Cabin in the Sky (1943)
This unique, Musical fantasy was the first film directed by Vincente Minnelli. It stars Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson as Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Jackson, a man with a gambling problem whose wife Petunia, played by Ethel Waters, is so strong in her faith that her prayers enable her husband to receive a second chance. Little Joe's dealing with nefarious characters like Domino Johnson (John William Sublett) gets him shot, which leads to a scene in which the Devil's son Lucifer Jr. (Rex Ingram) is ready to take his soul to Hell before the Lord's General (Kenneth Spencer) intervenes and gives the gambler 6 months to reform. Ingram and Spencer also play characters in Little Joe's "real" life, a fellow gambler and Petunia's Reverend Greene, respectively. Ernest Whitman appears as one of Little Joe's creditors, and a club owner.
Petunia represents on of Waters's few on-screen roles; she would go on to earn a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in Pinky (1949). She sings the film's Academy Award nominated Song - "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe". On the other, Anderson, whose gravely voice is as recognizable as Eugene Pallette's, had already appeared in more than 50 films at this point in his career which spanned nearly 70 roles, most of which were stereotypical for Black actors of his era. Lena Horne, whose character also sings, plays the femme fatale, Georgia Brown, who Lucifer Jr. uses to tempt Little Joe during his reprieve. Louis Armstrong plays (his trumpet and) a minor role as one of Lucifer Jr.’s idea men, as does Mantan Moreland and shaky voiced Willie Best. Butterfly McQueen plays one of Petunia's friends and Duke Ellington appears (with his band) as himself; Cab Calloway also appears.
FYI, the print I saw on TCM recently had an annoyingly large TV-Y logo which periodically appeared in the upper left hand corner of the screen (for maximum enjoyment, you may want to rent the DVD).
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