Storm Warning (1951)

En route to a job, New York based model Marsha Mitchell decides to stop for less than 24 hours in the southern American town of Rock Point to visit her sister, Lucy Rice, who she has not ... See full summary »

Director:

Stuart Heisler

Writers:

Daniel Fuchs, Richard Brooks

Stars:

Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ginger Rogers	...	Marsha Mitchell
Ronald Reagan	...	Burt Rainey
Doris Day	...	Lucy Rice
Steve Cochran	...	Hank Rice
Hugh Sanders	...	Charlie Barr
Lloyd Gough	...	Cliff Rummel
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Faulkner
Ned Glass	...	George Athens
Paul E. Burns	...	Frank Hauser, Baggage Man
Walter Baldwin	...	Coroner Bledsoe
Lynn Whitney	...	Cora Athens
Stuart Randall	...	Walt Walters
Sean McClory	...	Shore

Storyline

En route to a job, New York based model Marsha Mitchell decides to stop for less than 24 hours in the southern American town of Rock Point to visit her sister, Lucy Rice, who she has not seen in two years, and meet Lucy's husband, Hank Rice, for the first time. Upon arriving in Rock Point, Marsha witnesses a Ku Klux Klan slaying of who she would later learn is Walter Adams, an out of town reporter who was going to write an exposé on the Klan. Marsha even saw two of the men's faces after they removed their hoods, but they didn't see Marsha. Upon later arriving at Lucy's house, Marsha is shocked to see that Hank was one of the Klansmen committing the murder, he being a Klansman of which Lucy is unaware. Marsha decides to confront Hank and Lucy about what she saw. Meanwhile, county prosecutor Burt Rainey knows that the Klan committed the murder, everyone in town is aware that the Klan committed the murder, but Rainey knows that no one will come forward to implicate the Klan for what they...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | ku klux klan | district attorney | reporter | prosecutor | 

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Taglines:

Unmasked by Warner Brothers!

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 February 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Storm Center

Filming Locations:

Corona, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Working title was "Storm Center." Coincidentally that title was used for a Bette Davis movie six years later at Columbia.

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Goofs

A character is murdered by the KKK after 10pm one evening. An autopsy is performed, witnesses interviewed and a coroner's inquest is held - all by the following afternoon, hardly twelve hours after crime was committed.

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Quotes

Cliff Rummel: I can't show the new summer line without a model.
Marsha Mitchell: Show 'em on hangers.
Cliff Rummel: Hangers haven't got what you've got!

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Soundtracks

"Kiss Me Sweet"
(uncredited)
Music by Milton Drake
Played when Marsha first goes to the recreation center

User Reviews

a treasure

A great film noir. An exploration of evil, the mob mentality, the human animal, conflicts between family loyalty and doing the right thing, and the courageous hero facing down the ugly crowd; in presenting all of that it achieves some depth amidst the great nighttime scenarios. Excellent performances by Rogers, Cochran, and Reagan; an early and dramatic Doris Day role is also of interest. You may recall Street Car Named Desire as you watch the cultured older sister visiting her sister and the brute of a husband. There is above all the fascination of watching a 1951, a time well before the key events of the soon to arrive civil rights movement, depiction of the KKK as mass delusion and criminal fraud - homegrown terrorism... and only 35 years or so after the KKK's glorification in Birth of a Nation. It is notable that in this KKK film you will have a difficult time spotting any blacks; still a powerful indictment nonetheless. Don't miss it.