I Passed for White

This film stars Sonya Wilde as a biracial lady and James Franciscus plays her boyfriend who has no idea she isn't 100% lily-white. At first, Sonya doesn't want to pose as white--but she doesn't really fit in with black folks as she appears white. After being refused jobs and being mistreated as biracial, she meets Franciscus and lands a job--and she's tired of not fitting in and just lets people think she's white. After all, in America in 1960, you'd certainly be treated like a second-class citizen if you weren't pure white--which is a stupid shame.

Once the pair marry, things are occasionally a little tough. After all, she's told so many lies about her family and Franciscus and his parents want to meet them. Her lies are a bit hard to swallow and it's not surprising that his mother starts to worry. After all, when the pair are going to LA on their honeymoon (where she told them her parents were), she tells him they can't see her family....as they've just hopped a boat for South America and don't plan on returning!! An additional problem develops when she slowly starts to see that her husband and his family are racists. Can this charade go on any longer--especially when she becomes pregnant? This is generally a very good and engaging film. Here and there are a few moments that seemed like they could have been handled better, but for a relatively low-budget film this can be forgiven. Well worth seeing and an interesting curio. However, I must add that the ending sure felt a bit anti-climactic.

It's an interesting coincidence that this film (which had been on my Netflix queue for some time) came when it did. Just a few days ago, I finished the brilliant novel "Diary of an Ex-Colored Man"--which deals with the same themes as well as discusses why a light-skinned person would want to pose as white. It's a sad story--and a perfect compliment to this film.

I am quite surprised that the lovely Wilde didn't appear in any other films--and only a few guest appearances on TV shows up until 1962. What ever happened to her? I could find nothing on IMDb or when I did a Google search. Odd...

By the way, the DVD print is very, very scratched in places. This doesn't seriously impede the film but it is surprising on a DVD. It could really use some restoration work. However, there are no captions and it would have been nice to have them.

Just imagine that Sarah-Jane , Fannie Hurst's heroine , was able to marry Troy Donahue in Douglas Sirk's remake of "imitation of life"(1959) ;a light -skinned pretty girl like her,her desire was to escape from her condition ; and after marrying James Franciscus (replacing Donahue) ,then the problems begin : the screenplay is thoroughly implausible :how would snub bourgeois parents accept this union while swallowing the heroine 's never-to-be-seen background ?One should note that the denouement is downright reactionary (a person of mixed-race must know her place), but although immensely superior,Sirk's exponential tear-jerker was too (back where both girls belong).

The most interesting character is the husband :first acquaintance shows a very nice man , considerate ,with a beaming smile .But further acquaintance shows that he is the splitting image of his smug parents: he is a racist macho (scene of the meeting with the brother ) and he won't be the dashing attentive escort the viewer expects him to be :no rebellion against a rotten society .....

Fortunately ,things have changed ; more than in the rather bland "guess who's coming to dine" , the great Sidney Poitier,by marrying lovely actress Johanna Shimkus, showed the whole world that interracial unions were a most natural thing .

"Bernice" (Sonya Wilde) falls in love with, and marries, the well-to-do "Rick" (James Franciscus) and she soon becomes pregnant. Thing is, though, she has one hell of a secret. His entirely white family do not know that she is, well, not... His mother (Elizabeth Council) begins to suspect something is afoot when "Bernice" can't provide her family at the impending birth and, indeed, the only evidence of her mother's existence comes from a photograph that is less than convincing. As is always the case, the web of lies becomes more and more complicated and harder for her to plausibly sustain - especially when the baby arrives and her curious reactions seriously test her relationship with her husband. My problem with this is the underpinning story is really rather weak and the issues it presents us with are all enveloped in scenarios that are a bit contrived. Neither leading actor here really brings much to the party - in fact, it's really only Council who, briefly, engages. The contentious subject matter was clearly all that was on anyone's mind here - the production and delivery of that potentially potent analysis of racism and bigotry is, however, completely lacklustre and this really smacks of a mid-budget television movie.

What makes this movie special is that it is a true story written by Mary Bradley about people known to her personally, Reba Lee and her mother. The ending was what really happened in real life and the book and movie were pretty much true to life, not "based on a true story" like so many other movies that end up paying only lip service to the true story. Reba Lee's mother was Mary Bradley's seamstress, so she got the story first hand from the people it happened to. To me, that makes the story even more meaningful than if the author had simply interviewed someone she didn't know and told the story from her own viewpoint. I saw the movie many, many years ago and I am not sure I remember details exactly, but it seems to me that the movie was pretty faithful to the book. If you can find either the book or the movie, it is well worth your time to read or watch it.

If "I Passed For White" was released today it would stur up quite a storm! Imagine not knowing what race to identify yourself with? The character of "ETHEL" gives a touching performance as a GAL that just does not know which way to turn! A B movie that few have seen this classic is alot of fun!