Storm Center (1956)
Trivia
The Legion of Decency did not like the movie because of what it considered the film's "pro-Communist" leanings. Instead of condemning the picture, though, it used a "separate classification" for it. That had previously been used on Blockade (1938) (a Spanish Civil War film that the League also thought was anti-Catholic and pro-Communist) and Martin Luther (1953) (because the film portrayed the life of the man who split Christianity, and also because the League thought it was full of inaccurate presentations of Church teachings).
Unfortunately, Storm Center (1956) was not well received by either critics or viewers, which Bette Davis believed to be the fault of the film, not the subject matter. She did not agree with the casting of Kevin Coughlin as Freddie, complaining that Daniel Taradash did not direct him well. According to Davis, this resulted in a lack of emotional rapport between her and Coughlin, making it difficult to believe the extent of the little boy's feelings of betrayal. Not all of this can be attributed to Taradash's direction, however. Both Davis and Taradash were shocked at Coughlin's mother, who prepared the little boy for his crying scenes by pinching him till it hurt.
The script was first offered to Stanley Kramer, a producer acclaimed for his films with a social conscience, including Home of the Brave (1949), High Noon (1952), and The Defiant Ones (1958). Kramer offered the role of Alicia Hull to Hollywood legend Mary Pickford, who was looking to make a comeback. However, Pickford was quickly talked out of doing the film by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, an arch conservative and fervent anti-communist who warned Pickford that the film was pro-Red. Next, the part was offered to Irene Dunne, who also declined. Some claim that big-name stars Barbara Stanwyck and Loretta Young also turned it down because of the content.
Mary Pickford was originally slated to make her comeback with this film but later dropped out of the project.
Co-star Kim Hunter was on the Hollywood blacklist for a while in the 1950s, which hurt her film career.
The opening credits appear over two pages from John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty" (1859). Actually, the page on the left is identical to the page on the right so that if the image is frozen, the text can be read by starting with a line on the right-hand page and then finishing the line on the left. The page is from the second chapter of Mill's book and contains this passage:
Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free speech but object to their being "pushed to an extreme", not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.
Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free speech but object to their being "pushed to an extreme", not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.
