The Jackie Robinson Story

"Alfred E. Green's The Jackie Robinson Story has been out of copyright since the end of the 1970s, and it's been at least that long since any legitimate version of the movie has been seen. Thus, this DVD is a surprise, not only in terms of its quality but its existence -- United Artists hasn't exactly done much to distribute the movie (one of the older titles in its library) in more than 20 years. The Jackie Robinson Story was one of the better sports biographies of its era, which is amazing, considering that it dealt with a subject that few studios or filmmakers were anxious to delve into at the time. At 77 minutes running time, there's no time for any deep exploration of Robinson (who plays himself) or the full story of his struggle against racism, although one gets a good overview of that side of his story. With Louise Beavers playing Robinson's mother, Joel Fluellen as his brother Mack, and Ruby Dee as his wife, we see good depictions of sides of his personal life, but the main focus of the story is Robinson's interaction with Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, portrayed here by Minor Watson, who made the decision to integrate his team soon after World War II. Rickey is presented as the other hero of the story for his decision and his willingness to stick by it. The DVD is a very clean transfer of original 35 mm materials, with excellent contrasts and rich black-and-white tones throughout. Robinson took a break between his third and fourth professional baseball seasons to act in the movie, and at times his age does show, but he also gives an honest, utterly guileless performance as himself, and the scenes on the field are nicely handled. The film is broken into 13 chapters, which is suitable for the material at hand. There are no bonuses except for an original trailer, accessible through a basic menu that pops up automatically on start-up; there is no insert, however, and there is no historical or background information anywhere in the package."