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Band of Angels

  • 1957
  • Approved
  • 2h 5m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
Band of Angels (1957)
Amantha Starr grows up as a privileged southern Belle in the ante-bellum South, but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers her mother was black.
Play trailer2:13
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25 Photos
DramaWestern

Amantha Starr grows up as a privileged Southern belle in the ante-bellum South, but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers that her mother was Black.Amantha Starr grows up as a privileged Southern belle in the ante-bellum South, but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers that her mother was Black.Amantha Starr grows up as a privileged Southern belle in the ante-bellum South, but after her father dies broke, her world is destroyed when she discovers that her mother was Black.

  • Director
    • Raoul Walsh
  • Writers
    • John Twist
    • Ivan Goff
    • Ben Roberts
  • Stars
    • Clark Gable
    • Yvonne De Carlo
    • Sidney Poitier
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    2.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Raoul Walsh
    • Writers
      • John Twist
      • Ivan Goff
      • Ben Roberts
    • Stars
      • Clark Gable
      • Yvonne De Carlo
      • Sidney Poitier
    • 62User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

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    Trailer 2:13
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    Photos25

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    Top cast79

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    Clark Gable
    Clark Gable
    • Hamish Bond
    Yvonne De Carlo
    Yvonne De Carlo
    • Amantha Starr
    Sidney Poitier
    Sidney Poitier
    • Rau-Ru
    Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
    Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
    • Lt. Ethan Sears
    Rex Reason
    Rex Reason
    • Capt. Seth Parton
    Patric Knowles
    Patric Knowles
    • Charles de Marigny
    Torin Thatcher
    Torin Thatcher
    • Capt. Canavan
    Andrea King
    Andrea King
    • Miss Idell
    Ray Teal
    Ray Teal
    • Mr. Calloway
    Russell Evans
    • Jimmee
    • (as Russ Evans)
    Carolle Drake
    Carolle Drake
    • Michele
    Raymond Bailey
    Raymond Bailey
    • Mr. Stuart
    Tommie Moore
    • Dollie
    Roy Barcroft
    Roy Barcroft
    • Gillespie
    • (uncredited)
    Brandon Beach
    • Auction Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Larry J. Blake
    Larry J. Blake
    • Auctioneer
    • (uncredited)
    Marshall Bradford
    Marshall Bradford
    • Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler
    • (uncredited)
    X Brands
    X Brands
    • Officer
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Raoul Walsh
    • Writers
      • John Twist
      • Ivan Goff
      • Ben Roberts
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews62

    6.52.7K
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    Featured reviews

    8bkoganbing

    That Old Northern Charm

    It's obvious that Warner Brothers decided to duplicate the success of Gone With the Wind when they hired Clark Gable for the lead role in Band of Angels. As Hamish Bond, former slave trader, and now plantation owner in the Louisiana delta country, Gable is an older and more worldly wise Rhett Butler. A man deeply concerned about the sins he committed in this life as a slave trader, living it down as best he can.

    One of his new charities is Yvonne DeCarlo who received one rude shock when her father died. Her mom was black, one of the plantation slaves and she is technically one also. She's not the mistress of her father's plantation, she along with the rest of the property, real and human, is to be sold for back taxes.

    Gable buys her and sets her up in his New Orleans home. Also in that house is a young black man named Ra-Ru played by Sidney Poitier. Poitier, in violation of the laws of the time, has been educated. And he's acquired enough education to appreciate the situation he's in. He's got a great hate for his benefactor who he really sees as no different than other, crueler slave holders.

    Today's audience which has seen Steven Spielberg's great true film Amistad about the illegal African slave trade, can appreciate far better Gable's dilemma. It's as if the owners of the Amistad grew a conscience. Gable's description of life in the slave trade when he levels with Yvonne DeCarlo is a high point of the film as is his description of the rescue of an African baby who grew up to be Sidney Poitier.

    The film does borrow liberally from Gone With the Wind in terms of Gable's character. But it also borrows from Birth of a Nation. Catch the scenes at his plantation on the delta when his slaves greet him and DeCarlo coming off the riverboat. Very much in keeping with that flawed classic. Had Gable done this film at his former studio MGM, I'm sure Ava Gardner would have been cast opposite him. Though DeCarlo is fine, Ava would have made the part a classic.

    Actually it's Poitier who walks off with the acting honors here. His Ra-Ru is filled with fire and passion. What Gable thought of as an act of kindness, is not perceived by Poitier as that. He's educated enough to see exactly the institution of slavery for the dehumanizing force that it is. His confrontation with another plantation owner, Patric Knowles, when he tries to force himself on DeCarlo is not something one with the slave mentality would do. Knowles makes a big mistake in assuming Poitier thinks that way.

    Actually Patric Knowles has another important scene with Gable after Poitier assaults Knowles and escapes. Gable has no use for him at all. He's originally from New England and doesn't like southern aristocrats as a group. Though Knowles is reputed to be a dead shot as a duelist, Gable faces him down and makes him turn tail in my favorite scene in the film.

    Band of Angels did not get the best of reviews at the time it came out. I think it was ahead of its time and can be better appreciated by audiences today.
    7claudio_carvalho

    Romantic Epic Soap Opera

    In Kentucky in the antebellum of the Civil War, Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) is the pride and joy of her father, the plantation owner Aaron Starr (William Forrest) that treats her slaves with dignity. When he dies, Amantha learns that he mother was black and she is included as a slave to be sold to pay his father's debts. She is sent to an auction in New Orleans and bought by the wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable) by a fortune. He brings her home and treats her as if she were a guest. Amantha meets the slaves Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), who is treated like a son, and Michele (Carolle Drake), who is Hamish's mistress and in love with him. Soon they fall in love with each other, but Hamish discloses a dreadful secret from his past, their relationship ends. Meanwhile the Civil War breaks out and Hamish becomes a wanted man while Rau-Ru joins the Union Army. Will the love of Amantha and Hamish be doomed by the war?

    "Band of Angels" is a romantic epic that seems to be a soap opera with a story with many twists. The plot seems to be a melodramatic version of "Gone with the Wind" and Rau-Ru first attitude is ungrateful. The best moment of this melodrama is when Amantha discovers that she is considered a black woman and consequently a slave. Her situation is impressive and heartbreaking. The spoiled woman is suddenly transformed into a property of despicable men. My vote is seven.

    Title (Brazil): "Meu Pecado Foi Nascer" ("My Sin Was to be Born")
    8NewEnglandPat

    One of Clark Gable's best films

    Warner Brothers spared no expense in this lavish film production of a young woman of mixed parentage who falls in love with the man who buys her at an auction but denies her racial heritage. Clark Gable dominates the film as an ex-slave trader and plantation owner in the antebellum South. Yvonne De Carlo is the mulatto who becomes Gable's mistress and Sidney Poitier as a proud man who was raised as Bond's son. Gable and De Carlo make an appealing pair in the film but they spend a great deal of time quarreling with each other. Gable has a dark secret about his past that he'd like to forget and De Carlo struggles to accept the truth about her racial origins. Gable later is a fugitive from Union justice for burning crops and stores, thereby risking the hangman's noose. The film's title refers to a newly-formed Union regiment of black soldiers in the waning days of the Confederacy. The film has an excellent music score by Max Steiner, great technicolor lensing by Lucien Ballard and a solid supporting cast.
    7ma-cortes

    Luxurious and evocative costume drama with big budget shot in handsome fashion by Raoul Walsh

    A nice attempt at costume drama with intense moments , plot twists and some weak incidents . Set in the Southern states at the time of the American Civil War concerning Amantha Starr : Yvonne De Carlo grows-up as a privileged Southern heir . But later on , Amantha learns has African-American blood and since it's the pre-Civil War era she promptly suffers from a distressed fate . Become an orphanaged woman and winds up on the auction block . Starr becomes both the property and the mistress of mysterious New Orleans landowner Hamish Bond : Clark Gable.

    This epic movie is set in early American Civil War bringing mayhem, revelations and threats. A good film though tended to acquire the reputation of a poor man's "Gone With the Wind" and again Clak Gable as its top-drawer star . Overall, though , it is a big budgeted picture with impressive battles , expensive action , sparkles enough and enjoyable scenes especially on the pursuit set pieces through swamplands. Based on the best-seller book by Robert Penn Warren with interesting and moving script by John Twist and Ivan Goff . Clark Gable is pretty good , playing in his ordinary style . Yvonne De Carlo looks properly surly in this really luxury drama . Performance honours, however, are stolen by a young Sidney Poitier in his starts , as he clearly robbing the show as a rebellious African-American overseer . Very good support cast with plenty of notorious secondaries, such as : Efrem Zimbalist Jr. , Rex Reason, Patrick Knowles , Torin Thatcher , Andrea King , Ray Teal , among others .

    It displays a stirring and agreeable musical score by grand maestro Max Steiner . As well as colourful cinematography in Warnercolor by Lucien Ballard that sets off the action in glamorous and haunting fashion . The motion picture was well and professionally directed by Raul Walsh . He was one of the best Hollywood craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres , such as : "Big Trail" , "Distant Drums", "Along the Great Divide" , "Dark Command" , "Gun Fury" , "Gentleman Jim" , "They Died With their Boots on" , "Tall Men", "The Thief of Bagdag" , "White Heat", "Northern Pursuit" , "Roaring Twenties" , "Blackbeard Pirate" , "They Drive by Night" , "Pursued" , "High Sierra" , "Strawberry Blonde" , "Battle Cry" , "Naked and the Dead" , and several others . Rating : 6.5/10 . Worthwhile watching. The flick will appeal to Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo and Sidney Poitier fans .
    6Julius-10

    This film could have been good.

    This film is a typical pre-Sixties look at the Civil War. They are very progressive for the time, having one black actor in a major role and several in bit parts, but even still the film is startlingly unwitty. It would be great to study the politics behind this film. It follows the early Hollywood mode of having white actors play black roles, and I would not hesitate from assuming that they had Evon De Carlo to play the role because of the taboo of a black person kissing a white person on the screen. Sidney Potier delivers a fairly decent performance, while Evon De Carlo and Clark Gable could not get out of the Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'Hara mold. The film has some fairly good scenes, but overall it is just barely watchable.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    John Wayne and Harry Carey Jr. in The Searchers (1956)
    Western

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film proved to be a complete failure on release, both critically and commercially. Clark Gable was annoyed by the comparisons with Gone with the Wind (1939) and instructed his agent, "If it doesn't suit an old geezer with false teeth, forget about it." He also decided to part company with Raoul Walsh, previously one of his favorite directors.
    • Goofs
      At 40 minutes, the heroine takes off her stockings, which were not yet available in those days.
    • Quotes

      Amantha Starr: You say you won't touch me. You give me your *word* as a gentleman. Well, what's to stop you from breakin' your word late one night and forcin' yourself on me while I sleep?

      Hamish Bond: [grins] Only the word of a gentleman.

      Amantha Starr: [late that night, unable to sleep] He said he wouldn't. But those are his footsteps, coming down the hall. Coming closer!

      Amantha Starr: [listens tensely] He didn't! Not tonight, anyway. Why not?

      [Amantha frowns at first, then thinking it over, gradually falls asleep]

    • Connections
      Edited into La classe américaine (1993)
    • Soundtracks
      Band of Angels
      (uncredited)

      Music by Max Steiner

      Lyrics by Carl Sigman

      [Sung by chorus over main titles]

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 3, 1957 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Andjeoski venac
    • Filming locations
      • Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation - State Highway 75, Geismer, Louisiana, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $315
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 5m(125 min)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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