By David in TN
saturday, june 24, 2023 at 12:05:00 a.m. edt
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:15 and 10 a.m. ET is Stuart Heisler’s Storm Warning (1950), with Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day and Steve Cochran. The screenplay is by Richard Brooks and Daniel Fuchs.
Film Noir Guide: “While visiting her sister (Day) in a small Southern town, fashion model Rogers witnesses the murder of a newspaper reporter by the Ku Klux Klan. One of the two unhooded faces she sees belongs to her brother-in-law (Cochran), whom she meets for the first time later that evening.”
“Reagan, the crusading D.A., enlists Rogers as a witness against the Klan, causing a serious dilemma for the model. Should she do the right thing and testify, or should she protect her sister?
“Rogers and Day, two actresses noted for their musicals, are excellent. Seeing the usual smooth and debonair Cochran portray a none-too-bright hayseed may be a shock to the system, but he does it well.
“The film, however, suffers from a lack of realism—race is never mentioned; no one speaks with a Southern accent; Klan members are portrayed as naive dupes of the imperial wizard, whose only motive for organizing them is financial gain; and the only black faces on screen are the ones in the crowd scenes. Despite these shortcomings, the tightly woven script and solid acting makes this an enjoyable film.”
David in TN: Storm Warning has always been disliked by left-wing critics. They see it as an anti-communist film supporting the “Red Scare” investigations. We’ll see how Red Eddie Muller reacts.
Anti-communist?! Written by crypto-communist Richard Brooks? That’s what I call supporters of communism who never joined the party. They were never in danger of being blacklisted.
Former newspaperman Brooks was the father of “hate.”
“TCM Devotes Monday (Today) and Tuesday to the Father of ‘Hate’ and a Most Convincing Screen Murderer: Richard Brooks’ In Cold Blood (1967) is being Screened on Monday Night, February 15, at 8 p.m. ET., and The Purple Gang (1960), Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m. ET; Both Pictures Star Robert Blake, Who Beat the Rap for ‘Allegedly’ Murdering His Wife in 2001.”
Eddie Muller was very favorable in his into and outro to Storm Warning (1950). Red Eddie had helped restore the film.
ReplyDeleteHe praised everybody involved, Ginger, director Stuart Heisler and declared himself a big Doris Day fan. Eddie said in his intro, "Ronald Reagan was very good. He was making a comeback after injuring himslef in a softball game, causing a limp."
In his outro, Eddie Muller said of Reagan: "As a young man Ronald Reagan idolized Franklin Roosevelt and often described himself as a New Deal Democrat, which is what he was when he first became President of the Screen Actor's Guild, a post he held from 1947 to 1952."
"By the time he was elected again in 1959, he had become a Republican. The conversion was mostly inspired by his opposition to labor unions. And a personal abhorrence to paying federal income tax. He was elected governor of California in 1967 and served two terms before election as President of the United States in 1980."
Well, what Eddie left out out is Ronald Reagan's opposition to Communism. Regarding unions, it was Communists trying to take over the Screen Actor's Guild Reagan fought against, allied with Robert Montgomery.