TCM recently showed Pinky, a 1949 film with Jeanne Crain playing a young black woman returning home after passing for white in Boston, where she graduated from nursing school. This video of the complete movie is set to start at a point that I assume pushed the limits of what the censors allowed.
One of the assailants states the obvious. “What a build on her… oh, you’re pretty… you’re pretty… you’re real pretty.” Maybe it’s possible to be not only too white, but too beautiful for a role, because film critics have said Crain was miscast, despite her Academy Award nomination for best actress.
Director Elia Kazan was a founder of the Actor’s Studio, and he favored emotive acting, so of course he didn’t care for Crain’s understated portrayal of Pinky. But Crain was on the set before Kazan, who was hired after Ethel Waters had John Ford fired.