Porgy and Bess ( Porgy & Bess )

Porgy and Bess (DVD) (*)

$25.99

Alternate Title: Porgy & Bess
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Golden Globes
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Mono )
Portuguese ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
110 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1959 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Otto Preminger

Written By:
DuBose Heyward

Actors:
Sidney Poitier ..... Porgy
Dorothy Dandridge ..... Bess
Sammy Davis Jr. ..... Sportin' Life
Pearl Bailey ..... Maria
Brock Peters ..... Crown
Leslie Scott ..... Jake
Diahann Carroll ..... Clara
Ruth Attaway ..... Serena Robbins
Claude Akins ..... Detective
Clarence Muse ..... Peter
Everdinne Wilson ..... Annie
Joel Fluellen ..... Robbins
Earl Jackson ..... Mingo
Moses LaMarr ..... Nelson
Margaret Hairston ..... Lily

Synopsis:

A stellar line-up of African-American actors and musical stars helped to bring DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin's classic operetta to this screen in this lavishly-produced adaptation. Porgy (Sidney Poitier) is a crippled man living in the shantytown of Catfish Row who has fallen in love with Bess (Dorothy Dandridge), a beautiful but troubled woman addicted to drugs. Bess is already being courted by several men, including Crown (Brock Peters), a muscular laborer, and Sportin' Life (Sammy Davis, Jr.), a sharp-suited hipster who deals narcotics. Crown gets in a fist fight with Robbins (Joel Fluellen) and ends up killing him; Crown goes on the lam, and Bess, needing companionship, takes up with Porgy. However, Crown soon returns, and Porgy kills him in a subsequent altercation, forcing him to hide from the police. Meanwhile, the fickle Bess follows Sportin' Life in search of the bright lights of New York City. Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll, Ivan Dixon, and Clarence Muse also highlight the cast; Robert McFerrin provided the singing voice of Porgy, and Adele Addison dubbed in Bess' musical numbers.

This musical drama focuses on the poverty-stricken residents struggling to survive in the Charleston tenement of Catfish Row. The sultry Bess (Dorothy Dandridge) becomes the object of desire of Porgy (Sidney Poitier), a disabled man who gets around in a cart. But Bess is also involved with thuggish Crown (Brock Peters) and drug dealer Sportin' Life (Sammy Davis Jr.). Crown kills a man and goes into hiding, and Bess seeks shelter with Porgy. But, when Crown returns, Porgy must take a stand.

In this legendary Gershwin opera set among the black residents of a fishing village in 1912 South Carolina, Bess - a woman with a disreputable history - tries to break free from her brutish lover Crown after he becomes wanted for murder. The only person willing to overlook her past and offer her shelter is the crippled Porgy. Their relationship is threatened by the disapproval of the townspeople, the presence of her old drug supplier Sportin' Life - and the threatened return of Crown.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 19 May, 2015.

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