Dilema de uma Consciência

This punchy, noirish thriller, superbly shot by Carl Gutherie, has all but disappeared despite its Grade-A cast that includes Ginger Rogers and Doris Day, both cast very much against type, as sisters in a small town where the Klu Klux Klan have the upper hand. Rogers is the sister who witnesses a Klan killing only to discover sister Doris is married to the killer, Steve Cochran. Ronald Regan is the investigating District Attorney. It's a simplistic little story, closer in tone to the social-conscience movies Warners turned out in the thirties than to the studio pictures of the period with a fine Richard Brooks/Daniel Fuchs screenplay and both Day and Rogers are surprisingly good with nary a song between them. It might have a B-Movie sensibility and it may bang its drum a little too loudly but at least it's honest and well-intentioned, if unusually violent for the time, and is well worth seeing.

I'm used to the cast in much lighter fare. Ronald Reagan was impressive enough as the crusading D.A., Ginger Rogers was incredibly convincing in every single scene, and light and lively Doris Day did not sing a note. While her character could seem a bit dimwitted at times, her portrayal was on the mark and very believable, given the attitudes and beliefs of the small town in which she resided. Steve Cochran was also good, as her husband, and the bedroom scene wherein he tries to seduce sister-in-law Rogers is very suggestive for its time, though seemingly heavily edited. Nobody could play a thick headed womanizing weasel like Cochran could.

Ginger Rogers witnesses a lynching by the Klan. When two of the men remove their hoods, she recognizes one of them as her brother-in-law, husband to her pregnant sister, played by Doris Day. Reagan is the honest DA intent on getting to the bottom of the lynching - the guy who was lynched was a reporter doing investigative journalism, jailed on a trumped up DUI. The heads of the local Klan are worried about all of this, not because of their nocturnal activities, but because they have been using the Klansmen and bilking them of their money for dues, insignia, etc. Grifters using the naivete and prejudices of a mob of rubes to enrich themselves? Suddenly this film is getting quite timely.

The film as a whole has a very dark element throughout, fittingly, but surprising for its time. Bringing the Ku Klux Klan to the forefront of American cinema in pre-civil rights days, handled as well as it is here, makes for a very interesting, gripping and entertaining film.

So many actors of Hollywood's Golden Age were typecast in familiar roles, but seeing these stars sink their teeth into a well-written screenplay and a deftly directed movie is a real treat.

A crackling good melodrama from the socially conscious studio of record, Warner Bros.

Director Heisler really knows his way around crowds. The boisterous scenes in the bowling alley and liquor lounge are electric with vitality and look nothing like a bunch of Hollywood extras. At the same time, Jerry Wald was a major producer at Warner's and I expect it was he who made sure the small town ambiance is as authentic as it is. There are elements here that suggest a project somewhere between A and B levels of production.

Catch those earmarks of noir in just the first few minutes—the all-night bus, the train whistle, the dampened streets, and the lonely diner. Right away a menacing universe is defined for us. But oddly, this is a KKK film that never once mentions race and shows, by my count, only one black person. Odd for a drama, which by implication takes place in the deep South. My guess is that the writers Brooks and Fuchs wanted to show that the Klan is not only a menace to Blacks, but Whites, as well.

It's a fairly plausible script, though how a DA (Reagan) could get elected with such out- spoken anti-Klan views remains a stretch. What really works, in my book, is the chemistry between the sisters (Day & Rogers). Not only do they look alike, but there's genuine warmth between them. Thus, it's no stretch to think that Marsha (Rogers) would do nothing to jeopardize Lucy's (Day) happiness. And how visually right Cochran is for his part as the blue-collar Romeo, though his sniveling seems overdone at times.

I really like the way the screenplay embeds the Klan in the very fabric of the town. These are not ordinary hoodlums despite their violent activities, and a bolder script would have shown more fully what the attraction of the Klan was for these townsfolk (there's one loaded mention of making sure women can walk safely down the street). There were a number of these racially charged dramas during this period—No Way Out (1950), The Well (1951), Lost Boundaries (1949)—and all are strong dramas, including this one. However, the McCarthy purges soon put an end to social problem films for the remainder of the decade, and now they await rediscovery by fresh generations. This is one of them.

"Storm Warning " is a very interesting movie.Few movies dealt with the KKK at the time and ,of course,we are far from "Birth Of A Nation"( where they were the good guys(!!!) who saved the Cameron family attacked by the villains (the black men!)).

"Storm Warning" gives a strong depiction of that sinister secret society."Without your hood,you are cowards!" one character says .Quite rightly so.Without their hoods,when they beat the retreat ,they are the guys -next -door ;they even bring their children to the meeting.

The action is tight ,everything happens in 24 hours .There are many suspenseful scenes ,particularly the first one in Lucy's house when Marsha discovers that her brother-in-law is part of them.Of course Tennessee Williams' shadow hangs over the threesome Marsha/Lucy/Hank who reminds everyone of Blanche/Stella/Stanley ;besides Doris Day resembles Kim Hunter.But it does not get in the way.On the contrary ,it gives Hank's character substance ,and Steve Cochran rises to the occasion.Ronald Reagan's part is less interesting,but fortunately,the script writers spared us a love affair between him and Ginger Rogers.

A very nice film overall, with Ronald Reagan probably turning in the best performance of this cast. Also notable for its direct attack on the Klu Klux Klan at a time when they were still a force. But this is also where the film gets a little strange. Virtually no mention is made of the Klan's ideology -- other than a few passing references to "hate" and "bigotry". There is a mob lynching/murder at the start of the film -- but it is not a racial attack. It is the killing of a white reporter who had been investigating and threatening to "expose" the Klan. Expose them for what? Tax evasion! They had been selling Klan trinkets to members and not reporting the income. The Klan is shown as essentially a criminal organization whose purpose is to fleece its own members for profit. In fact not one black actor has a line in this film. I am sure the producer's intentions were noble and maybe they felt they could not address the issue of racism head on, and therefore chose a somewhat oblique approach to discredit the Klan. But I can't help but feel that there is a certain disingenuousness to this film. Maybe this was brave for 1951, I really don't know.