Native Son (New Restoration – 1951 Original)
Midnight screenings happen at midnight the day listed. For example, if it says Saturday At Midnight, please arrive by 11:45pm Saturday night.
Director: Pierre Chenal Run Time: 108 min. Format: Online Virtual Ticket Release Year: 1951
Starring: Jean Wallace, Richard Wright
Screening at Row House Online from NOW SHOWING
Detail instructions on getting your film to play here
One of the most controversial novels of its day, Richard Wright’s NATIVE SON (first published in 1940) exposed the injustices of urban African-American life, witnessed through the eyes of Bigger Thomas, whose violent tendencies and moral confusion were the natural result of a lifetime of deprivation. In prison for murder and sentenced to death, Thomas reflects on the circumstances that led to his fate. Kino Lorber presents a new restoration of the equally controversial 1951 film, directed by Pierre Chenal and starring Richard Wright as Bigger Thomas.
When the film was initially released in the U.S., NATIVE SON was heavily censored by regional state/municipal censor boards where it played. A complete 16mm print of the original Argentinian release and an incomplete 35mm duplicate negative of the uncensored cut were combined for the current restoration, the most complete version of Native Son ever shown in the United States.
The film is preceded by a special introduction by film historians Eddie Muller (Film Noir Foundation) and Jacqueline Najima Stewart (co-curator of Kino Lorber’s Pioneers of African-American Cinema collection), courtesy of Turner Classic Movies.
After your ticket purchase, you have THREE day to enjoy.
