Porgy and Bess is a 1959 American musical drama film directed by Otto Preminger, and starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge in the titular roles. It is based on the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, in turn based on Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy, as well as Heyward's subsequent 1927 non-musical stage adaptation, co-written with his wife Dorothy. The film's screenplay, which turned the operatic recitatives into spoken dialogue, was very closely based on the opera and was written by N. Richard Nash. In 2011, the film was chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
The project was the last for Samuel Goldwyn. Due to its controversial subject matter, the film was shown only briefly following its initial reserved seat engagements in major cities, where it drew mixed reviews from critics. Two months after its release, Goldwyn grudgingly conceded, "No one is waiting breathlessly for my next picture."
The film was unavailable on home video for years, and has been described as the "Holy Grail of "lost films." One of the few complete copies of the film was shown in 2007, 2010, 2019,and 2026.
Plot Set in the early 1900s in the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina, which serves as home to a black fishing community, the story focuses on the title characters: crippled beggar Porgy, who travels about in a goat-drawn cart, and the drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully. While high on cocaine supplied by Sportin' Life, Crown kills Robbins after the latter vanquishes him in a craps game; Bess urges Crown to flee. Sportin' Life suggests she accompany him to New York City, an offer Bess declines. She seeks refuge with her neighbors, all of whom refuse to help her. Porgy finally agrees to let her stay with him.
Bess and Porgy settle into domestic life together and soon fall in love. Just before a church picnic on Kittiwah Island, Sportin' Life once again approaches Bess, but Porgy warns him to leave her alone. Bess wishes to stay with Porgy, since he cannot attend the picnic because of his disability, but he urges her to go. After the picnic ends, and before Bess can leave, Crown, who has been hiding in the woods on the island, confronts her. She initially struggles to resist him but Crown rapes her. The others, not knowing just what has happened, leave and return to the mainland.
Two days later, Bess returns to Catfish Row in a state of delirium. When she recovers, she remembers what happened. Feeling that she betrayed Porgy, she begs his forgiveness. She admits she is unable to resist Crown and asks Porgy to protect her from him. Crown eventually returns to claim his woman, and when he draws his knife, Porgy strangles him. He is detained by the police merely to identify the body, but Sportin' Life, who has fed Bess cocaine, convinces her Porgy inadvertently will reveal himself to be the murderer. In her drugged state, she finally accepts his offer to take her to New York. When Porgy returns and discovers she is gone, he sets off to find her.
Cast
Production Development The original 1935 Broadway production of Porgy and Bess closed after only 124 performances.Porgy and Bess (1935) at the Internet Broadway Database A 1942 revival,Porgy and Bess (1942) at the Internet Broadway Database stripped of all recitative, fared slightly better, as did a subsequent national tour and another revival in 1953,Porgy and Bess (1953) at the Internet Broadway Database but in financial terms, the work did not have a very good track record. Still, there were many who thought it had potential as a film. Otto Preminger was one of several producers, including Hal B. Wallis, Louis B. Mayer, Dore Schary, Anatole Litvak, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Harry Cohn, who had tried to secure the film rights without success. Cohn even wanted to cast Fred Astaire, Al Jolson and Rita Hayworth, and have them perform in blackface, something to which the Gershwin estate vehemently opposed.The Gershwin estate stipulated that unless it was absolutely impossible given very unusual circumstances, Porgy and Bess must always be performed by real African-Americans. For 25 years, Ira Gershwin had resisted all offers, certain that his brother's work would be "debased" by Hollywood. Finally, on May 8, 1957, he sold the rights to Samuel Goldwyn for $600,000 as a down payment against 10% of the gross receipts.
When Langston Hughes, Goldwyn's first choice for screenwriter, proved to be unavailable, the producer approached Paul Osborn, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Sidney Kingsley, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Clifford Odets and Rod Serling, all of whom expressed varying degrees of interest, but cited prior commitments. Goldwyn finally signed N. Richard Nash, who completed a lengthy first draft by December 1957. For director, Goldwyn sought Elia Kazan, Frank Capra and King Vidor without success. He finally settled on Rouben Mamoulian, director of the original Broadway productions of both the play Porgy and its operatic adaptation.
Nash's screenplay changed virtually all of the sung recitative to spoken dialogue, as in the 1942 stage revival. For example, in the original opera, Porgy sings the line "If there weren't no Crown, Bess, if there was only just you and Porgy, what then?", upon which Bess launches into the duet "I Loves You Porgy". In the film, the line is spoken. The recitatives themselves did not have to really be rewritten, because they do not rhyme, while the words in all the songs do.
Casting Because of its themes of fornication, drug addiction, prostitution, violence and murder, Porgy and Bess proved difficult to cast. Many Black actors felt the story did nothing but perpetuate negative stereotypes. Harry Belafonte thought the role of Porgy was demeaning and declined. So many performers refused to participate that Goldwyn actually considered Jackie Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson and singer Clyde McPhatter for major roles, disregarding their total lack of acting experience. Only Las Vegas entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. expressed interest in appearing, and arranged to audition for a role during a party at Judy Garland's home. Ira Gershwin's wife Lee was present and, horrified by Davis' vulgarity, implored Goldwyn, "Swear on your life you'll never use him." The producer, who sneeringly called Davis "that monkey", assured her he would not cast him and offered the role of Sportin' Life to Cab Calloway instead. When Calloway declined, Davis had Frank Sinatra and some of his associates pressure Goldwyn, who finally announced to Davis, "The part is yours. Now will you get all these guys off my back?"
Goldwyn offered Sidney Poitier $75,000 to portray Porgy. The actor had serious reservations and initially turned it down, but his agent led Goldwyn to believe she could persuade her client to star. This proved unsuccessful, and Goldwyn threatened to sue the actor for breaching an oral contract. When Poitier realized his refusal to star in Porgy might jeopardize his appearance in the Stanley Kramer film The Defiant Ones, he reconsidered and grudgingly accepted, assuring Goldwyn that he would "do the part to the best of my ability – under the circumstances."
Mezzo Muriel Smith, co-creator (double-cast with soprano Muriel Rahn) of the Broadway title role in Oscar Hammerstein's Carmen Jones, and originator of the role of Bloody Mary in the original London cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, whose more important movie ghost-singing assignments included dubbing for Zsa Zsa Gabor in John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952) and for Juanita Hall in the film version of South Pacific (1958), turned down Goldwyn's offer to portray Bess, responding that the work "Doesn't do right by my people." This statement contradicts another that Goldwyn's first and only choice for Bess was Dorothy Dandridge, who accepted the role without enthusiasm. Her Carmen Jones co-stars Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters and Diahann Carroll also accepted roles, but all had concerns about how their characters would be portrayed. Bailey warned costume designer Irene Sharaff that she would not wear any bandannas because she was unwilling to look like Aunt Jemima.
Completing the primary creative team were production designer Oliver Smith, who recently had won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for My Fair Lady, and André Previn and Ken Darby, who would supervise the music. Because Poitier could not sing and the score was beyond Dandridge's range, their vocals would be dubbed, and Goldwyn insisted that only black singers could be hired for the task. Leontyne Price, who had portrayed Bess in the 1952 European tour and the acclaimed 1953 Broadway revival, was invited to sing the role on film, but responded, "No body, no voice." Adele Addison and Robert McFerrin eventually were hired, but neither received screen credit.
Music Despite Goldwyn's intention that the music sound as much like the original opera as possible, he did allow Previn and his team to completely rescore and even change the underscoring heard during the fight scenes and at several other moments, as well as in the overture.
Filming A full-cast dress rehearsal was scheduled for July 3, 1958, but slightly after 4:00 am, a fire destroyed all of the sets and costumes, at a loss of $2 million. Rumors that the blaze had been started by Black arsonists determined to shut down production immediately began to circulate. Goldwyn publicly denounced this rumor, although studio insiders were certain that the fire had been set deliberately. The production was placed on hiatus for six weeks to allow for reconstruction. During this period, director Mamoulian repeatedly clashed with the producer about every aspect of the film, leading Goldwyn to fire him. William Wyler was willing to step in if Goldwyn could postpone a few months, but the producer opted to replace Mamoulian with Otto Preminger, who had already started preparing both Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Exodus (1960), but was willing to set them aside for the opportunity to helm Porgy and Bess. Mamoulian was incensed not only that he had been dismissed after eight months of pre-production work, but that he had been replaced by Preminger, who had taken over Laura (1944) when Mamoulian had ignored all of Preminger's directives as producer of that film. Claiming Goldwyn had fired him for "frivolous, spiteful, or dictatorial reasons not pertinent to the director's skill or obligation", he brought his case to the Directors Guild of America, which notified all its members, including Preminger, that they could not enter into a contract with Goldwyn. This prompted the Producers Guild of America to become involved. They insisted Goldwyn had the right to change directors and was not in breach of contract because he had paid Mamoulian in full. When Mamoulian changed tactics and attempted to raise charges of discrimination against Preminger, he lost the support he had managed to gather, and after three weeks, the matter was resolved in favor of Goldwyn. Mamoulian later tried to get credit, but the Screen Directors Guild voted to give sole credit to Preminger.
The change of directors was stressful for Dandridge who, according to her manager, had ended an affair with Preminger when she became pregnant and he insisted she have an abortion. According to the director, he had ended his relationship with the actress because he was neither willing to marry her nor deal with her unstable emotions. In any event, Dandridge was unhappy and lacked self-assurance, especially when the director began to criticize her performance.