Wow! Such a good movie.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I love this movie. It's got everything. I've watched it three times. I absolutely fell in love with Clark Gable's house - love the French-style courtyard with the house built around it, the terraces and the big wrought iron gates!! All style!!

Raoul Walsh never hesitated to take on controversial projects and here he takes one on and does a great job bringing it to the screen. What amazes me here is how good and healthy Clark Gable looks in this film. Especially considering he would soon be ill and dead though he was so busy as he approached 60 that he made a few more films. While there are comparisons to Rhett Butler obvious in this role, there are stark differences as well. Regardless, he brings this off very well.Yvonne De Carlo (Amantha Starr) is 35 at the time of this role, and looks to old for the role. Still, she comes off quite well as the heiress who loses her dad and her freedom because it turns out her mother was not white. She becomes a white slave. Sidney Portier is excellent as Rau-Ru, a black man adopted by Hamish Bond (Gable) and treated as his son. Gable does not appear in the first part of this film. His first appearance is when he bids on Starr at the slave auction. Hamish will eventually seduce Starr and though they fall in love, he can not marry her because she is part black. These 3 actors get excellent support from a pretty well known supporting cast. One very interesting note here is that Marshall Bradford as Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler gets no credit for his role, but he is shown as yes, the Union committed crimes in the war too. Butler's unit taking New Orleans is a major part of this. There were no angels on either side in the war.Warren, who also wrote All The Kings Men that brought a fictional account of Huey Long (Louisana Politician) to life as Willie Stark, stays in the state (after a brief 30 minutes in Kentucky) with this novel. I am not sure if it was Walsh who was the stickler here, or Warren who deserves the credit for one factual thing in this film which had not been done since silent films. When Butler's troops take the town, this film shows the real Confederate Flag (not the racist Stars & Bars) coming down and being replaced by the Union Flag.This film does have a rose colored glasses approach to slavery, but the attitude of Rau-Ru is actually right on. People being too nice is a trap that still exists today. The Democratic Party has tried to make it law that blacks be treated equal, and have tried to erase their history of discrimination. Hamish is actually a Southern White Democrat, Liberal enough in his views to have educated a Black Man to try and relieve his conscience for what he had done to blacks when he was younger. This reminds me of Bill Clinton visiting poor black churches when he was President to make up for his support as Gov of Arkansas of some prominent racists Democrats, and his mentor Robert Byrd, former KKK Grand Wizard, who in real life very much resembled Hamish. This film is very much worth watching if just to remember what slavery was, though the worst parts of it are only talked about. What hammers it home is the treatment of Yvonne De Carlo (Amantha Starr) after her fathers death. She loses her freedom and her rights. It is shocking that this type of thing ever happened.

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.American slave trade ended 1807 by Congress. Why was Gable in Civil War era talking about his work in that field? That was an era ending fifty years before, and even Gable didn't look that old.This looked to be historically incorrect, but will be overlooked for the sake of the story. Louisiana became American (from the French; Napoleon) in 1803, so this makes even less sense.Back to the story. A funeral has people singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, meaning heaven coming to take Yvonne de Carlo's father away. I looked over Jordan, and what did I see? A band of angels comin' after me. These are lyrics of this old song. The River Jordan is another euphemism for heaven.Bands of angels didn't rescue Manty, de Carlo's character. She was found belatedly to have had an African American mother, and in antebellum times that was a definite no-no.She's sent to a slave auction. She's such a hot tomata that bidders end in none other than Clark Gable, a swell-dressed local Colonel Sanders.Gable purchases her for a large sum of money. On the way to the auction, though, she is assaulted by a bad guy, but is rescued and is to live in a lovely antebellum mansion with Gable. Gable is filthy rich, and Manty has been raised to be a cultured and elegant young woman. Gable dresses her in fine clothes. They make a nice-looking pair.Gable's house slaves are mainly female, but in walks a striking dark man portrayed by Sidney Poitier. Poitier is opinionated and mouthy. He was rescued in childhood by Gable. Gable educated him as his own son, but Poitier's character always resents the way Africans are treated in general.A maid says Poitier will be king of the mansion, some day, and that Gable has willed the abode to him. Later, Union army occupiers want Gable's castle, and, naturally, Poitier has joined their army. The mansion has been ransacked by those darned Yankee invaders, and Poitier is now king of nothing. Gable is still alive, and Poitier sneakily helps him escape the bloodthirsty bluecoats after accusing Gable of giving him such a terrible upbringing.Denouement: Gable and Manty ride off in a boat to further adventures, with Gable's old sea dog friend rescuing them. Meanwhile, Poitier is on the shore, seeing them off.Poitier. Strong characters. Lilies of the Field, 1963. Don't mess with me. They Call Me Mr. Tibbs, 1970. In the Heat of the Night, 1967. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, 1967. Civil rights movement era, in the decade or two after Band of Angels, and African Americans demanding humane treatment. Poitier did a great job in explaining reality. Sidney, you are the greatest.I am a degreed historian, actress, film critic and movie reviewer.

Band of Angels (1957)A lot of people saw this as Clark Gable playing up the "Gone With the Wind" angle, but it's really a story about slavery and race in America. It's not a classic like GWTW, but it should stand on it's own merits. Sure, it's a bit watered down for the late 50s sensibilities, and yes, it's pretty melodramatic stuff, but it's not a bad movie and well worth a look.A young, beautiful Yvonne De Carlo plays Amantha Starr, the daughter of a plantation owner. She's away at college when she is asked to come home. Her father has taken ill and by the time she arrives, he has already passed away. Then comes the realization that Amantha is really half black, and instead of the daughter of a plantation owner, she will now be sold along with all of the other property to pay off back taxes. Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) buys her, but sets her up like a lady.A 30 year old Sidney Poitier plays Rau-Ru, a freed slave and raised as Hamish's son. Rau- Ru was educated, so he is all too aware of the atrocities that are performed on black people by people like Hamish, himself, so there's a love/hate relationship going on there.This DVD was released a little before Yvonne De Carlo death, and it's good that we get a chance to see her before she became well-known as Lilly Munster.