La maîtresse noire

Original title: Slaves

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A Kentucky slave fights for his freedom from cruel overseer whose mistress eventually joins Davis and the other slaves in their revolt.A Kentucky slave fights for his freedom from cruel overseer whose mistress eventually joins Davis and the other slaves in their revolt.A Kentucky slave fights for his freedom from cruel overseer whose mistress eventually joins Davis and the other slaves in their revolt.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

226

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Photos10

+ 5

User reviews16

4.8226

Featured reviews

5Uriah43

Brutal and Raw

This film initially takes place in Kentucky with a black slave by the name of "Luke" (Ossie Davis) returning from Ohio where he has just sold several horses for a handsome profit in the service of his owner "Mr. Stillwell" (Shepperd Strudwick). Although Luke is expecting his freedom sometime in the near future, not long afterward he is informed by Mr. Stillwell that, because of financial hardship, he is being sold back on the slave market. Needless to say, this news, along with the fact that he has to leave his wife and children, breaks Luke's heart but, with no choice in the matter, he accepts his fate with great resignation. A few days later, he is sold to a cruel Mississippi plantation owner named "Nathan MacKay" (Stephen Boyd) who, for the sake of his own ego, whips and humiliates the once-valued negotiator out of pride and ignorance. Yet even then, Luke remains steadfast and resolute in his beliefs and this eventually creates a major problem for Nathan and several other people working on the plantation. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film certain had its possibilities but it turned out a bit too raw and brutal for my tastes. That not to say, however, that conditions weren't as bad as depicted in this movie. They were much worse in some cases. But the interaction among many of the characters seemed rather odd and somewhat uncharacteristic at the time. At least, that's the way it seemed to me. Be that as it may, although conditions were quite horrible for slaves in the antebellum South, I don't believe this movie was as realistic as it could have been and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

6KayDrama

Gave it a 10 despite...

Despite, or maybe because of the budget, I gave this movie a ten. I am really surprised by the maturity of the subject matter and the fact that it didn't gloss over certain relationships. I am always surprised by movies such as Tomango and a very few others that dealt with the horrors of slavery. While Roots was epic and had the backing of the changing attitudes of the era it was produced within' these earlier films, and the actors who starred in them - both black and white - are to be commended.

By the way, despite some reviewers here saying it is loosely based on Uncle Tom's Cabin - it's not at all. I can only suppose they came up with that because, like all slaves were - the main character cites that to be a good Christian, you must do as the Bible says and be a good servant to your master. All slaves were endoctrinated and manipulated thusly.

jwpeel-1

Listen to the music Forget the film.

Nothing can be said about this being a great film. It isn't. The acting is amateurish and the story is pure melodrama that reeks of the staleness of another time in casting when broad caricature was passed off as great emoting. But the music is pure Bobby Scott, a jazz stylist with great command of a music form. Bobby was proud of his accomplishments as a songwriter and composer, and this one was no exception. He loved the fact that he got this one away from Burt Bacharach despite that it was done for that songwriter's golden goose, Dionne Warwick. So forget the hoky acting and plot. Listen to the sounds of the great Bobby Scott. (I should also mention that both the director/screenwriter Biberman and actress Gale Sondergard, were blacklisted talents so that at least makes this film noteworthy.) Okay so maybe it is historic in that it marks the acting debut of singer Dionne Warwick, but so what? She was no better than Gladys Knight as a thespian, and believe me, that is no compliment. Like I said. Watch the cinematography and listen to the music on the soundtrack and if you do anything else, don't say I didn't warn you.

5mlwjah

The Great Stephen Boyd

It's a shame this movie wasn't that great because besides Ossie Davis ( a fine actor in his own right), it also has another great actor, Stephen Boyd (who always got 5 stars among the women in my house). He was a great and under appreciated actor. Dionne Warwick was laughable (that should be in capital letters)...the worse thing in the movie. I suppose, in its way, the movie was trying to make a point. Stephen Boyd also starred in another movie about race relations called Carter's Army, I think. Another movie, trying to make a point about race relations. I read somewhere that Mr. Boyd only took movies that tried to make social comments in some way. This one is not up there with the great ones, but either way, the late, great Stephen Boyd is worth a watch.

2kfaia

Poor production values, great cast

No film with this cast can be bad, and this one isn't. Terrifying in a Tarantino way, who admires it. Watch it and enjoy.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This was the final film directed by Herbert J. Biberman before his death on June 30, 1971 at the age of 71.

Quotes
MacKay: [in a room filled with African artifacts, he is addressing owners and attendant servants] We'd better all understand this darkie we own, gentlemen. He's the only self-reproducing machine in the world. Gotta know how to run it. I first met him in Africa, as a young man, when I ran a ship in the illegal slave-running trade, before I settled down here in the very legal, slave-driving, cotton trade.
MacKay: [to the servants] Boys, attend to the gentlemen.
MacKay: [he continues] I packed blacks into my ship until you couldn't walk the decks. Every morning we threw the dead and the rebellious overboard. They were not easy those voyages. But we could turn a profit if we got 40% of them here alive.
MacKay: [he continues] My library is always at your disposal. Volumes on all the aspects of human slavery. But I can spell it for you in this one, magnificent sculpture or in one story which tells all one needs to know about the human being, in slavery or out. In the African trade, I met an old chief. I bought many of his people from him. Discussing handling slaves, he said "Captain, in the soul of a free man, a little slavery and a lot weigh the same. So they do in the soul of a slave. So when you chain him, just as well chain him firm." Brilliant man! He was as black as coal. He'd find your views, Mr. Bennett, romantic; dangerous.
MacKay: [he continues] I know you all wonder why I keep these things in my house. They make you uncomfortable. Me too. That's why I keep them here. Ivory, stone, wood, bronze.
MacKay: [to Luke] Don't gawk, boy. Get that tray filled. Boy! Did you hear me?
Luke: Yes, Master.
MacKay: Don't talk back to me. Replenish the tray.
MacKay: [he continues] I just ordered a darkie out of this room. Do you know anything about him? From his facial characteristics, his people probably came from the Songhai tribe, the area around Timbuktu. Three hundred years ago, they had a university there where the most delicate operations were performed for cataracts of the eye. People came from all over the world to have their sight restored by these extraordinary, black surgeons. I believe origins can crop up even after ten generations - unless they get weeded out. What do we create? Surgeons? Sculptors? Or niggers?