{"id":49647,"date":"2020-08-10T13:35:18","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T20:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=49647"},"modified":"2021-01-23T20:22:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T03:22:08","slug":"sun-shines-bright-the-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=49647","title":{"rendered":"Sun Shines Bright, The (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I must know what&#8217;s going on: who am I?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Poster.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Poster-207x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-49652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Poster-207x300.jpeg 207w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Poster-88x128.jpeg 88w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Poster.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWith help from his loyal servant (Stepin Fetchit), a Southern judge (Charles Winninger) defends the rights and dignities of the downtrodden in his town, including a young black man (Elzie Emanuel) falsely accused of rape and a newly repatriated sickly prostitute (Dorothy Jordan). Meanwhile, a beautiful southern belle (Arleen Whelan) is courted by a handsome young man (John Russell) who is unaware of her true parentage, and who battles on her behalf against a local bully (Grant Withers).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deep South<\/li>\n<li>John Ford Films<\/li>\n<li>Judges<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Morality Police<\/li>\n<li>Prostitutes and Gigolos<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nJohn Ford&#8217;s follow-up to his <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5805\">1934 film <em>Judge Priest<\/em><\/a> &#8212; based on characters in several short stories <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Irvin_S._Cobb\">by Irvin S. Cobb<\/a> &#8212; was, along with <em>Wagon Master<\/em> (1950), purportedly one of Ford&#8217;s personal favorites. It tells a meandering if ultimately coherent tale of numerous small-town events, all centering around morality and the need to stand up for the innocent and unfairly maligned. Unfortunately, the film&#8217;s morals come across as decidedly problematic, given that Fetchit is reduced yet again to playing a <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Fetchit.png\">typically servile, lazy, incomprehensible, and fumbling Black companion<\/a>, while Winninger&#8217;s defense of Emanuel posits him unambiguously as the town&#8217;s necessary White Savior. This is especially ironic given an extended sequence early in the film &#8212; one seemingly included as character enhancement rather than to further the plot &#8212; in which <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Winninger.png\">Winninger celebrates his former role in the Confederacy<\/a>. While the final funeral procession does arouse one&#8217;s emotions, it seems to come at the cost of a misremembered sense of chivalry, nobility, and racial justice &#8212; ideals that have yet to manifest in our nation. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Cinematography-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Cinematography-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Cinematography-1.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Cinematography-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Sun-Shines-Bright-Cinematography-1-128x96.png 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; you can skip this one unless you&#8217;re a Ford completist. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0046384\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/sun_shines_bright.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jonathanrosenbaum.net\/2018\/08\/the-doddering-relics-of-a-lost-cause-john-fords-the-sun-shines-bright\/\">Jonathan Rosenbaum&#8217;s comprehensive essay\/review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/the-sun-shines-bright\/review\/119398\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I must know what&#8217;s going on: who am I?&#8221; Synopsis: With help from his loyal servant (Stepin Fetchit), a Southern judge (Charles Winninger) defends the rights and dignities of the downtrodden in his town, including a young black man (Elzie Emanuel) falsely accused of rape and a newly repatriated sickly prostitute (Dorothy Jordan). Meanwhile, a beautiful southern belle (Arleen Whelan) is courted by a handsome young man (John Russell) who is unaware of her true parentage, and who battles on&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=49647\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49647"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65429,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49647\/revisions\/65429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}