MovieChat Forums > Mahogany (1976) Discussion > It ain't supposed to be art

It ain't supposed to be art

posted 15 years ago by Welch57
3 replies | jump to latest

I love the film Mahaogany because I don't take it seriously as film art. It isn't supposed to be Citizen friggin' Kane or Battleship friggin' Potemkin. If you want to see those black and white classics, go join a film studies course. Take Mahogany for what it is: a campy 1950s Lana Turner/Susan Hayward melodrama/soap opera made in the 1970s with a gorgeous, beautiful and charismatic African American movie star (not actress) playing the lead. So Mahogany the movie is flawed...so what? It's still entertaining. Yes, Miss Ross acts badly in some scenes, but when her face fills the screen, she is breathtaking. Just relax and enjoy. The tragedy is that Miss Ross did not enjoy a longer and more productive career in the movies. The Wiz was a bad move, and it killed her movie career DEAD. If only, if only, if ONLY Miss Ross had done The Josephine Baker Story in 1978 instead of The Wiz, then the story of her movie career would have been different. I am certain of that.

[–] collin-reid 15 years ago

Actually, the movie seems like a remake of Joan Crawford shop girl movies from the early thirties. Her character was always a tough dame (the language they used back in the day) starts off at the bottom of the ladder and she climbs (or is that sleeps?) her way to the top. (Like the early Crawford & Warner talkies) the movie moves so fact you don't mind the continueing character changes.

I love the song to the movie but they played way too much. Now I can't get it out of my head. Play it twice and that is it.

[–] statum106 14 years ago

Ross shouldn't have been cast as Dorothy in "The Wiz." She was too old to play the role. There wasn't anything wrong with Stephanie Mills when she performed the role on Broadway, so why not have her make the transition to the big screen.

Mahogany, as flawed as it was, is indeed entertaining. Plenty of quotes to be recited and beautiful scenery to take in. No need for a remake though.

[–] 14 years ago

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