A young black southern farmer goes into town to sell the families cotton crop. However he falls for a beautifull singer and loses all the money in a crooked dice game and in the resulting argument his brother is killed. He leaves the family farm but later returns as a successful revivalist preacher where he is torn between the woman he has got engaged to and the singer from his past. This film is notable for it's historical context as an early MGM sound film, the first major film to feature an all black cast and the singing of Nina Mae McKinney. Although the film deals with love, sin and redemption, it manges to do so without moralising.
4/5