"Intruder in the Dust" breaks new ground and stars David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., and Juano Hernandez

Intruder in the Dust (1949) was an American crime drama directed by Clarence Brown and starring David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., and Juano Hernandez. The supporting cast includes Elizabeth Patterson, Porter Hall, and Will Greer. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by William Faulkner published in 1948. The cinematography was by Robert Surtees (Ben-Hur 1959), and the music was by Adolph Deutsch.

When Lucas Beauchamp (Hernandez) is arrested for shooting a white man in the back, it turns his small southern town upside down. Accused of killing Vinson Gowrie (David Clarke), Beauchamp, a black man, is immediately considered guilty by the majority white population.

After he is arrested, Beauchamp asks Chick Mallison (Jarman Jr.) to ask his uncle, John Gavin Stephens, a lawyer, to defend him. When Chick's uncle isn't making any progress in his defense of Beauchamp, Chick, his black friend Aleck, and Miss Eunice Habersham (Elizabeth Patterson) take matters into their own hands.

What Chick, Aleck, and Miss Habersham discover may save Beauchamp's life.

Juano Hernandez and David Brian

Clarence Brown (1890 – 1987) was an American film director.  Brown was born in Massachusetts but moved to Tennessee when he was 11. After initially working in the automobile industry, Brown was hired by the Peerless (film) Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He became an assistant director working under French director Maurice Tourneur, father of future director Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past). After serving in World War I, Brown picked up his directing career and secured a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924. He remained at M-G-M until the mid-1950s. At M-G-M, Brown directed Joan Crawford six times and Greta Garbo seven. Brown is famous for directing Garbo in her first talking picture, Anna Christie (1930). Brown was nominated six times for Best Director but never won an Oscar. His films were nominated for a total of 38 Academy Awards. Some of Brown’s films include Anna Karenina (1935), Wife vs. Secretary (1936), The Rains Came (1939), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), National Velvet (1944), and The Yearling (1946).

David Brian (1914 – 1993) was an American stage, film, and television actor. His most famous role was as the lawyer in Intruder in the Dust for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Brian also had lead roles in Flamingo Road (1949), The Damned Don’t Cry (1950), This Woman is Dangerous (1952), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), and How the West Was Won (1962).

Claude Jarman Jr. (1934 - ) is an American former child actor. He was the director of the San Francisco International Film Festival, and the former director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Francisco. Jarman was discovered in a nationwide talent search by M-G-M. Jarman was cast as the lead in The Yearling (1946). For his performance, he received a special Academy Award for outstanding child actor of 1946. Jarman made a total of 11 films. When he reached his twenties, Jarman was dissatisfied with the roles he was getting so he moved back to Tennessee to finish college at Vanderbilt University. His last film role was in Disney’s The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).

Juano Hernandez (1896 – 1970) was a Puerto Rican stage, film, and television actor. He worked in the silent film The Life of General Villa (1914). He made his talking picture debut in Oscar Micheaux’s The Girl from Chicago (1932), a film directed at black audiences. Hernandez’s most famous role was in Intruder in the Dust. For that role, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award, “New Star of the Year.” Other films Hernandez appeared in include Young Man with a Horn (1950), Stars in My Crown (1950), and The Breaking Point (1950). Later films include The Pawnbroker (1964), The Reivers (1969), and They Call Me Mister Tibbs (1970), his last film role.

Elizabeth Patterson (1874 – 1966) was an American film and stage actress. She is probably best remembered today as Mrs. Trumbull on the classic television comedy I Love Lucy. Patterson started out in silent films in 1926. She transitioned to sound pictures and worked steadily in film for more than four decades. Some of Patterson’s films include Dinner at Eight (1933), So Red the Rose (1935), The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), Remember the Night (1940), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), and Little Women (1949).

Elizabeth Patterson, David Brian, and Will Geer

Intruder in the Dust trivia

• The film was released several weeks after Pinky, considered the first mainstream American film to deal with racial prejudice.
• Although the film was a critical success, it failed to make back its investment.
• Filming took place on location in Oxford, Mississippi, where William Faulkner lived.
• Director Brown directed Claude Jarman Jr. to his juvenile Academy Award in The Yearling.
• Two of the school pennants on Chick’s bedroom wall were from the fictional town of Jefferson, MS, the setting for the film, and Carvel, the name of the high school in the Andy Hardy movies.
• William Faulkner was paid $50,000 for the film rights to his novel.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on April 3, 2023, at 6:30 p.m., click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation along with a link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Were you surprised to discover that this film was made by M-G-M in 1949?
2. Do you think this was an accurate portrayal of segregation in the 1940s South?
3. What did you think of the performances? Did any one performance stand out to you?
4. Did you relate to any of the characters? Which one?
5. Did you find the ending satisfying/realistic?
6. Were you surprised by anything?

Tyrone Power is "Johnny Apollo"

Johnny Apollo (1940) is an American film noir crime drama directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Dorothy Lamour. The supporting cast includes Edward Arnold, Lloyd Nolan, Charlie Grapewin, and Lionel Atwill. The screenplay was written by Philip Dunne and Rowland Brown. The cinematography was by Arthur Miller.

When Bob Cain Jr.’s father is thrown in jail for embezzlement, he finds it impossible to get a job and keep it, once they realize “Pop” Cain (Arnold) is his father. Taking the name Johnny Apollo, Bob Jr. ends up working for gangsters and falling for Lucky (Lamour), a night club singer.

Johnny tries to get his father out of prison but things don’t go as planned. Will this be the end of Johnny and his father? Or will there be a way for both father and son to reconcile and get back to the straight and narrow path?

Henry Hathaway (1898 – 1985) was an American film director and producer. Hathaway started working in silent films in 1925 as an assistant to established directors like Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg. His first solo directorial effort was Heritage of the Desert (1932) starring Randolph Scott. Hathaway, along with Scott, would be known for western movies. Besides Scott, Hathaway directed Gary Cooper in several films, including The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) which earned him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. In 1940, Hathaway began working at Fox where he directed Tyrone Power in Johnny Apollo and Brigham Young (both 1940), Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942), Don Ameche and Dana Andrews in Wing and a Prayer (1944), and Call Northside 777 (1948) starring James Stewart and Richard Conte. After leaving Fox, he was one of three directors who worked on the western epic How the West Was Won (1962). He directed Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith (1966), directed John Wayne in True Grit (1968) which won Wayne his one and only Best Actor Academy Award.

Tyrone Power (1914 – 1958) was a major movie star as well as a star on stage and radio. He was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s and 1940s. Power was under exclusive contract to 20th Century-Fox where his image and film choices were carefully selected by studio head Zanuck. After the war, Power wanted to stretch his acting past romantic comedies and swashbuckler roles. Nightmare Alley was Power’s personal favorite of all his films. Some of Power's films include Marie Antoinette (1938), The Rains Came (1939), Jesse James (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940), and  Blood and Sand (1941). Later in his career, he starred in Captain from Castile (1947), The Black Rose (1950), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). Power’s favorite of all his films that he starred in was Nightmare Alley (1947) even though it was a commercial and a critical failure when first released. Its status as a classic film noir has been recently reevaluated.

Dorothy Lamour (1914 – 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is probably best known for her work in the Road movies co-starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Lamour had major film successes on her own in films like The Hurricane (1937) directed by John Ford, Chad Hanna (1941) directed by Henry Kind and co-starring Henry Fonda and Linda Darnell. Her film career waned during the 1950s so Lamour embarked on a successful career in nightclubs and as a stage and television actress. 

Johnny Apollo trivia

• Linda Darnell was set to co-star with Power; Alice Faye was also considered. Dorothy Lamour was borrowed from Paramount in a swap with Don Ameche,
• The film had a preview for 34 college newspaper editors in Ossining, NY; some of the exterior prison scens were filmed at Sing Sing Penetentiary.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To Join the discussion on March 27, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, You'll receive an invitation and link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Does this film fit the film noir genre? If not, how would you categorize it?
2. Dorothy Lamour received good reviews for her performance as Lucky. What did you think of here performance?
3. What about Tyrone Power? Did you think he made a good Johnny Apollo? Was he believeable as a good kid gone wrong?
4. Did you think Power and Lamour had on-screen chemistry?
5. Was the end of the film satisfying?

Jean Renoir's "Swamp Water"

Swamp Water (1941) is an American crime drama set in the Okefenokee Swamp, Waycross, Georgia. The film was directed by Jean Renoir and stars Walter Brennan, Walther Huston, Anne Baxter, and Dana Andrews. The strong supporting cast includes Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine, Mary Howard, Eugene Pallette, and Ward Bond.

When Ben Regan (Andrews) goes looking for his dog in the Okefenokee Swamp, he encounters Tom Keefer (Brennan). Keefer is wanted for murdering Deputy Shep Collins. Keefer claims he is innocent. Ben and Keefer form a partnership with Ben selling animals that the two of them trapped. Part of the money that they earn from trapping goes to Julie (Baxter) who is Keefer’s daughter.

Will the actual murderer be revealed? Will Keefer return to normal life as an innocent man?

Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews

Jean Renoir (1894 - 1979) was a French film director, writer, and producer. He directed more than forty films. Renoir worked during the silent era until the end of the 1960s. Two of his films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are considered among the greatest films ever made. Renoir fled to the United States when Germany invaded France in 1940. He came to Hollywood and directed Swamp Water (1941) starring Dana Andrews, This Land is Mine (1943) starring Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton. The Southerner is considered Renoir’s best American film. Other films he made in America include Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Woman on the Beach (1947). He is the son of the renowned artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Walter Brennan (1894 – 1974) was an American character actor and three-time Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor. Brennan is the only actor male or female to win three awards in the supporting actor category. He got his start as an extra in silent films and eventually made the transition to talking pictures. By the late-1930s, Brennan was one of Hollywood's most sought-after and highest-paid character actors. Some of Brennan’s movies include Three Godfathers (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940), Meet John Doe (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), My Darling Clementine (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and How the West Was Won (1962).

Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.

Anne Baxter (1923 – 1985) won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Sophie MacDonald in The Razor’s Edge (1946). She was signed to a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox in 1940. In 1948, Baxter starred in four movies, with Yellow Sky being her most prominent role to date. She went on to have a prolific career in film, television, and theater. She is probably best known for her Oscar-nominated performance as Eve Harrington in All About Eve. Frank Lloyd Wright was Baxter’s grandfather.

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).

Swamp Water trivia

• Linda Darnell was originally cast as Julie. Gene Tierney was also under consideration for the role.
• Director Jean Renoir and studio chief Darryl Zanuck butted heads during the film's production with Renoir wanting to shoot on location and Zanuck wanting to shoot on sound stages and the backlot.
• Lillian Gish was considered for the role of Hannah.
• Jean Gabin and Henry Fonda were announced for the role of Ben before Dana Andrews was cast.
• Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Anne Baxter, and Walter Huston would star in North Star (1943).
• Dana Andrews was the only actor who actually filmed on location in Georgia.

To join the discussion online on March 20, 2023, at 6:30 p.m., click here. When you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom. 

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

Discussion questions

1. The film had an impressive cast; did anyone cast member stand out to you?
2. Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews were in the early stages of their film careers. Would you have predicted stardom for them both?
3. Some critics thought Walther Brennan was miscast. What did you thik of his performance?
4. Did the on-location filming enhance the film?
5. Did anything about the movie surprise you?

Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember"

A Night to Remember (1958) is a British docudrama film based on the 1955 book of the same name by Walter Lord. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker. The novel was adapted by Eric Ambler. The film stars Kenneth Moore and features a large British supporting cast including Honor Blackman and David McCallum.

The film is seen through the eyes of the ship’s Second Officer Charles Lightoller (Moore). Unlike the earlier American production, Titanic (1953), A Night to Remember relied on interviews with survivors and all available information about the disaster from the time period.

 

Roy Ward Baker (1916 – 2010) was an English film director. His is most famous for directing A Night to Remember but he had a successful career in the U.K. and the United States. He started working in film in 1934 for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company. He started out at the bottom doing errands but eventually rose up in the ranks acting as the assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Land Vanishes (1938). He directed Tyrone Power and Ann Blyth in I’ll Never Forget You (1951), Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952), and Bette Davis in The Anniversary (1968).

 

Kenneth Moore (1914 – 1982) was an English film and stage actor. He was a popular leading man in films in the U.K. and the United States. He starred in British comedy Doctor in the House (1954), The Admirable Crichton (1957), and The Deep Blue Sea (1955) co-starring Vivien Leigh. He also starred in the 1959 remake of The 39 Steps (1959), Sink the Bismarck (1960).

 

A Night to Remember trivia

• It was the most expensive British film ever made at the time of its release.
• Four actors from the film (Peter Burton, Desmond Llewelyn, Geoffrey Bayldon, and Alec McCowen) all played “Q” in various James Bond movies. Llewelyn and Honor Blackman appeared in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).
• In 1985, when the Titanic wreckage was discovered, we found out that the ship broke in two. In the movie, the ship sinks in one piece.
• Supposedly, James Cameron was inspired to make Titanic (1997) after seeing this film. Cameron even copied various scenes from A Night to Remember in his film.
• Screenwriter Eric Ambler was married to writer/producer Joan Harrison.

 

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

 

 

Discussion questions

1. This film is considered the most accurate presentation on the Titanic disaster. What do you think? Did it seem credible to you?
2. What did you think of the film’s narrative?
3. There is some controversy over Lightoller’s conduct during the ship’s sinking. Did the film make Lightoller a hero?
4. Did you learn anything new about the sinking of the Titanic while viewing this film?

To join the discussion on March 13, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to join the discussion on Zoom.