Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)

It's the 1955 Academy Awards in NYC. Dorothy Dandridge (Halle Berry) is the first colored nominee for best actress despite rampant racism. She flashes back to the 40s as Dorothy is performance in the Dandridge Sisters at the Cotton Club. She, her sister Vivian (Cynda Williams) and mother Ruby (Loretta Devine) are all managed by the cruel dictatorial 'Auntie'. She marries fellow performer Harold Nicholas (Obba Babatundé). Their daughter is mentally handicap which ruptures their marriage. Earl Mills (Brent Spiner) becomes her loyal manager. She wins over director Otto Preminger (Klaus Maria Brandauer) for the lead of Carmen Jones.This is a pretty straight forward biopic of a tumultuous life. It's a worthwhile movie about a fascinating period of history. This could be another TV movie but Halle Berry delivers a terrific performance which raises this above most other TV biopics. It feels personal to her and that adds importance to her work here.

The only thing I knew about Dorothy Dandridge before seeing this film was her terrific performance in "Carmen Jones." I now feel that I know much more about her life and the times she lived in.The beginning of the film is a little disjointed, but it becomes more fascinating as it goes along. The best parts of the movie are scenes with Brent Spinner (Star Trek: next Generation) as her manager, Earl Wills, and Klaus Maria Brandauer (Mephisto) as film director Otto Preminger. They are both men who fall in love with Ms. Dandridge, despite the horribly racist nature of the times.The film is at its best when it shows the talent of Ms. Dandridge (well-played by Halle Berry who won an Emmy for it) and when it shows the incredible racism of the time she lived in. The film avoids the real horror and ugliness of the time (lynchings, poverty and unjust imprisonment of blacks) but makes the point that even the most sophisticated and brilliant Black people at the time faced ridiculous and inhuman discrimination.It is a good and important movie and probably reflects Ms. Dandridge's self image very well. See it especially if you are a movie fan. Seeing the Nicolas Brothers, Marilyn Monroe and Darrell F. Zanuck in a few scenes is especially fun and worth the price of admission, as they say.

This movie is all about Halle Berry - to look at it from any other point of view would be to overlook the most powerful force in the movie. Berry is brilliant in her portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge - her acting is flawless and we witness the greatness of Dandrige and exprience the pain of her downfall with Halle Berry as our guide. What a tremendous coincedence that Halle Berry would play the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award when she herself would later become the first African-american woman to actually receive the prestegious award! She is supported by a strong cast which all help to make this a movie to remember. 7/10

There's a really interesting story here of a woman not allowed to soar to the stratosphere of stardom due to racism. Unfortunately, the film is rather standard-issue TV bio drama. Halle Berry is a very beautiful woman and tries very hard and succeeds at times to make Dorothy Dandridge a complex figure but many of the other characters are stereotypes.