The Mark of the Hawk (1957)

Directed by Michael Audley. Starring Sidney Poitier, John McIntire, Eartha Kitt, Juano Hernandez, Patrick Allen, Marne Maitland, Helen Horton, Gerard Heinz.

In colonial Africa, Poitier is torn between keeping the peace and encouraging revolution for racial equality in this minor title in the actor’s career. Although Lloyd Young’s screenplay has intelligence behind it, it’s also full of didactic rhetoric. Unexceptionally mounted and lacking the fire of its preachy principles, it’s not elevated enough by a few solid performances (including Hernandez, who appeared in another Africa-set film with Poitier that year: Something of Value). In a gratuitous scene near the end, co-star Kitt sings “This Man Is Mine”.

41/100