Drums of the Desert

I love Mantan Moreland but I don't like this picture. I have watched a lot of black and white pictures that go back to the 1940s.

Mantan Moreland is a great black actor. Funny with big eyes and a high pitched laugh. I am a white female & like mysteries like Charlie Chan. and Mantan is in a lot of them as "Birmingham Brown"

I feel this movie degrades the black people especially the men. The reason I don't like this movie is the difference between the parts the black and white actors played. Sgt Williams/Moreland is in charge of a group of all black parachuters. Most of the white military men are in high positions. The parachuters talk on the airplane. The script makes them dumb. Some don't know how to count to ten when they have to jump out of the plane and pull their parachute cord.

Sgt Williams tells them what they must do. It seems they were not trained previously.

I don't know how it turns out, I stopped watching it. I felt they made the parts of the men that were black, stupid and used their performance as something that was funny to laugh at. I think I saw this awhile back and the parachuters are a part of winning the war.

I also watched a movie where Moreland was friends with Frankie Darro a short white actor in "The Gang's All Here" 1941. They were just friends in the movie and Darro was not his boss. Moreland played Jeff & calls Frankie "Mr Frankie" throughout the movie and Frankie played by Frankie Darro call "Jeff" just Jeff.

As Christian for a long time watching these older movies gives me a lot of insight on the way people are and were treated. Things I did not notice before I see now and it makes me sad. I am glad God woke me up.