- Detailing every release of the pioneering Black actor’s five feature films
- Musician, jockey, prizefighter, stage and screen star, humanitarian, icon
- Talent and fearless activism renowned by Hollywood and political elite
- Life and career were cruelly cut short but his influential legacy lives on
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Contents
- A life
- Keep Punching (1939)
- Lifeboat (1944)
- Body and Soul (1947)
- Lost Boundaries (1949)
- Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
- Lost in the Stars (1974)
- Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)
- Related articles
A life
Canada Lee, Native Son tells the inspiring story of the pioneering African American athlete, musician, actor, producer and activist who poured his talent into fighting for racial and economic equality.
Canada Lee was an indomitable presence in socio-political and artistic circles during the 1940s and early ’50s. He mentored Sydney Poitier, collaborated with Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, worked with Eugene O’Neill, Lee Strasburg and Stella Adler, and was friends with cultural luminaries like Charlie Chaplin, Langston Hughes, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and Paul Robeson. With an uncompromising stance on progressive issues, an unquenchable voice and unarguable talent, Canada Lee became a power on the national stage. Tragically, at the height of his career, Lee’s uncompromising stance on civil rights prompted the U.S. Government to defame his reputation and destroy his career. Lee died in 1952 at the age of 45 and remains all but forgotten. Canada Lee, Native Son endeavors to reclaim the legacy of a great performer, patriot and pioneer. – documentary website (orig/2nd) | donate
- Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee (2004) – Mona Z. Smith
Historians: There’s been one brilliant biography of Lee’s short but blazing life; however, can you help complete the unfinished biography by his widow, Francis Lee?
This privately pressed LP featuring highlights of Lee’s multifaceted career was produced posthumously by his friends and family, who “organized the Canada Lee Foundation (1952–1956) to preserve his memory and ideals through aid and encouragement to talented youth in the dramatic arts.” It also includes an interview and his eulogy delivered by Oscar Hammerstein II.
Canada Lee crowded into his lifetime a rare and diversified combination of skills. Best known as a great dramatic actor, the last of his practiced professions, he was recognized in succession as a talented violinist at 7, a promising jockey at 15 and a championship contender in professional boxing in his early twenties. At 34 his performance as Bigger Thomas in Native Son established him as one of the great actors of our era. Among the critical comments of this portrayal it was said, “Canada Lee draws from it every ounce of meaning, sympathy and sincerity the role affords. It is a performance of extraordinary sensitiveness, great natural force, fierce intensity of feeling, all patterned in a fluent rhythm and sustained without a lapse”. No greater tribute could be paid to a personality of the stage.
This recording, however, is a tribute to Canada Lee of a broader nature. It stems from that well of human understanding that was his, the imperfections in the fabric of mankind that tormented and stirred him to the constant fight and, even more so, from that rare quality Canada Lee had to rally those he touched in his lifetime to the cause of the equality of man. We who embibed of him saw in this maturity still another career emerging — leadership among men toward a true understanding of brotherhood, dignity of man and democratic ideals.
His stature as a man as well as an artist stimulated a few of his intimates, self chosen, to produce this recording for them- selves and all others who called him their friend. It was truly a labor of love and devotion to cull this collection of gems and create a living memory of Canada Lee to have and to listen to again and again. It was accomplished with the unstinted help of many organizations, radio and television stations, motion picture companies and individuals who had Canada Lee’s recorded performances and appearances in their libraries. Thanks to all of them for their full cooperation in the collection of the material and their permission to use it. – US LP Readings and Dramatic Presentations by Canada Lee (195-) eBay
Keep Punching (1939)
US one sheet poster
Winner of three World Championships, Henry Armstrong is regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Here he portrays Henry Jackson (Armstrong’s real name), an athlete and scholar who eschews the career in medicine his parents are hoping for, to follow his love – boxing. The talented slugger fights his way to the top of the sport. But the corruption of the big city and the pressure of big-time racketeers, threaten to tear Henry from the straight and narrow path that has led him to the brink of a championship. – US DVD-R
- US: Alpha 2on1 DVD-R (2022) w/Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938)
Lee’s first screen appearance was as a supporting player in this low budget feature with an all-Black cast that punches surprisingly well above its weight. The only release so far pairs it with a similar public domain film on a reasonably watchable quality DVD-R that will play anywhere.
Lifeboat (1944)
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This challenging war film, with Lee as its most sympathetic character, is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best and merits its own series of articles.
Body and Soul (1947)
Critically acclaimed as one of the best fight films ever made. John Garfield is a determined young boxer who battles his way up the amateur circuit… only to discover the high price he’ll have to pay for a chance at the championship title. With the mob controlling professional prizefighting, he is forced to cut a mafia boss in on half his earnings to become a contender. Winning the title but playing by the mob’s rules. Garfield becomes hardened and arrogant, losing the feelings and humanity that had once balanced his killer instinct. Finally realizing that the underworld kingpins who made him now own him, he enters the ring to regain his self-respect in one of the most gripping fight scenes ever filmed. Three Academy Award nominations including Best Actor – US Image LD (1998) pressbook
There are various releases on VHS, LD, DVD and streaming but only three discs feature the uncensored version, transferred from the original negative:
While the Kino Lorber BD is from a new 4k restoration and has an audio commentary by film historian Alan K. Rode, it’s bit of a sidegrade as its smoky transfer is slightly squashed and less detailed than that for Olive Films. Screenshots:
Hugo Friedhofer’s score makes extensive use of the eponymous jazz standard from 1930 but its only release to date is the two-minute title theme on a MP3/CD compilation of film noir music from Spanish bootleggers The Soundtrack Factory.
- Lux Radio Theatre: Body and Soul, November 15, 1948 – John Garfied and Jane Wyman
Clips, etc | JG: Hollywood Remembers
Lost Boundaries (1949)
★★★½ – NY Daily News
“One of the year’s 10 best.” – NY Times/review
A barrier-breaking classic based on one family’s true experiences.
Scott Carter is a skilled doctor – and a man without prospects. Rejection letters from hospitals are piling up. And his young wife is pregnant with their first child. Unable to secure a job because of his race, Scott (Mel Ferrer) makes a decision. “For one year of his life,” he says, “I’m going to be a white man.” That one year becomes two, then 10, then 20. But it’s still only a matter of time before Scott’s secret is out and he must confront directly the racism of the idyllic New Hampshire town he’s served for decades.
A light-skinned Black family passes for white in this powerful, fact-based tale. Produced by Louis de Rochemont, one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the late 1940s, Lost Boundaries belongs to a forward-looking cluster of postwar films that declared war on society’s ills. Like Boomerang!, Pinky, Gentleman’s Agreement and other movies of its era, it resonates with conviction, proving that great issues are the stuff of great filmmaking. – US Warner VHS (1996) and DVD-R
- US: Warner DVD-R (2009) clips, etc
This controversial, ground-breaking film was based on W. L. White’s eponymous 1948 book, first condensed in Reader’s Digest the previous year and later reported in Life and Ebony. There’s only one legit disc for this little-seen classic but at least it’s R0/NTSC and will play anywhere, so there’s no need to be tempted by the Spanish bootleg from Llamentol.
Lost Boundaries/Canada Lee – J. Dennis Robinson
Mel Ferrer and Canada Lee
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
Apartheid. A word that tears a nation apart.
Adapted by Alan Paton from his acclaimed novel, Cry, the Beloved Country is one story of this nation. More importantly it’s the compelling story of two men, two fathers, one Black, one white, living on opposite sides of that word. Drawn together through one father’s search for a lost son, they discover that from a frightened act of violence, in which so many lives may be changed forever, comes the awakening of a new word… understanding… where black and white are not really so different after all. Perhaps they are just both equal parts of gray. – US Monterey VHS (1992) VHSC
“A very moving film, full of simplicity and charm.” – Variety
“It is difficult to do proper justice to the fine qualities of this film or to the courage and skill of Mr. Korda in transmitting such a difficult and sobering theme.” – New York Times
Cry, the Beloved Country is the BAFTA nominated film of the acclaimed novel by Alan Paton (Debbie Go Home). A Black minister, Stephen Kumalo (Canada Lee, Lifeboat) lives a quiet life as a parish priest in the backcountry of South Africa. When his son, Absalom (Lionel Ngakane, Danger Man), leaves the small valley where he grew up for the bright lights of the city, he goes missing. After several months of silence, the minister goes to search for him and comes face to face with the squalor and poverty of the Johannesburg slums. Reverend Msimangu (Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier, To Sir, with Love) is a young clergyman who joins him in his search, but neither are prepared for what they discover. – Australian Umbrella DVD (2018)
- UK: Optimum DVD (2010) and Lumiere VHS (1993)
- Australia: Umbrella DVD (2018) and Polygram VHS (1997) clip
The choices here are easy: a perfectly adequate older preserved transfer on VHS and two identical DVDs, or a stunning 4k BFI restoration, mostly sourced from the original camera negative. The latter’s physical releases have over two hours’ worth of well-chosen extras, including long interviews with Ngakane and Lee’s biographer, Mona Z. Smith; a documentary, In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid (1993, 56min); and all topped off with a 16-page essay booklet. It was made in the midst of South Africa’s evil apartheid regime, often using subterfuge: producer-director Zoltan Korda only got Lee and Poitier into the country by telling the immigration authorities they were his servants. Do seek this one out; it’s a vital film with heart and a message that still needs to be seen – and heard.
- Prime Video HD | YouTube Movies
- UK: Studiocanal BD and DVD (2023)
- Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee (2004) – Mona Z. Smith
UK/Oz DVD and restored BD screenshots:
Lost in the Stars (1974)
US one sheet poster; alt
Paton’s 1948 novel was adapted as a musical the following year by Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill; renamed Lost in the Stars, it was a huge hit on Broadway and has been regularly revived and recorded ever since. It came to the big screen in 1974, this time starring Brock Peters who essayed many notable roles on stage and screen over a long and distinguished career, including for the film versions of Carmen Jones, Porgy and Bess, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
- Prime Video HD | clips, trailer
- US: Kino DVD (2003), also in 14-DVD American Film Theater: Complete Collection
- Kino BD (2019)
- UK: Fremantle DVD (2005)
- Australia: Umbrella DVD (2004)
Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)
James Earl Jones interview | trailer | NY Times
- Prime Video HD | YouTube Movies
- US: Buena Vista DVD (2006, reissued 2011)
- Echo Bridge 2-DVD/8-film Heat on the Street (2012)
- Echo Bridge DVD 3 Movies with Soul/alt (2014)
The similarly acclaimed 1995 remake starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris, and with the benefit of a fine score by John Barry, is also well worth seeing, though not via the bootlegs from Korea (Starvision), Spain (LaCasaDelCineParaTodos) and others. Barry’s original score is available exclusively on a 55-minute CD and a rerecording of the main theme is on three extensive 40 Years, Themependium and Definitive collections of his film music by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nic Raine.
- UK: Videovision DVD (2005)
- Spain: Filmax 2-DVD Colección 4 Películas (201-)
- Australia: Roadshow DVD (2005)
