This film begins in the antebellum South with a young man from Boston named "Caleb" (Tim Kincaid) coming to New Orleans to visit some relatives. Unfortunately, upon his arrival he gambles and subsequently loses all of his money to an evil slaveholder named "Monsieur Dupree" (George Lupo) and as a result decides to become a tutor to several young ladies of mixed race. While doing so he becomes attractive to one particular young woman named "Coral" (Kathy McKee) who eventually falls in love with him as well. The problem, however, is that she is soon to be auctioned off in a special ceremony frequented by wealthy men of Creole descent--with Monsieur Dupree being one of those men having an intense interest in acquiring her. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, even though this was one of the first blaxploitation films that focused on slavery, it wasn't nearly as popular as a couple of others movies (like "Mandingo" and "Drum") that came a few years later. To that extent, part of the reason for its lack of popularity probably had to do with its low-budget nature which manifested itself throughout the course of the film. The picture quality wasn't that great, the acting was bad and some of the action scenes could have used significant improvement as well. Be that as it may, while this movie wasn't terribly bad, it definitely had its faults and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
