’s character is around to point out that the kindness can be worse than a whip — that the kindness is a trap that helps slavery look more acceptable. And to prove the point, the moment he punches a white plantation owner — even in Amantha’s defense — he’s on the run with dogs on his trail.
Once he puts on the Union blue, Rau-Ru swears he’ll bring Hamish to justice. But it all leads up to an ending nearly as fanciful as that march back to the plantation.
The cast also include Rex Reason as the pastor turned Union officer who Amantha thought she would marry before the truth about her heritage was revealed, and Patric Knowles as a plantation owner who romances her while Hamish is away without knowing about that past.
The film was not a success, commercially or critically. In fact, it was dubbed, for obvious reasons, “The Ghost of Gone with the Wind.”
Directed by:
Raoul Walsh
Cast:
Clark Gable … Hamish Bond
Yvonne De Carlo … Amantha Starr
Sidney Poitier … Rau-Ru
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. … Lt. Ethan Sears
Rex Reason … Seth Parton
Patric Knowles … Charles de Marigny
Andrea King … Miss Idell
Torin Thatcher … Capt. Canavan
Ray Teal … Mr. Calloway
Russell Evans … Jimmee
Carolle Drake … Michele
Raymond Bailey … Mrs. Stuart
Tommie Moore … Dollie
William Forrest … Aaron Starr
Runtime: 125 min.
Memorable lines:
Seth Parton: “Today, Amantha, I’m troubled by a great subject.” He approaches her father. “Slavery, Mr. Starr. I declare to you, sir, my burning belief in the equality of all humans..”
Mr. Starr: “I’m not prepared for a debate, sir. But I believe you would agree that my slaves are treated kindly.”
Seth: “That’s it, sir. That’s just it. Kindness can be the mask for evil. The kindness of deluded persons and snared in the works of wickedness.”
Miss Idell: “Big, aren’t you? Strong as a bull, I imagine.”
Seth Parton: “My strength is of the spirit, Miss Idell.”
Miss Idell: “Maybe so, Seth. But if your muscles ever get to wrestling with your spirit, I’ll buy a ticket to the contest.”
Parson, as Amantha is led off after being revealed as the daughter of a slave: “Please, Mr. Calloway, she ain’t no negro.”
Calloway: “N—-r is what you can sell. And I plan to sell her before she can swallow her own spit.”
Dollie: “Well, I declare.”
Amantha: “What are you looking for?”
Dollie: “Looks like somebody needs my lovin’ potion. Pour it in coffee, pour it in rum. Make Master Hamish crawl like a hound dog. Make him moan for his new gal.”
Amantha to Bond: “This slave’s not going to do you any good, masser. Cause I’m getting out of here come hell or brimstone. And you’ll never see hide nor hair of me again.”
Bond to Amantha: “Never mind what my name was. You talk about freedom. You think I have freedom? I have a past I’d like to forget. But I can’t run away from it. No more than you can run away from what you are.”
Rau-Ru to Amantha: “Freedom’s a white word. And the fact is, you and I, aside from being male and female are exactly alike: No identity beyond the confines of Masser Hamish’s protection.”
Rau-Ru, about Hamish: “I hate him for his kindness. That’s worse than the rawhide. When a man uses a whip, you know what there is to fight against. This kindness, it’s a trap that can hold you in bondage forever.”
Amantha: “It isn’t bondage!”
Rau-Run: “It’s the worst kind!”
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