'59 'Porgy' film taking New York curtain call

August 14, 2007 After a complicated birth (its original director, Rouben Mamoulian, was fired during production, with Preminger taking over; there also was a mysterious fire that destroyed much of the set and delayed production), the finished film drew some negative criticism for its "unrealistic, soundstage look," while there also was strong opposition from several civil rights groups that felt "Porgy" in any form gave a slanted, unfavorable view of black American life. The movie opened as a roadshow attraction at New York's Warner Theatre, with the New York Times' Bosley Crowther hailing it as "a stunning, exciting and moving film, packed with human emotions and cheerful and mournful melodies (that) bids to be as much a classic on the screen as it is on the stage." (It also was said that Poitier and others preferred that it disappear.) At the moment, whatever kept this movie under wraps seems to have if not evaporated at least mellowed, and one holds a hope that, if there's not a theatrical reissue in the future, at least a DVD edition might be forthcoming.

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