Raisin in the Sun

I may be the last earnest white liberal in America to finally make the acquaintance of Lorraine Hansberry’s play in any medium. When there was yet another tv adaptation some time back, I tuned in for a while but soon determined P. Diddy was no Sidney Poitier, and if I was going to spend the time it ought to be on the original. As an acting exercise, the film was quite interesting. As a breakthrough in African American depictions of African American lives, it still carries weight. As the record of a famous Broadway play, it has merit (if not many cinematic values). Poitier’s performance is highly-mannered and gestural, more for the balcony than the tighter focus of film, but still powerful. Ruby Dee is memorable as his wife, and Claudia McNeil monumental as his mother. I won’t recount the plot, since it is either familiar to you, or could come across with surprising relevance in a year when an African American may actually become President. (1961, TCM/T, n.) *7*