Spoilers. Opinions. Reflections. Observations.
Brutus Jones gets sent off to his new career by his church congregation. They are happy. It is prestigious to be a train porter.
Brutus, a Baptist, falls in with gambling and violence, and goes to prison for evil deeds. He escapes, working as a coal shoveler on a ship bound for exotic locales. He hears about an obscure island, and hilariously jumps ship and swims ashore.
He runs into an authoritarian regime, after being rescued by thugs who find him exhausted on the beach. Brutus worms his way into the dictatorship, acting aristocratic and abusive.
He "puts his religion on the shelf", blending his obnoxious personality with the island religions, superstitions and witch doctors. Brutus gets very mean and cruel. You could see this coming a mile away -- people you abused are going to pay you back.
The islanders stage a revolution, hiding in the jungle. Brutus thinks he has mastered the forest's nooks and crannies, but his subjects are descendants of peoples who have lived there for thousands of years. Brutus, you are doomed.
I have studied film censorship at university. This film is pre-code.
There is a lot of racial name-calling. I feel that the script reflected the times. This film was made during The Great Depression in 1933, when there were lots of song and dance films made -- as a contrast to Brutus' shenanigans. My degree is in History.
Brutus Jones gets sent off to his new career by his church congregation. They are happy. It is prestigious to be a train porter.
Brutus, a Baptist, falls in with gambling and violence, and goes to prison for evil deeds. He escapes, working as a coal shoveler on a ship bound for exotic locales. He hears about an obscure island, and hilariously jumps ship and swims ashore.
He runs into an authoritarian regime, after being rescued by thugs who find him exhausted on the beach. Brutus worms his way into the dictatorship, acting aristocratic and abusive.
He "puts his religion on the shelf", blending his obnoxious personality with the island religions, superstitions and witch doctors. Brutus gets very mean and cruel. You could see this coming a mile away -- people you abused are going to pay you back.
The islanders stage a revolution, hiding in the jungle. Brutus thinks he has mastered the forest's nooks and crannies, but his subjects are descendants of peoples who have lived there for thousands of years. Brutus, you are doomed.
I have studied film censorship at university. This film is pre-code.
There is a lot of racial name-calling. I feel that the script reflected the times. This film was made during The Great Depression in 1933, when there were lots of song and dance films made -- as a contrast to Brutus' shenanigans. My degree is in History.