L'Esclave libre

In Kentucky in the antebellum of the Civil War, Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) is the pride and joy of her father, the plantation owner Aaron Starr (William Forrest) that treats her slaves with dignity. When he dies, Amantha learns that he mother was black and she is included as a slave to be sold to pay his father's debts. She is sent to an auction in New Orleans and bought by the wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) by a fortune. He brings her home and treats her as if she were a guest. Amantha meets the slaves Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), who is treated like a son, and Michele (Carolle Drake), who is Hamish's mistress and in love with him. Soon they fall in love with each other, but Hamish discloses a dreadful secret from his past, their relationship ends. Meanwhile the Civil War breaks out and Hamish becomes a wanted man while Rau-Ru joins the Union Army. Will the love of Amantha and Hamish be doomed by the war?

"Band of Angels" is a romantic epic that seems to be a soap opera with a story with many twists. The plot seems to be a melodramatic version of "Gone with the Wind" and Rau-Ru first attitude is ungrateful. The best moment of this melodrama is when Amantha discovers that she is considered a black woman and consequently a slave. Her situation is impressive and heartbreaking. The spoiled woman is suddenly transformed into a property of despicable men. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Meu Pecado Foi Nascer" ("My Sin Was to be Born")

A nice attempt at costume drama with intense moments , plot twists and some weak incidents . Set in the Southern states at the time of the American Civil War concerning Amantha Starr : Yvonne De Carlo grows-up as a privileged Southern heir . But later on , Amantha learns has African-American blood and since it's the pre-Civil War era she promptly suffers from a distressed fate . Become an orphanaged woman and winds up on the auction block . Starr becomes both the property and the mistress of mysterious New Orleans landowner Hamish Bond : Clark Gable.

This epic movie is set in early American Civil War bringing mayhem, revelations and threats. A good film though tended to acquire the reputation of a poor man's "Gone With the Wind" and again Clak Gable as its top-drawer star . Overall, though , it is a big budgeted picture with impressive battles , expensive action , sparkles enough and enjoyable scenes especially on the pursuit set pieces through swamplands. Based on the best-seller book by Robert Penn Warren with interesting and moving script by John Twist and Ivan Goff . Clark Gable is pretty good , playing in his ordinary style . Yvonne De Carlo looks properly surly in this really luxury drama . Performance honours, however, are stolen by a young Sidney Poitier in his starts , as he clearly robbing the show as a rebellious African-American overseer . Very good support cast with plenty of notorious secondaries, such as : Efrem Zimbalist Jr. , Rex Reason, Patrick Knowles , Torin Thatcher , Andrea King , Ray Teal , among others .

It displays a stirring and agreeable musical score by grand maestro Max Steiner . As well as colourful cinematography in Warnercolor by Lucien Ballard that sets off the action in glamorous and haunting fashion . The motion picture was well and professionally directed by Raul Walsh . He was one of the best Hollywood craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres , such as : "Big Trail" , "Distant Drums", "Along the Great Divide" , "Dark Command" , "Gun Fury" , "Gentleman Jim" , "They Died With their Boots on" , "Tall Men", "The Thief of Bagdag" , "White Heat", "Northern Pursuit" , "Roaring Twenties" , "Blackbeard Pirate" , "They Drive by Night" , "Pursued" , "High Sierra" , "Strawberry Blonde" , "Battle Cry" , "Naked and the Dead" , and several others . Rating : 6.5/10 . Worthwhile watching. The flick will appeal to Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo and Sidney Poitier fans .

I've often felt that a movie--even a bad one--can be enjoyed on many different levels--for example, the acting alone, the script, the direction, photography, atmospheric effects, etc. It's hard to find anything to say about BAND OF ANGELS except that it was photographed in excellent technicolor and Max Steiner actually manages to create an interesting score--though definitely not one of his best.

Indeed, no one is at their best in this film--not Clark Gable, as an older and tired looking version of Rhett Butler, nor beautiful Yvonne de Carlo--each given some of the worst dialogue any actors have ever been saddled with. It's a murky tale of a plantation owner in love with a woman of mixed ancestry. Patric Knowles and Sidney Poitier try to bring some semblance of dignity to the acting but there's simply too much tripe to allow anyone to look good. And by the way, it's not based on a Frank Yerby novel, as someone has said previously. It's based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren which I hope was better than the movie. Had to be.

Only the Steiner score provides a point of interest. Certainly nowhere near the level of that other Civil War epic starring Gable. No way!

'Band of Angels' is an unusual 1950s melodrama with a fairly good cast. The script is not free of a few groaners, and some of the characterizations call for some endurance. The viewers' introduction to Gable's character, for one, is of a US bully from the we-saved-the-world 1950s. Also, a very cliche'd sailor friend's drinking scene at Gable's mansion was sheer torture for this viewer, and an excess of fawning slaves gathering to sing their Mass'ahs praises at the drop of a hat didn't help.

That now out of the way, there's more at work that to my mind saves this movie. Supported by Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Clark Gable and Yvonne deCarlo play the lead pair, who openly 'live in sin' and are otherwise reprehensible. All the same, both are portrayed sympathetically. Set in the 'Gone with the Wind' period, Gable plays an ex-slaver and cotton-grower who once prowled his plantation's slave shacks for his jollies. She is the shameful issue of a liaison with a slave on another plantation, and it's even suggested that she fools around on Gable while he's away on business.

This movie's clearly no gem, but it's no dreck. However maudlin and overdone, its basic theme of the redemptive power of love is fairly well handled. The era and settings are unusual and atmospheric enough to hold the viewer's interest, and I had no difficulty with plot over-entanglements even if my credulity was strained now and then.

It may well have been Yvonne De Carlo's best film, and Gable also did a fair job with an okay script (something not unusual while the studios struggled to survive). Sidney Poitier has a small but meaty role as an educated slave with a deep grudge. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. got his first speaking part in this film, and acquits himself smoothly with limited material. Max Steiner grinds out a spotty sountrack that's effective only in the chase scenes, and then only just ...yet a Rozsa or Korngold he never was.

The Warnercolour's glorious, and the art direction is especially fine, with atmospheric scenes especially in the Gable character's New Orleans pied-a-terre and (less so) in his plantation mansion. Mind you, it's all 100% 1950s Hollywood, and very pristine and polished ...but let's not expect too much from the era, when Edith Head primped up the women and the idea of onscreen grime, sweat or facial stubble as far off as spaghetti westerns.

A fairly good film from the 50s, in short: its eventful, sometimes quirky plot, more than passable acting and some unusual settings make most of it very watchable.

I have to say this film was much better than the civil war potboiler I was expecting. Yes it definitely has overtones of Gone With the Wind but if you put Clark Gable in a Civil War movie that's what you are going to get. Warners have obviously spared no expense with this one and the money shows on screen. Gable's salary would have been a part of that and frankly he is too old for the role of a slave trader turned plantation owner in the old south but he brings a legacy with him that is there on the screen. His big scene where he comes clean to Yvonne De Carlo about his slave trading past could almost be paraphrased as "Frankly my dear you really shouldn't give a damn" and it's almost as if Gable knows it. De Carlo is also too old for her part by at least 10 years but she does some her best work here. The trouble is that her best work can only be described as competent when the part of Amantha requires more fire than De Carlo can offer. The real acting pleasures here are provided by some of the supporting players. Carolle Drake, in her only screen appearance, gives a cool and knowing performance as Gable's housekeeper and former mistress who still loves him. Likewise Juanita Moore makes something out of the nothing the script gives her in a brief appearance as a maid on a steamboat. Andrea King leaves you wanting more as Miss Idell who seemingly ends up with Amantha's inheritance. King's exit scene (quite early in the piece) as she walks away towards the plantation house with her back to the camera is beautifully shot. Sidney Poitier on the other hand seemed a little self-conscious to me as the educated slave (and by proxy Gable's adopted son figure). Overall this is a film that has improved with age and deserving of a re-evaluation today.