While I admire John Ford's work, I knew enough about his weakness for low comedy and sentimentality so that I did not look forward to seeing this obscure movie (even though he often called it his favorite). And indeed the picture turned out to have these qualities in abundance. Nevertheless, I enjoyed "The Sun Shines Bright," finding it well made and at times moving.
Judge Priest (ably portrayed by Charles Winninger) provides a strong moral core in the movie. He is a kind, tolerant man who combines a down to earth closeness to the people and traditions of his community with an integrity and conscience that earns the respect of those around him and sets him apart. In the final shot of the Judge, we stand outside his house and watch through his open doorway as he disappears into the darkness inside. It's the exact inversion of the closing scene in "The Searchers," when we look through the door at John Wayne, left outside and apart from the people in the house.
Cornpone humor and sentimentality aside, there is much in the film that is John Ford in concentrated form--his love of folk music and marches, for example. Most of all, there are his magical set pieces that capture his intense feeling for how communities work--the temperance ladies' dance, the lynch mob, and the funeral for the "fallen woman." The funeral in particular is a wonderful sequence.
As others have pointed out, the movie is very politically incorrect from the viewpoint of today--and in fact from the viewpoint of the last 50 years. This may explain its obscurity. There is the chorus of singing black folks who "know their place," the sentimental nostalgia for the Confederacy, and, most of all, the mere presence of Stepin Fetchit in the movie. As I see it, these things are not just politically incorrect but just plain wrong.
Nevertheless, far from being a bigot or reactionary, John Ford was an artist of great spirit and vision. Even in this movie, some of the black characters are anything but stereotypes. We have to grant Ford the limitations of his time.
Judge Priest (ably portrayed by Charles Winninger) provides a strong moral core in the movie. He is a kind, tolerant man who combines a down to earth closeness to the people and traditions of his community with an integrity and conscience that earns the respect of those around him and sets him apart. In the final shot of the Judge, we stand outside his house and watch through his open doorway as he disappears into the darkness inside. It's the exact inversion of the closing scene in "The Searchers," when we look through the door at John Wayne, left outside and apart from the people in the house.
Cornpone humor and sentimentality aside, there is much in the film that is John Ford in concentrated form--his love of folk music and marches, for example. Most of all, there are his magical set pieces that capture his intense feeling for how communities work--the temperance ladies' dance, the lynch mob, and the funeral for the "fallen woman." The funeral in particular is a wonderful sequence.
As others have pointed out, the movie is very politically incorrect from the viewpoint of today--and in fact from the viewpoint of the last 50 years. This may explain its obscurity. There is the chorus of singing black folks who "know their place," the sentimental nostalgia for the Confederacy, and, most of all, the mere presence of Stepin Fetchit in the movie. As I see it, these things are not just politically incorrect but just plain wrong.
Nevertheless, far from being a bigot or reactionary, John Ford was an artist of great spirit and vision. Even in this movie, some of the black characters are anything but stereotypes. We have to grant Ford the limitations of his time.