... in the sense that it is about the best of humanity coming out in the worst of circumstances.
In what appears to be a small midwestern post-war town that is very racially mixed and harmonious, a five year old black girl disappears. Her mother reports her absence to the sheriff when she doesn't come home from school that day. The sheriff investigates and searches and finds three witnesses who saw the girl with a man the morning of her disappearance. Some more searching and they find the man - Claude Packard, nephew of wealthy town construction business owner, Sam Packard. Sam tells Claude to lie and say he was with him that morning, but Claude refuses to lie, saying he is innocent.
Word has gotten around that the suspect is white and well connected. So on the way out of the jail, Sam Packard is accosted by the girl's uncle and father, both pleading with him to not get his nephew off the hook. They do put their hands on him to get his attention. Sam falls and hurts his head - not badly. But the rumors soon fly about how he was attacked by two black men. The tales grow taller by the hour, there are reprisals on both sides that just feed the rumors, and pretty soon the town is on the verge of a full blown race riot. A white female cafe owner is having to hold off a white crowd of rioters with a meat cleaver because they want to lynch her black male cook for seemingly no reason. The sheriff is getting conflicting information as to whether he should handle this with deputized townsfolk or call in the state militia.
So where is the little girl who seems to have been forgotten in all of the violence? Will this town self destruct? Watch and find out.
The actors are almost completely anonymous to the point that you wonder why they are given character names different from their actual ones. The standout is the only one you will recognize - Harry Morgan as the accused kidnapper. In his youth he usually played slimy little weasels, cowards, and second banana hoods. Here he is practically early Bogart, and I am not kidding. He shows lots of range. The score does a good job of setting the mood, and the suspense really never lets up. You can tell this was probably filmed on location in some small town due to what seems like alimited budget. Plus there are groups of actors with the same last name playing members of families - possibly just residents in the town where this was filmed.
Definitely give it a chance. Not on DVD, it is available on youtube. Probably one of the earliest American films to delve so deeply into the subject of race in such an unfiltered way.
In what appears to be a small midwestern post-war town that is very racially mixed and harmonious, a five year old black girl disappears. Her mother reports her absence to the sheriff when she doesn't come home from school that day. The sheriff investigates and searches and finds three witnesses who saw the girl with a man the morning of her disappearance. Some more searching and they find the man - Claude Packard, nephew of wealthy town construction business owner, Sam Packard. Sam tells Claude to lie and say he was with him that morning, but Claude refuses to lie, saying he is innocent.
Word has gotten around that the suspect is white and well connected. So on the way out of the jail, Sam Packard is accosted by the girl's uncle and father, both pleading with him to not get his nephew off the hook. They do put their hands on him to get his attention. Sam falls and hurts his head - not badly. But the rumors soon fly about how he was attacked by two black men. The tales grow taller by the hour, there are reprisals on both sides that just feed the rumors, and pretty soon the town is on the verge of a full blown race riot. A white female cafe owner is having to hold off a white crowd of rioters with a meat cleaver because they want to lynch her black male cook for seemingly no reason. The sheriff is getting conflicting information as to whether he should handle this with deputized townsfolk or call in the state militia.
So where is the little girl who seems to have been forgotten in all of the violence? Will this town self destruct? Watch and find out.
The actors are almost completely anonymous to the point that you wonder why they are given character names different from their actual ones. The standout is the only one you will recognize - Harry Morgan as the accused kidnapper. In his youth he usually played slimy little weasels, cowards, and second banana hoods. Here he is practically early Bogart, and I am not kidding. He shows lots of range. The score does a good job of setting the mood, and the suspense really never lets up. You can tell this was probably filmed on location in some small town due to what seems like alimited budget. Plus there are groups of actors with the same last name playing members of families - possibly just residents in the town where this was filmed.
Definitely give it a chance. Not on DVD, it is available on youtube. Probably one of the earliest American films to delve so deeply into the subject of race in such an unfiltered way.