The best thing about 1958's Anna Lucasta, an all-Black film from a time when that was hardly the norm, is that everything works, from Philip Yordan's neo-feminist story to Lucien Ballard's neorealist cinematography, but this is Eartha Kitt's show all the way. Best known for playing Catwoman in the live-action Batman series and singing sultry numbers like "Santa Baby," she rises to the occasion as a dramatic actress in this fever-pitched melodrama. As it begins, she's a San Diego streetwalker whose clientele consists primarily of sailors, like Danny (Sammy Davis, Jr. in peak form). He isn't quite a boyfriend, but he's more than a casual acquaintance. When a family friend asks her father, Joe (Rex Ingram), for help in finding his son a wife, the family springs into action to cajole Anna to return to Los Angeles to marry Rudolph (Henry Scott), an Alabama transplant that none of them have met. They aren't exactly driven by altruism, since money is involved, but that's a plot point director Arnold Laven (Slaughter on Tenth Avenue) quickly abandons, concentrating instead on Anna's relationship with her estranged family. Though Anna Lucasta has the tone of a tragedy, she isn't without her defenders. Her mother, Theresa (Georgia Burke), never lost faith in her, but her alcoholic father is another story, and her siblings aren't much better. When she went out with a boy in high school, Joe kicked her out of the house (the screenplay implies that jealousy drove his actions).
With no financial resources, she turned to prostitution. When Anna accepts the invitation to return, she doesn't expect to fall for Rudolph, an aspiring farming instructor. At first, she strings him along, figuring he'll dump her when he finds out about her past. Then, Danny tries to convince her to run away to Brazil at the same time Joe puts a cruel plan into motion. Yordan's screenplay, originally built around a Polish family, uses innuendo to explain Joe's counterproductive actions. It's possible that the production code might have stepped in if he had spelled out the man's twisted reasoning, since it's clear that Joe, who tried to destroy Anna once, fully intends to destroy her again if it means no one else can have her. There's no mention of sexual abuse, but the suggestions accumulate as he drifts into alcohol-driven dementia. It's heavy stuff, but Laven keeps the action moving, even taking time out for a dance sequence that allows Davis, Jr. to show off his Cubist moves. Alvin Childress also deserves credit as an exasperated café proprietor tired of serving the tight-fisted boozers who frequent his dockside joint. Kitt, meanwhile, anchors the entire enterprise with a performance that takes her from hip-swinging defiance to heart-melting vulnerability. With her elastic features and purr-like voice, she's almost too extraordinary to make Anna the ordinary woman Yordan intends, but she can make you believe with the force of her talent. Highly recommended.