The trailer for the Denzel Washington directed film The Great Debaters is online in Quicktime and high definition.

The film stars Washington and Forest Whitaker in a story about the 1935 Wiley College black debate team who rose to the level of challenging Harvard in the national Championship.

Denzel Washington directs himself and the superb talents of Forest Whitaker, two stars that just eat up the screen, although for me Whitaker beats Washington every time. There's also a surprise on the cast list too, Denzel Whitaker – I dare not ask!

The trailer is online over at Yahoo Movies [Flash:QT:480p:720p:1080p] and it's looking rather interesting, although it does look overly cheesy and formulaic in places. I hope that it battles through this and presents a more grounded and real story that isn't all hope and happiness.

Still, the trailer looks good and Washington seems as though he's going to give us another great performance. I hope the same can be said for Whitaker too.

This isn't the first time that Washington has directed, he also directed Antwone Fisher which he also starred in, and that film gets some positive feedback, so perhaps The Debaters can be more than the average, well-trodden story that the trailer suggests.