Anna Lucasta (1949) DVD-R

Starring Paulette Goddard, William Bishop, Oskar Homolka, John Ireland, Broderick
Crawford, Will Geer, Gale Page, Mary Wickes
Directed by Irving Rapper

Print: black/white
Runtime: 80 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

Philip Yordan's stage hit Anna Lucasta posed two problems to Hollywood in 1949. For one
thing, the story concerned a prostitute who is exploited by her greedy family. For another,
the characters were black, thereby cutting the box-office potential in half in those racially
divisive times. In adapting Anna Lucasta to the screen, Yordan and co-scripter Arthur
Laurents "laundered" the property for popular consumption. Anna's sexual hijinks are only
hinted at, and in fact an impressionable viewer might even get the idea that she's still a
virgin when the film comes to an end. And the racial angle was tackled by transforming the
characters into Polish-Americans, which enabled Paulette Goddard to assume the leading
role. Otherwise, the film differs but little from the play: Thrown out of her house by her
drunken father (Oscar Homolka), Anna is welcomed back into the fold only as bait to trap an
unmarried, wealthy farmer. Anna squelches her family's avaricious plans by genuinely
falling in love with the poor sucker who's been targeted as her husband. Broderick
Crawford fares best as Anna's doltish brother-in-law, a characterization deftly combining
boorish selfishness and lovable humor. Anna Lucasta was remade with most of its
Broadway bite intact in 1958 — this time with an all-black cast.