Cabin in the Sky

This 1943 musical, Vincente Minnelli's first feature as director, was made with an entirely Black cast. Little Joe, a gambler, dies in a fight and wakes in purgatory, where he is given six months back on Earth to prove he deserves heaven. He wakes remembering nothing, tries to do right by his devout wife Petunia, and an angel and the devil's son fight over his soul. Ethel Waters and Rex Ingram carried their roles over from Broadway; it gave Lena Horne her only lead in an MGM musical, and Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington both appear. At the time it was the most prestigious project a major studio had given Black performers, and it was banned in several American cities. It remains contested today for the stereotypes it uses. Who it's for: viewers who love classic musicals and want this chapter of American film history. Who it's not for: anyone who will be troubled by the period's modes of racial representation; the film contains them.