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Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. Pinky tells her grandmother that she has been "passing" for white while at school in the North. In addition, she has fallen in love with a young white doctor, who knows nothing about her black heritage.
Themes
Cast & crew
Directed by Elia Kazan
Jeanne CrainPatricia "Pinky" Johnson
Ethel BarrymoreMiss Em
Ethel WatersDicey Johnson
William LundiganDr. Thomas Adams
Basil RuysdaelJudge Walker
Kenny WashingtonDr. Canady
Nina Mae McKinneyRozelia
Griff BarnettDr. Joe McGill
Frederick O'NealJake Walters
Evelyn VardenMelba Wooley
Raymond GreenleafJudge Shoreham
Fred AldrichTownsman (uncredited)Images · 10
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Reviews · from TMDB members
CinemaSerfJul 9, 2022
Jeanne Crain is the eponymousous young nurse - of mixed race - trying to get by in her grandmother's Southern town. She takes a shine to local (white) doctor "Adams" (William Lundigan) but when her ethnicity becomes better knows, however, that all goes awry. Determined to head back to the more enlightened territories in the North, she is persuaded to stay and tend to a wealthy infirm lady "Miss Em" (Ethel Barrymore). Initially frosty, the two women gradually start to respect… Read more
one and other, and she also begins to earn the appreciation of her doctor "McGill" (Griff Barnett). The old lady's death and subsequent will leaves "Pinky" and the whole town in a quandary that highlights bigotry and greed in equal measure. This is a powerful story with a strong ensemble cast. I could have done with some more of Barrymore - if only to further exemplify how these two characterful women developed their relationship, but there are good contributions from Ethel Walters and Even Varden as the rather odious "Melba" to compensate a little. The production is fine, it flows well with succinct dialogue and Elia Kazan makes the most of the original Sumner novel. The racism that this reflects is writ large and makes for a powerful piece of cinema.