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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... Written by
Huggo
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Taglines:
Dramatic thunder coming your way!
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Hank Rice drives a 1939 Plymouth convertible.
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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
Charlie Barr:
Don't force me to show you how we handle people! We're the law here! We're the judges and the jury!
Marsha Mitchell:
I'm no hero. I'm scard! That's what you wanted, and that's the way it is. Yeah, I'm afraid of what you might do to me. But if I ever get out of here, I'm gonna tell, and there's nothing you can do that'll stop me!
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Soundtracks
"Keep Cool, Fool"
(uncredited)
Music by
James P. Johnson and
Josef Myrow
Played at the recreation center after the verdict
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There's an almost Tennessee Williams quality to the storyline. A woman (Ginger Rogers) travels south to visit her sister (Doris Day) but enroute witnesses a murder by the KKK. Arriving at the sister's house, she discovers her married to one of the Klansmen (Steve Cochran), her crude brother-in-law. Tension builds when Rogers reports the incident to the young DA (Ronald Reagan)and the film builds to an interesting climax. Somewhat like watching Blanche du Bois visit her sister in a southern town and finding herself threatened by her earthy brother-in-law in 'Streetcar Named Desire'. All of the leads are excellent--Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, Ronald Reagan and Steve Cochran in this unusually strong melodrama, gritty and realistic with surprisingly good work from Doris Day who had only been in films a short time. Definitely a film that deserves more recognition and relatively unknown by today's film fans.