Cabin in the Sky

Dir. Vincente Minnelli. 1943, 98 mins. U.S. 35mm. With Ethel Waters, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Lena Horne, John Bubbles, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. After years of advising, assisting edits, and directing standalone musical numbers for Arthur Freed’s soon-to-be legendary MGM musicals production unit, Minnelli was entrusted with directing his first feature, and he officially burst out of the gate with the surprise smash Cabin in the Sky. Featuring an all-Black cast, during a period when African American performers were increasingly vocal in demanding better representation in entertainment, Cabin in the Sky was a risky venture, as theaters in the racist South would refuse to screen it. Elsewhere it was a sensation, a jazz-tinged musical comedy drama—starring Eddie “Rochester” Anderson as a gambler arguing for his soul at the pearly gates after he is shot during a craps game—often credited as the first truly “integrated” film, in terms of how the songs are built into the narrative. Ethel Waters and Lena Horne are singing standouts as the angelic wife and sultry mistress perched on each of his shoulders.

Tickets: $17.50 / $12 senior and students / $10 youth / $7 MoMI members. There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership.

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