They Won't Forget
| They Won't Forget | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Mervyn LeRoy Jack Warner |
| Written by | Robert Rossen Aben Kandel Ward Greene (novel) |
| Starring | Claude Rains Gloria Dickson Edward Norris Lana Turner |
| Music by | Adolph Deutsch |
| Cinematography | Arthur Edeson |
| Editing by | Thomas Richards |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 14, 1937 |
| Running time | 95 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy (who was uncredited). It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913. The film was also the film debut of actress Lana Turner, who played the movie's murder victim, Mary Clay. It is considered by many critics to be one of the best American motion picture dramas of the 1930s.[citation needed]
Contents |
Plot [edit]
A southern town is rocked by scandal when teenager Mary Clay is murdered on Confederate Memorial Day. A small-time lawyer with political ambitions, Andrew Griffin, sees the crime as way to the Senate if he can find the right scapegoat to be tried for the crime. He seeks out Robert Hale, Mary's teacher at the business school where she was killed. Even though all evidence against Hale is circumstantial, Hale happens to be from New York (Leo Frank was a Southerner from Texas, but he was Jewish and had been raised in New York), and Griffin works with a reporter to create a media frenzy of prejudice and hatred against the teacher. The issue moves from innocence or guilt to the continuing bigotry and suspicion between South and North, especially given the significance of the day of the murder.
The film shows the immense pressures brought to bear on members of the community to help in the conviction - the black janitor who is induced to lie on the stand for fear he himself will be convicted and executed, or lynched, if Hale is not found guilty; the juror who tries to retain his freedom to make up his own mind; the barber who is afraid to testify to something he knows is true because it could exonerate Hale. The only man who stands up to the mob mentality of the town is the governor, who commutes Hale's death sentence to life imprisonment because the evidence is simply insufficient to send a man to his death. The townsfolk are enraged, and the murdered girl's brothers, who have been threatening all along to take matters into their own hands if Hale is not executed, plot and carry out Hale's abduction and murder.
Critical reception [edit]
The New York Times gave a very positive review. Allmovie.com gave the film five out of five stars.
Cast [edit]
- Claude Rains as District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
- Gloria Dickson as Sybil Hale
- Edward Norris as Professor Robert Perry Hale
- Otto Kruger as Michael Gleason
- Allyn Joslyn as William A. Brock
- Lana Turner as Mary Clay
- Linda Perry as Imogene Mayfield
- Elisha Cook, Jr. as Joe Turner
- Cy Kendall as Detective Laneart
- Clinton Rosemond as Tump Redwine
- E. Alyn Warren as Professor Carlisle P. Buxton
- Elisabeth Risdon as Mrs. Hale (as Elizabeth Risdon)
- Clifford Soubier as Jim Timberlake
- Granville Bates as Pindar
- Ann Shoemaker as Mrs. Mountford
- Paul Everton as Governor Thomas Mountford
- Donald Briggs as Harmon Drake
- Sibyl Harris as Mrs. Clay
- Trevor Bardette as Shattuck Clay
- Elliott Sullivan as Luther Clay
- Wilmer Hines as Ransom Scott Clay
- Eddie Acuff as Fred
- Frank Faylen as Bill Price
- Leonard Mudie as Judge Moore
- Harry Davenport as Confederate Veteran
- Harry Beresford as Confederate Veteran
- Edward McWade as Confederate Veteran
External links [edit]
- They Won't Forget at the Internet Movie Database
- They Won't Forget is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- They Won't Forget at AllRovi
- The Murder of Little Mary Phagan Free book download 316 pages in adobe PDF format. Written by Mary Phagan Kean (Great Grand Niece of Mary Phagan).
- http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173BE477BC4D52DFB166838C629EDE
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