Judge Priest

Will Roger's charm combined with John Ford's gentle handling of this material makes for one of the more pleasurable experiences I've had with a film recently. Edited to add: Ford's interaction with race is complex--he makes use of stereotypes that would never play today, but he also has his protagonist consistently side with the oppressed or those seen as "less than." Also, there are striking difference between this and Ford's remake, the Sun Shines Bright, a more mature film for sure.

I think Judge Priest is what you'd call a meddler and manipulator. For the record, I'd also have cut up Flem Talley. Hee, hee, hee! Ford only really flexes his cinematic muscle in depicting the testimony of Reverend Brand, set to 'Dixie', and the aftermath. I assume Shelby Foote was a fan of this film?

Viewed April 8, 2021.

(Viewed on the 19/01/15): Judge Priest is now primarily known as the film that served as raw material for The Sun Shines Bright, a far greater and more sophisticated work in Ford's canon that is essentially a loose remake of it. While that film explores the racial problems of America and the shifting values of the nation with some degree of complexity, creating a rather ambiguous relationship between nostalgia and social critique, Judge Priest is all cornball humour and dull romance.

Star Rating: ★

Ford clearly sets out one of his ongoing themes of community and home-spun wisdom through a lot of oddball characters. While the stereotypes are a little heavy-handed, it feels like that was done to make them more memorable rather than for any quick jokes at their expense. There's some slapstick-esque humor (including the unending tobacco spitting) that felt out of place, and like in many other films, the courtroom drama runs too long during the final soliloquy.

o filme favorito do Spike lee. Rá!

Though established in the opening text as an uncommonly tolerant veteran of the Confederacy, Priest still treats his black “friend” like a plantation houseboy. False sanctimony aside, Ford’s gentle celebration of the postbellum South is a hopeless bore without any spark or whimsy, with Rogers limp as the judge and Stepin Fetchit barely intelligible in the ugly, stereotypical persona which would eventually make him Hollywood’s first African-American millionaire.

Rogers is super natural in this kind of role. Sometimes a bit too down to earth and slow, but there is a certain beauty in that. Stepin Fetchit gets one of his biggest parts and he does have a few good moments here. Got to love a pimped-up Stepin Fetchit in fur! Veteran Henry B. Walthall had a great scene telling a very heartfelt story from the witness stand. That was the climax of the movie and it hit the mood of the film nicely ending this rural tale on a high note.