They Won't Forget (1937)

Why so much hype?

Sadly Over-hyped

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

In a small Southern town celebrating Confederate Memorial Day, a young woman (Lana Turner) is murdered. Suspicion quickly falls on her Northern teacher at business school, Robert Hale (Edward Norris), whom she had a crush on. Ambitious district attorney Andy Griffin (Claude Rains) uses this as an opportunity to build a name for himself, not caring about Hale's guilt or innocence. Hale is arrested and tried but the anti-Northern sentiment running through the town guarantees his trial won't be fair.Great role for Claude Rains, who owns every scene he's in as a remorseless politician out to further his career regardless of cost. Edward Norris (Ann Sheridan's first husband) has probably his biggest role as Robert Hale and does a fine job. Film debut of Allyn Joslyn, who plays a slimy reporter colluding with Rains. Pretty Gloria Dickson plays Hale's wife. She has a potent speech at the end. First significant role for Lana Turner. Note the tight sweater which accentuates her...attributes. This is why she was dubbed "the sweater girl" early in her career. The rest of the cast is made up of familiar faces, including Otto Kruger and Elisha Cook, Jr. Loosely based on the real story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man accused of murdering 13 year-old Mary Phagan in Georgia. He was lynched in 1915. The story here keeps antisemitism out of it, instead making it more of a focus on the resentments and prejudices of the South towards the North. Having grown up in the South, I know these sentiments were very real for many even decades after this movie was made. This is a film that examines everything from bigotry to mob mentality and the manipulation of the public by politicians and the media. Sociologically and historically relevant, it's a powerful movie from Warner Bros. with a good cast.

From the murder of Stanford White to the O.J. Simpson case there are about 25 or so cases that have been labeled the 'trial of the century'. Another one of those was the Leo Frank case where a Jewish man and a northerner was tried and found guilty of the murder of Mary Phagan in Georgia. From that case the novel and the film They Won't Forget was constructed with the names and the religion of the defendant changed to protect God knows what.Even with the name changed to a white bread WASP name of Hale, Warner Brothers was taking a chance on losing the southern market with the making of They Won't Forget. Edward Norris as the outsider, teacher at a small business school in a southern town is a man totally caught in the regional prejudices of a section of the country that is still fighting the War between the states.Norris is accused of murdering young Lana Turner in her breakthrough role as an attractive and saucy young teenager. Though there is nothing but circumstantial evidence pointing to him and it could point to a few others, he's the most convenient one to prosecute because he's not of the community. So reasons Claude Rains an ambitious prosecutor who figures that a conviction in a notorious case will propel his political career upward. Rains portrays a man of frightening ambition and a type we're all too familiar with in real life.Although the Leo Frank case took place in the teen years and this film is set in the contemporary Thirties, things hadn't changed all that much in the south. Otto Kruger as Norris's defense attorney and Gloria Dickson as his stricken wife also giver noteworthy performances, Trevor Bardette may have had a career role as Turner's father. He's a frightening man filled with anger and among the small parts he really stands out.Mervyn LeRoy got some truly great performances from his players. They Won't Forget is something you won't forget.

"They Won't Forget" and neither will you if you've seen this chilling depression-era drama based on an actual murder case. Some of the scenes are so real, they're scary. One look at gimlet-eyed Trevor Bardette with a voice from the grave is like seeing death incarnate and enough to freeze a platoon of marines in their tracks. Then there's hapless Clinton Rosemon, his pleas for mercy so achingly real, they echo across generations of tormented black souls. Also not to be overlooked is the bereaved Gloria Dickson. Her righteous anger at movie's end is so heart-felt, I expect it probably was. Together with the wily District Attorney Claude Rains, there's an uncommon authority to this searing drama of justice gone wrong. There's also an uncommon richness of detail. The script, for all its sprawl, remains tight and unrelenting, a genuine testament to writers Rossen and Kandel. Then too, producer Le Roy pulled out all the stops and the results show it. No one acts without apparent reason. Everyone has understandable motivations for doing what they do. That's why the upshot is so tragic. It's as though there's an on-rushing train nobody can stop because the momentum is carried by an infernal logic greater than the demands of justice. Despite appearances, it's not an anti-lynching film, though it is that. Rather, it's a down and dirty look at the cynical roots of injustice. From lowly pool hall to lofty city council, no one wants to convict an innocent man, but then no one much cares either. This movie stands as a fine example of why Warner Bros. was the studio of record during the stressed-out 1930's. Anyway, for guys who don't like the gloomy theme, there's always the chance to catch Lana Turner as she juggles two balloons while sashaying up the sidewalk in the film's most famous scene. All in all-- a classic of 30's social realism, with Hollywood at its unapologetic best.

This film, as a curiosity piece, has its own rewards, but it has a dated feeling about it that even a director like Mervyn Leroy and his screenplay adapter, another would-be-director, Robert Rossen, can't overcome. This tragedy has been told in different ways before, as it's was a sensational crime story.The resentment in the South over the defeat during the Civil War took ages to heal. In the film we are shown a small town where prejudice is a way of life because of ignorance. It's a story that still resonates because it feeds into the ambitions of raising stars in politics, as they tend to associate themselves with the kind of yellow journalism that will do everything to ruin lives and in this case send an innocent man to his death.Sadly, Mr. Leroy chose to direct the film telling his actors to emote, as he obviously had no way to reining some of the performances. What comes across in the screen is uneven acting, in general. An excellent actor like Claude Rains' account of his character, the evil D.A., Andy Griffin, goes for histrionics, instead of having him play the part as a sly and suave man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Maybe it was the style Mr. Leroy wanted to convey, but for today's viewers, this looks a bit too intense.Then there is the accused man, Professor Hale. As played by Edward Norris, we see a man that knowing he is innocent, accepts his fate without rebelling, or giving an impression that he will do anything to prove he is the wrong man. Or perhaps it was the filmmakers intention to give the film that tone of despair, as it's obvious this man is doomed from the beginning. He is the victim of circumstantial evidence that is piled against him by the power of the so called newspapers in town that are controlled by Griffin, intent in calling the attention to the fact Hale is a Northener, therefore, an enemy.The acting, in general, with a few exceptions, is pathetic, that is, by today's more sophisticated tastes. It doesn't make much sense to see an Elisha Cook Jr., with a terrible Southern accent, who appears to be a closet case, cast as the murdered girl's boyfriend. The only welcome sight is a young and still raw Lana Turner in her screen first appearance. This film is worth watching only to see Ms. Turner walking from the parade site to the college. No wonder she was dubbed "The sweater girl".