“Based on James Baldwin's superb semi-autobiographical novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain is a keen drama about a thirties Harlem family dominated by an enraged patriarch. Though viewed askance, the real focus is John Grimes, a peculiar, fretful fourteen-year-old, too inquisitive, perhaps too disillusioned, for the confines of the ghetto. But the portrait of this fledgling artist is deflected onto the troubled father, the most volatile influence in the young man's life. A jagged series of flashbacks--some maudlin, some acutely honest--reveal experiences suffered in the deep South that left pater Gabriel Grimes a smouldering tyrant. Director Stan Lathan (Beat Street) revels in the gospel services that serve as a vent for much of the familial turbulence and point towards a true source of vitality for the black community. His unwavering passion for the stuff of thirties Harlem and its inhabitants keeps the story from being just another sentimental blues project. Paul Winfield's frustrated deacon Gabriel and Rosalind Cash's obdurate Aunt Florence are the highlights in this energetic drama, produced for PBS's American Playhouse and shot by Hiro Narita (Never Cry Wolf) with an eye for the intimacy of television.” Steve Seid