"Considering that I first wrote about this three years ago and, as I mentioned in my piece below about Maya Angeiou’s screenplay for Georgia Georgia, that her actual first film appearance was as an uncredited dancer in this film, I thought, why not revisit it? And besides, a question that gets asked a lot is, why hasn’t the 1959 film version of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess been shown or seen anywhere for, literally, decades?

 

Furthermore, the film, starring Sidney Poitier as Porgy, Dorothy Dandridge as Bess, and Sammy Davis Jr. as Sportin’ Life directed by Otto Preminger, and produced by independent Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn, has never been

available on video in any format at any time. it’s all confusing, and, as a result, the film is considered one of the great “lost” movies – an important film that, somehow, has been unavailable to the public. So why? 

 

Well, it’s pretty simple. The basic fact is that, through a contractual agreement, the rights to the film reverted back to the Gershwin estate, from the Goldwyn company, in 1974, and the estate has kept the film underwraps since then, rarely allowing it to be seen anywhere except for very special occasions. Reportedly the estate was never happy with the film version, since a lot of the original music was cut out, and they were also very displeased with the orchestral arrangements of the music. If there is one bright spot, for those who are still hoping to see the film, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress selected it in 2011 for preservation, saying that it was “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” and an 'overlooked masterpiece.'"