Directed by Pierre Chenal • 1951 • United States, Argentina
Starring Richard Wright, Gloria Madison, Willa Pearl Curtis

One of the most controversial novels of its day, Richard Wright’s “Native Son” (first published in 1940) exposed the injustices of urban African American life through the eyes of Bigger Thomas, whose violent tendencies and moral confusion were the natural result of a lifetime of deprivation. In prison for murder and sentenced to death, Bigger reflects on the circumstances that led to his fate. The rare 1950s noir to center the Black American experience, this English-language Argentine production stars Wright himself as Bigger in an intense and fascinating performance.