Search - Brother John on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1970 DVD Release: 01/07/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 35 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Drama, Melodrama, Social Problem Film, Heavenly Drama

Sidney Poitier stars as John Kane, a heavenly emissary who pays a visit to the Alabama town where he was born. Making it his mission to purge the community of all hatred and prejudice, "Brother John" is nothing less than the Messiah returned to earth. Trouble is, he's black, and it's Alabama-so who's going to pay attention? Will Greer costars as a local town doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bradford Dillman - Lloyd Thomas
Beverly Todd - Louisa MacGill
Sidney Poitier - John Kane
Will Geer - Doc Thomas

James Goldstone's Brother John (1970) was a topical movie that few people saw at the time of its release. The movie was one of a relative handful of features -- MGM's Tick, Tick, Tick and Columbia's The Liberation of L.B. Jones were others -- steeped in the racial tensions of their time. Brother John does them more than one better, however, positing the notion that the Messiah has returned, and that he's black and has chosen to return to a small town in Alabama that's a near powder keg of political and racial tensions. The director managed to thread a needle with this movie, striking a balance between fantasy and realism, but reality was (and is) the problem for anyone watching it, even today -- the reality of life in the 1970 rural South was just too ominous and threatening. As a result, few people ever saw Brother John at that time, and most viewers even today don't seem to know what to make of it. Over the decades, whatever following it has developed has been the result of occasional late-night showings on broadcast television and converts made literally one at a time. This DVD is its best presentation since the film's original release, preserving the movie's original non-anamorphic widescreen image (1.85:1) in an excellent transfer, full of color and detail. The film has been given an extremely generous 28 chapters and comes with three trailers: one for this movie and two for a pair of additional Sidney Poitier movies, To Sir, With Love and A Raisin in the Sun. The latter is actually quite startling, as it opens with an onscreen appearance by its producer, David Susskind, who insists on the importance and urgency of the movie. The disc opens automatically on a dual-layer menu that is easy to maneuver around in, with the "play" option in the default position. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide