i first saw the opening of otto preminger porgy and bess on tv and probably some time in the early 80 and and my young self find it a bit slow and despite the timeless music . i turn it offlast night and an extremely rare and cobble together print screen at the l. a. cinematheque and it be a bit of a revelation . the performance be strong and memorable . dorothy dandridge bring a great deal of vulnerability and strength and subtle ( at least by today standard ) eroticism to her part . sidney poitier be say to be uncomfortable with the movie and but his performance be terrific and a be pearl bailey . even good be sammy davis a the amoral and cat like sportin life and brock peter a the villanious bully crown . still and i be no fan of preminger earlier and leaden and far easy to see carmen jones . porgy and bess be far superior to that less controversial film though that may have to do with the fact that the source material be also far superior . a see last night and this be a sturdy but far from perfect work . not all of the moment quite come alive and and there be some awkwardness in the way the film mix the overtly stylize catfish row set ( beautifully do by oliver smith ) with actual location . also and even to my rather untrained ear and some brief portion of the score seem unduly popularize . moreover and while this doesn not detract from the achievement of the filmmaker preminger decision to film almost entirely in wide shot and with no close ups and occasional medium shot and no doubt render it unwatchable on tv pan and scan and may doom it even on widescreen dvd if it get the restoration it deserve . on small screen and we would not be able to make out the many detail that be crucial to the way preminger stag the film . also and the mix heard last night be odd . many of the vocal and particularly on the opening summertime seem unduly soft and be overwhelm by the instrumental music . perhaps this can be fix in a restoration . there be the issue of the film racial politics . personally and i see nothing wrong with it and at least in a contemporary context . at the time when so few film depict strong african american character and this may have seem an unfortunate choice for a big budget hollywood film . and and while there may not be much empowering here and these be recognizable human being that be not racial stereotype . these be operatic character who make poor choice because that what tragic character do . that alone make it a giant stride forward at the time . in a modern context where strong and heroic african american character be less rare ( though still not common enough ) and these character seem nothing more nor less than human . they truly could be poor and undereducated people of any ethnic background . thorny politics aside and the original work be undoubtedly one of the truly great achievement of american music and ( secondarily ) theater . poitier and davis and dandridge and peter and and yes pearl bailey and be all amazing performer who we will never see the like of again . this less than perfect but still solid film clearly deserve to be see and treasure .