Discover
A year before they shot to stardom in Carmen Jones, Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonté made this inspiring film about a gifted educator and a lost boy. Dandridge plays Jane Richards, a fourth-grade teacher concerned about young C.T. (Philip Hepburn), a student whose indifference to school has even the principal (screen-debuting Belafonté) calling him a backwards child. Troubles as typical as a schoolyard brawl and as tragic as a classmate's death drive C.T. further into his shell. But Jane perseveres, hoping to help her student develop - the same way a caterpillar, in a cocoon C.T. guards, turns into a butterfly. One of the few mainstream films of its era to have a largely African-American cast.
Original Release
04/17/1953
US Release
04/17/1953
Links
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Dorothy Dandridge | Jane Richards |
Philip Hepburn | C.T. Young |
Harry Belafonte | Mr. Williams - School Principal |
Barbara Randolph | Tanya Hamilton |
Robert Horton | Dr. Mitchell |
Maidie Norman | Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother |
Rene Beard | Booker T. Jones |
Howard Louis McNeely | Boyd |
Robert McNeeley | Lloyd |
Patti Marie Ellis | Rachel Smith |
Directors
Writers
Emmet Lavery, Mary Elizabeth Vroman
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Dorothy Dandridge | Jane Richards |
Philip Hepburn | C.T. Young |
Harry Belafonte | Mr. Williams - School Principal |
Barbara Randolph | Tanya Hamilton |
Robert Horton | Dr. Mitchell |
Maidie Norman | Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother |
Rene Beard | Booker T. Jones |
Howard Louis McNeely | Boyd |
Robert McNeeley | Lloyd |
Patti Marie Ellis | Rachel Smith |
Joy Jackson | Sarahlene Babcock |
Fred Moultrie | Roger |
James Moultrie | George |
Carolyn Ann Jackson | Mary Louise |
Doris Ake | Teacher at Meeting |
Willa Pearl Curtis | Mrs. Young |
Vivian Dandridge | Miss Nelson |
Marion Darlington | Bird Whistling Solo |
Louise Franklin | Teacher at Meeting |
Janet Heard | Sister Young - Age 17 |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Sol Baer Fielding | Producer |