A disturbing, spine-tingling melodrama with a handful of top stars and the Ku Klux Klan looming throughout, Stuart Heisler’s Storm Warning is an effective cautionary tale which additionally has some troubling implications for our own times.
The Production: 3.5/5
A disturbing, spine-tingling melodrama with a handful of top stars and the Ku Klux Klan looming throughout, Stuart Heisler’s Storm Warning is an effective cautionary tale which additionally has some troubling implications for our own times to go along with the tragedy which takes place in this 1951-set tale.
On her way to a modeling job in the city, Marsha Mitchell (Ginger Rogers) takes the opportunity to visit her sister Lucy (Doris Day) in small town Rock Point, a place which doesn’t seem especially friendly to outsiders. Since she last saw her, Lucy has married Hank Rice (Steve Cochran) and is expecting a baby, but Marsha is horrified on her way to Lucy’s workplace to witness two robed men chase a man from the jailhouse and shoot him dead. Later on, Marsha realizes that the gunman was Lucy’s husband Hank in the company of Hank’s boss Charlie Barr (Hugh Sanders), both robed in Klan outfits but with their hoods off. District attorney Burt Rainey (Ronald Reagan) has been waiting years for an opportunity to bring the Klan’s activities out in the open, but as much as Marsha wants to tell exactly what she saw, she also hears the pleas of her sister not to spoil her happiness and the tranquility of the town.
Screenwriters Richard Brooks and Daniel Fuchs don’t even mention the Klan’s racist attitudes but rather spend the time on their use of intimidation, bullying, and, if necessary, violence to keep squealers in line and outsiders feeling particularly vulnerable. Though the opening murder and later ferocity (another killing and some bullwhipping) is bloodless, the violence is still unquestionably vicious and the threat of potential harm is established early and is sustained beautifully. Director Stuart Heisler handles all of the scenes of mayhem with panache, keeping a late movie near-rape in the shadows but squirmingly disturbing nevertheless, and the two killings are front and center and leave little to the imagination. He also grapples with the inquest sequence with its growing intensity nicely though the town’s seemingly innocent populous appears to shed its naiveté as the film runs eventually turning up in masks (and with even some children in robes and masks) for the climactic Klan rally with its huge burning cross and robed multitudes. In the smaller personal drama unfolding as well as the bigger picture of supremacists holding a town basically hostage to their rule, Storm Warning offers thrills and lots of prescient food for thought.
This is a fine dramatic showcase for Ginger Rogers who must waffle throughout the movie about what’s morally right against her wanting her sister to be happy. She’s also flatteringly retained a model’s figure shown in scenes where she’s bare-waisted or in figure-hugging outfits. Ronald Reagan holds his own in scenes where dynamism is key to his character’s effectiveness, but he’s missing just that extra bit of dramatic punch in the heaviest scenes. Doris Day’s dramatic chops get a workout here and show an advance from her work two years earlier in Young Man with a Horn. This is the first of her movies where she doesn’t sing a note. Steve Cochran’s roguish bruiser is a bit of a puzzler: he’s an unquestionable brute and seems dim-witted most of the time, but he’s also calculating enough to turn on the tears with his wife to win her over to his innocence and then sneer in jubilation when he’s away from her gaze. Hugh Sanders is a one-note villain, big talk and lots of threats but a mouse without a mob to back him up. In supporting roles as townsfolk imbedded in the thick of things, Lloyd Gough, Raymond Greenleaf, and Ned Glass are familiar faces who do right by their roles.
Video: 5/5
3D Rating: NA
The film is framed at its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1 and is presented in 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. Sharpness throughout is excellent (except when glamor photography of the stars by cinematographer Carl Guthrie is the order of the day), and details in hair, facial features and costumes are easy to spot. The grayscale does right by both black and white levels with the climactic nighttime Klan rally looking especially cinematic. The movie has been divided into 32 chapters.
Audio: 5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix is expertly carried out. Fidelity is most impressive in Daniele Amfitheatrof’s background score while dialogue has been well-recorded, and the sound effects have been effectively layered into the mix. There are no instances of hiss, crackle, pops, or flutter.
Special Features: 2/5
Theatrical Trailer (2:31, HD)
One Who Came Back (21:05, HD): 1951 two-reeler
Bunny Hugged (7:14, HD): 1950 Bugs Bunny animated short
Overall: 3.5/5
Stuart Heisler’s Storm Warning is an effective and quite gripping melodrama with some strong work by its stars and great atmosphere developed and sustained throughout. The Warner Archive Blu-ray release is a peach and well worth seeing.
Storm Warning [Blu-Ray]
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Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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