#carleton carpenter

On my MUBI account, I’ve accumulated 6,000+ ratings of all types of films and almost 4,000 on my watch-list. Like a hand going into a hat of scribbled pieces of papers, I scrolled the list to find that random film in the depths of 10 years worth of bookmarks and came across the subject of today’s post. Alfred L. Werker’s “Lost Boundaries”, made at the tail end of Hollywood’s Golden Age, can be viewed as a harbinger in the discussion of racism in explicit terms.

In the early 1920s, married couple Scott and Marcia Carter (Mel Ferrer and Beatrice Pearson), two light-skinned African Americans, make the move to Georgia after Scott’s graduation from medical school. Scott has trouble finding an internship because of his skin color, which he eventually finds. It is while treating a patient, that an opportunity to take over a medical practice is presented to Scott. The Carters move to a small town in New Hampshire and Scott becomes a pillar of the community, raising two children, Howie (Richard Hylton) and Shelley (Susan Douglas (Rubes)), but living a lie about their true race. When Scott and Howie decide to enlist in the Navy, their long held secret is threatened.

“Lost Boundaries” may seem like a paint by numbers drama on the outside, and you would be half right. Dramatically, the film features no stand out performances and just focuses squarely on the story. Director Werker creatively turned this film into a quasi-documentary at times to demonstrate Dr. Carter’s standing in the community, incorporated Greek Chorus scenes randomly and even inserted a musical segment just for the hell of it. Those motifs helped make the film unique and not so much a mediocre retelling.

The racist topics behind “Lost Boundaries” tend to be very tame by today’s standards, but nonetheless dealt with seriously and without kid gloves. The evolution of the Carters from down on their luck to success stories all revolve around skin color and the bumps in the road sting like salt on an open wound. It also transpires into the film’s present time when the family are exposed. Each member copes differently with the change, from reserved to identity conflicted. It’s the film’s climatic scene, that puts the perspective of both identities together, and it’s beautifully crafted.

Mel Ferrer makes an impressive debut as Dr. Carter, playing a character steeped in dignity and class, something lacking in a lot of today’s film protagonists. Also in his debut was Richard Hylton’s Howie Carter, which was also well acted. The two were able to pass off as light skinned African Americans which made their characters believable. The same could not be said for Beatrice Pearson and Susan Douglas, who were casualties of outdated color blind casting decisions. While both gave decent performances, I could not take both seriously in the roles played. That was especially the case with Douglas, an Austrian born Jew of Czech ancestry. That knocked things down a peg with me, without marring the overall appearance of the film. Finally, there was the use of the “Gee whiz” teenage figure in Carleton Carpenter and the cliche best friend in William Greaves, which were both reminders of the era of filmmaking.

Appropriately enough, it would be the screenplay and direction that got “Lost Boundaries” attention with awards. The Cannes Film Festival awarded it Best Screenplay over competing classics “The Third Man” and “The Hidden Room” which shows just how much the story stood out. The Writer and Director Guilds also nominated the film in its respective fields, but surprisingly got shut out of the Academy Awards. 1949 was also the year of “Pinky” another film about a black person passing themselves off as white, where Jeanne Crain got nominated for playing the title character. I definitely could have seen nominations for Screenplay, Director, and acting for Ferrer and Hylton.

“Lost Boundaries” should be more of a hit with today’s audiences because of its gentle, yet firm grip on race relations. 

Carleton Carpenter (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: 10 July 1926  

RIP: 31 January 2022

Ethnicity: White - American

Carleton Carpenter (July 10, 1926 – January 31, 2022) Best-known role in the Classic era: Dan Healy in Three Little Words (1950)

Raymond Burr (May 21, 1917 – September 12, 1993) Best-known role in the Classic era: Perry Mason in Perry Mason (1957–66)