Children’s Penny Cinema: “Night John”
Sarny, a 12-year-old slave girl in the ante-bellum south, faces a relatively hopeless life. Her chief duties at the plantation of Clel Waller are serving at the table, spitting tobacco juice on roses to prevent bugs, and secretly conveying intimate messages between Waller’s wife, Callie, and Dr. Chamberlaine. Then Night John arrives. A former runaway slave who bears telltale scars on his back, he takes Sarny under his wing and, in exchange for a pinch of tobacco, secretly begins to teach her to read and write – a crime punishable by death. (96 minutes)