La tragedia di Harlem

"Lost Boundaries" is a 1949 film, based on the true story of a black family that passed for white in New Hampshire. The stars are Mel Ferrer, Beatrice Pearson, Richard Hylton, and Carleton Carpenter. Ferrer plays a black doctor, Scott Carter, who looks white. He wants to live as a black man, and his future wife (Pearson) who comes from a family that has always "passed" has agreed to live as a black as well. But after they marry and there's a baby on the way, and still no job, Scott decides to take a position in a white hospital. Eventually he becomes the town doctor. Before you know it, 20 years have passed, and he and his wife have never even told their children that they have black blood. This leads to complications.

Released the same year as "Pinky," "Lost Boundaries" is a very good movie about deep-seated prejudice that occurred in the north and not in its usual place, the south. Its essential problem is that it doesn't employ any black actors to play the Carters. "Pinky," a superior film, was criticized for the same reason, except that without Jeanne Crain, "Pinky" would not have been made. "Lost Boundaries" has no stars.

It is curious that the issue of "passing" seems to have piqued Hollywood's interest in the late '40s, and one wonders if World War II had something to do with it, with people venturing out of their neighborhoods and meeting others from different social positions and walks of life, all with the same goal of fighting the Axis. However, when Lena Horne went to entertain the troops in World War II, the black soldiers were behind the prisoners of war in the audience. You really wonder what was going through anyone's minds. Certainly not liberty and justice for all.

Lost Boundaries I felt was a really good film. Never would have even thought of something like it. The family had such good hearts and were caring and loving people who got along with everyone they met pretty much. No body knew they were actually African American though. If people had known they would not have had the life they lived for such a long time. He wanted to tell people. He did not want to have to keep his race a secret just so he would be treated differently. Its sad to think that people were really like that. This movie has a great ending however. You think for a little while that once their secret was revealed that they were going to be shunned by everyone. They were at first too except for the daughter with her boyfriend. He never let it bother him. She was more ashamed of it than he was which is also very sad. Those kids grew up just like all the other white kids thinking that being a Negro was a terrible thing and even though the son was kind to them and one of his best friends was Negro he was not pleased and was disgusted when he found out he was actually African American himself just very light skinned. But the town comes around when in church the preacher preaches about how that is not how God would do things. God loves everyone and treats everyone equally and it was at the end of the service that people let go of the grudge they had against different colors. They also kept him as their town doctor. I saw many things in this film that I would be appalled to see actually happen to day but that doesn't change the fact that that is how the times were then and just how people acted.

Others have described Lost Boundaries very well here, so we will not retrace the plot. As we watched this movie on TCM, it again reinforced our feeling that the movie industry has in some ways lost its way today. From what we can see, while Lost Boundaries was well reviewed by contemporary viewers, it was not particularly recognized when it was made. Nevertheless, being a modest production of its time, it easily surpasses so many movies made today with far greater resources in terms of budget, "star power," and other means. When the industry focused on telling human stories with human beings, it was much more convincing. Today, there is so much focus on marketing, gimmickry, "star" power, and extraneous things like special effects and post-production polishing that it seems the stories lack that "human touch."

We live in Hawaii, and recently saw "The Descendants" out of natural curiosity to see our home state featured, and our response, and that of others we know, was lukewarm. The story seemed to lack depth and any real investment of characters to any stakes (since it was in part about land and wealth), yet it is being touted for Best Picture and more. Clooney was already given Best Actor in the Golden Globes, and our belief is that the award is being rigged because he is a Hollywood favorite and insider. It is a typical Clooney job...glib and slightly sarcastic, and it baffles us that it merits any such recognition.

Occasionally someone makes a great picture because talent is irrepressible and will always emerge, but now it seems to be in spite of the industry rather than because of it. It seems that the television producers seem to have passed the feature film producers in telling stories (Mad Men, Breaking Bad). Tell stories with people, about people, by people...please.

No need to detail the plot as others have done. On the whole, this is a very sincere and thoughtful production. Easy to say that by today's standards the film lacks honesty, especially by casting whites in the lead roles. However, I expect the production went as far as any commercial production of its time could in dealing with the emerging issue of race prejudice. Remember, much of the commercial audience was in the Jim Crow South, and I expect many theaters there refused its showing, (probably in the North too, only more subtly).

Besides, the effort to de-glamorize everyone and everything in the film, along with its location photography and varying sound quality, suggests that social conscience is what the film-makers were aiming for and not big box office. This was an independent production, far from the Hollywood glamor factory, even though the executive producer Louis de Rochemont had been a top producer at 20th Century Fox. I particularly like the way they used ordinary looking people in so many of the principal and supporting parts, especially the charming but plain-faced Susan Douglas and the equally charming but goofy-looking Carleton Carpenter. The ending too, is handled with a fair amount of honesty. especially the highly symbolic very last frame.

Too bad that this was precisely the kind of gritty little conscience film that disappeared from the screen following the Mc Carthy purges that loomed on the horizon. Even though the movie is now mainly of historical interest, it indicates the sort of challenging entertainment that was lost to the public during the Cold War decade of the 1950's. More than anything, it now needs to be shown more often, so that younger generations can get a definite sense of time, place, and attitudes, even if the actors are white.

On a famous Law And Order episode S. Eptha Merkerssen confronts a suspect who has passed for white asking him what it was like. It must be a unique experience. But it's one gay people for generations did with use of the closet. I think Mel Ferrer's real life character of Scott Carter would have identified with the closet. He was in fact in a race closet.

Mel Ferrer got his first big break playing the lead who with his wife Beatrice Pearson is a light skinned black man, one who has 'good color' so he can pass. After losing a job at a hospital he was hoping to get Ferrer gets a position at a small Maine village, not unlike Bing Crosby coming to work to take over Barry Fitzgerald's practice in Welcome Stranger. But Bing wasn't exactly carrying the secret Ferrer has. He and Pearson never even tell their kids.

It all comes crashing down when a background check on Ferrer disqualifies him from a Naval commission. The only place for black people in those days was mess stewards. The rest of the story is how Ferrer and his family deal with being ripped from the racial closet and the town around him.

In the climax the town preacher Robert Dunn who was a real minister as well speaks for the town and how they deal with this knowledge about their trusted town physician.

Mel Ferrer got his first big break in Lost Boundaries and while it's not quite a classic it holds up well for today's audience.

Might be a good film for a gay black audience to view.