Band of Angels (1957)

Yvonne De Carlo is Amantha Starr, 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.

Yvonne De Carlo as Amantha Starr, learning she’s the daughter of a slave woman in Band of Angels (1957)

Clark Gable as Hamish Bond, showing up at auction to bid $5,000 for Amantha in Band of Angels (1957)

Review:

The unusual subject matter makes this more interesting than most. De Carlo 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.”

Sidney Poitier as Rau-Ru, determined to punish Hamish for his kindness in Band of Angels (1957)

Carolle Drake as Michelle, the slave who runs Hamish’s mansion in New Orleans in Band of Angels (1957)

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.

Rex Reason as Capt. Seth Parton, deciding to use Amantha’s secret against her in Band of Angels (1957)

Yvonne De Carlo as Amantha Starr, trying to fend off the advances of Charles de Marigny (Patric Knowles) in Band of Angels (1957)

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.”

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Lt. Ethan Sears, a Union officer smitten with Amantha in Band of Angels (1957)

Ray Teal as Mr. Calloway, the slave trader who rents a special boat cabin to share with Amantha in Band of Angels (1957)

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!”

Clark Gable as Hamish Bond, coming clean about his slave-trading past in Band of Angels (1957)

Yvonne De Carlo as Amantha Starr, the morning after surrendering to Hamish in Band of Angels (1957)

Torin Thatcher as Capt. Canavan, reminiscing about the days he and Hamish sailed the seas together in Band of Angels (1957)

Tommie Moore as Dolly, rejoicing over the rumor that freedom is coming in Band of Angels (1957)

Russell Evans as Jimmee, a former slave helping Hamish escape Union patrols in Band of Angels (1957)

Andrea King as Miss Idell, the finishing school owner who benefits from Amantha’s misfortune in Band of Angels (1957)

Marshall Bradford as Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, the Union general in charge of New Orleans in Band of Angels (1957)

Clark Gable as Hamish Bond and Yvonne de Carlo as Amantha Starr in Band of Angels (1957)