Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath, Mister Roberts, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), I found this film because it was listed as one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die in the book, I hoped I would agree with that opinion. Basically, set in the 1890, Judge William 'Billy' Pitman Priest (Will Rogers) is proud, laid- back and widowed Confederate Civil War veteran who in his southern home town, somewhere in Kentucky, serves his local community as a district judge bringing justice, common sense and humanity to everyone. He deals with all forms of people in and out of the courtroom, from Daughters of the Confedracy to former slaves, but he does not take his work completely seriously, he like to have a sense of humour and is not pretentious. In his personal life he has his sister-in-law objecting to his nephew Jerome (Tom Brown) having a relationship with pretty young girl Ellie May Gillespie (Anita Louise) whose family descent is not clear. It is when the next case is brought to court that both his career and his personal life are tested, because the trial involves mysterious loner Bob Gillis (David Landau) apparently stabbing someone to honour Ellie May, and Priest goes ahead with the case despite concerns from others. Also starring Henry B. Walthall as Reverend Ashby Brand, Gone with the Wind's Hattie McDaniel as Aunt Dilsey, Stepin Fetchit as Jeff Poindexter, Rochelle Hudson as Virginia Maydew, Roger Imhof as Billy Gaynor, Frank Melton as Flem Talley, Charley Grapewin as Sergeant Jimmy Bagby, Berton Churchill as Senator Horace Maydew and Brenda Fowler as Mrs. Caroline Priest. The acting is fine, especially of course Rogers in the title role being most of the time stern and professional, but I like that scene where he puts on a hillbilly accent and has a fake conversation, this is isn't really that funny, it has some occasional giggles during bickering and some of the courtroom sequences, and the more serious stuff going on is okay, it an alright comedy drama. Worth watching, at least once, in my opinion!

wes-connors Writer Irvin S Cobb explains, "The figures in this story are familiar ghosts of my own boyhood. The War between the States was over, but its tragedies and comedies haunted every grown man's mind, and the stories that were swapped took deep root in my memory. There was one man 'Down Yonder' I came specially to admire for he seemed typical of the tolerance of that day and the wisdom of that almost vanished generation. I called him 'Judge Priest', and I tried to draw reasonably fair likeness of him and his neighbors and the town in which he lived. An old Kentucky town in 1890." The fair-minded judge is Will Rogers (as William "Billy" Priest), who reads the newspaper in his circuit courtroom while ex-Confederates try to jail sleepy ex-slave Stepin Fetchit (Jeff Poindexter) for stealing chickens. "Judge Priest" diverts the prosecutors with old Confederate stories, and takes the vagrant Mr. Fetchit back to his home, after a fishing trip. Meanwhile, singin' and dancin' "Mammy" Hattie McDaniel (as "Aunt" Dilsey) welcomes the Judge's handsome son Tom Brown (as Jerome "Rome" Priest) home. Mr. Brown has just received his law degree, from a college "up North"… Brown loves pretty neighbor Anita Louise (as Ellie May Gillespie), but a secret about her parentage threatens their relationship. All is resolved by the good Judge with help from town Reverend Henry B. Walthall (as Ashby Brand). It ends with a rousing celebration of the old Confederacy by director John Ford; he pointedly triggers the final parade with a mesmerizing Mr. Walthall, who bravely fought for the South in D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915).The Walthall connection would not have been lost on audiences in 1934, who made "Judge Priest" one of the year's biggest box office hits. That, and the racially insensitive impressions made by Fetchit and Ms. McDaniel, have sent this film to the back of the bus. "Judge Priest" was seen relatively rarely over the years, and still has the potential to offend. Fetchit's "Jeff" became a classic of its kind, unfortunately; at least, Mr. Rogers softens him. McDaniel is not able to infuse her "Mammy" with much depth or dignity (she would eventually accomplish this). Mr. Ford once called this his favorite film.Great moments include Rogers talking to his deceased wife - the scene where he speaks to the wall portrait of "Margaret" and their two dead children is classic. And, that "lonesome kind of sound" of the whippoorwill, as described by Brown, possibly lingered with likely young cinema goer Hank Williams. Fox Film's clout in the "Academy Awards" process had dimmed by 1934, or Rogers and Ford might have received "Best Actor" and "Best Director" nominations; and, if "Supporting Actor" awards were offered, Walthall's dramatic courtroom performance would have certainly been considered for one.******* Judge Priest (9/28/34) John Ford ~ Will Rogers, Tom Brown, Henry B. Walthall, Stepin Fetchit

gardmawm I love old movies and was looking forward to seeing my first Will Rogers movie. However, this film is an embarrassment with decent actors struggling to overcome a corn-pone plot. The only reason to watch this creaking antique is to catch a glimpse of Hattie McDaniel and Stepin Fetchit who provide the "comic" relief. As Ms. McDaniel said, better to play the maid than to be one. She and Will Rogers were apparently actually good friends in real life, something which makes the movie's depiction of the happy, ignorant, thieving "darkies" doubly painful.The plot is archaic not just because it depicts former slaves happily singing "My Old Kentucky Home" as they steal the white folks's food. It is based on a story that celebrates the Confederacy and its soldiers, with Will Rogers as a former soldier (now a judge). It ends with a triumphant march through town of the Confederate veterans on Memorial Day. Although Rogers mentions in passing that he's saved Stepin Fetchit from a lynching at some point, it's done as a humorous throw away line. I really think movies like this should be seen more often: they are an excellent reminder of the world as it was not so long ago and how grateful we should be that it has passed away.

mkilmer This is warm movie with plenty of sympathetic characters. And plenty of nasty ones. A young love is threatened by a class-conscious mother, while the uncle is… well, he's Will Rogers. (The character's name is the title, Judge Billy Priest, but I suspect he's the "Will Rogers" character.) As with anything cast in the deep south in the 1890s, there are some moments and characters with which you might find yourself uncomfortable. I was taken aback by "Jeff Poindexter," portrayed by then-popular black actor Stepin Fetchit. (Fetchit has an awful, partisan political bio here at IMDb – the man deserves much better -- but he is an interesting story.) He seemed to me to be a set of overblown stereotypes, but the Judge befriends him and my wife was simply taken with him.There's a lot to like about this film, although it does drag in places. (I was surprised when the lawn party ends.) I had to smile, though, when the judge got to play lawyer, called on witness, and the universe stood still to the strains of "Dixie."