We also get some quietly pungent displays of passive racism, as when Jarman’s dad shrugs off a lynching with, “These things happen. Bodies get buried, moved, and dug up again, clues get gathered, and toward the end, Will Geer’s canny sheriff has a tense stand-off with a hidden killer. This is a Mystery Movie, albeit a fairly obvious one. Or in this case, the effect of the characters upon the crime. I think this character was deliberately brought on quietly and allowed to grow, as do some others, making this a film that reminded me of Chandler’s dictum: The crime itself is less important than its effect on the characters. Suffice it to way she’s a tough and smart in her own way as Margaret Rutherford’s Miss Marple. Patterson (who was also in The Story of Temple Drake) takes over the investigation, blockades the Jail and… and other stuff I won’t spoil for you. “Why did he have to murder a Gowrie? And if he did, why did he have to shoot him in the back?” Whereupon Patterson pipes up softly but firmly “Maybe he didn’t.”Īt which point the whole tone of the piece shifts. Porter Hall, who at various times in his career murdered The Thin Man, shot Will Bill Hickok, locked up Kris Kringle, and marooned Tab Hunter, is quite sympathetic here, while David Brian’s wise-looking lawyer is only slightly less benighted than the noose-swinging locals - he doesn’t wait to hear Beauchamp’s story, just wants to plead him Guilty, and has no intention of getting in the way of any lynch mob.īUT THEN….There’s a marvelous moment in Brian’s office, where Jarman interrupts his conference with a meek little old lady (Elizabeth Patterson, being sued for running over a chicken) and Brian rails about the impossibility of Beauchamp’s case. Sounds like To Kill a Mockingbird before its time, but the characters surprised me: Juano Hernandez’ Beauchamp is remote and uncooperative. Intruder opens with Lucas Beauchamp (Juano Hernandez) arrested for the murder of Vinson Gowrie - he was found standing over Gowrie’s body with a recently-fired pistol in his pocket-and the locals, egged on by Gowrie’s brother Crawford (Charles Kemper) feel it their civic duty to skip the formality of a trial, stalled only by the absence of Gowrie’s father (Porter Hall.)Įnter Chick Mallison (Claude Jarman Jr) a spectator in the crowd who knows something of the aloof “uppity” Beauchamp, believes him innocent, and enlists his older-and-wiser attorney uncle (David Brian) to defend him in Court.
Directed by Clarence Brown.Īs much a mystery/suspense movie as a social-problem film, and excellent on both counts.
Screenplay by Ben Maddow, from the novel by William Faulkner. Porter Hall, Charles Kemper, Will Geer, and Elizabeth Patterson. David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr, Juano Hernandez. The story is told from the point of the boy, who intermittently narrates what is effectively his awakening to his unquestioned racism.įilmed in Faulkner’s actual hometown of Oxford, Mississippi and using townspeople as extras a good deal of trouble has been gone to (and perhaps budgetary considerations played their part) to keep the film realistic the settings reinforcing the integrity which is at the heart of the story.ĭirector Brown came out of the silent era and helmed many high profile films for MGM but here he skillfully adopts a low-key sober style that well suits the story (photography was by Robert Surtees) his judgment only slightly erring with an unnecessarily sermonizing closure.Īlthough critically admired the film was marketed as an action thriller and, unsurprisingly, did not do well at the box office.INTRUDER IN THE DUST.
Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens (David Brian), to defend him, but it takes a local boy, Chick (Claude Jarman Jr.
When he is found standing over the body of a dead white man holding a pistol that has recently been fired a lynch mob quickly gathers. Although it has (fortunately) dated somewhat in subject matter, particularly for its time, which was well before the civil rights movement in America, Intruder In The Dust is am impressively challenging film.īased on a novel by William Faulkner and set in rural Mississippi in the 1940s it tells the story of Lucas Beauchamp (Juano Hernandez) a local black man who arrogantly refuses to play “nigger” to white townsfolk.