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"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, witnessed 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, Thomas reflects on the circumstances that led to his fate.
Orson Welles brought the novel to the stage, in 1941, with actor Canada Lee as Bigger Thomas. Hollywood was also interested in making a film at that time (according to Wright they wanted a white protagonist). In Europe, Roberto Rossellini and Marcel Carné also considered an adaptation. Eventually, in 1949, while living in Paris, Wright sold the book’s rights to Uruguayan producer Jaime Prades for French filmmaker Pierre Chenal to direct. Canada Lee was not available so it was decided that Wright himself (at the time he was 41) would play Bigger Thomas, a man in his early twenties. The film was shot in English in Argentina, with Chicago partially rebuilt in Buenos Aires.
When it was initially released in the U.S., Native Son was heavily censored by regional state/municipal censor boards where it played. A complete 16mm print of the original Argentinian release and an incomplete 35mm duplicate negative of the uncensored cut were combined for the current restoration, the most complete version of Native Son ever shown in the United States.
According to Jim Hoberman, on the “New York Times”: “Chenal’s visually adroit direction allows for a few expressionistic passages, including a full-blown dream sequence, but Wright’s presence gives “Native Son” an avant-garde quality…… It is one thing to see an actor playing the part of a bewildered ghetto street kid; it is another to watch a celebrated writer assume the role”."
Sag Harbor Cinema
