He hands her a subpoena for the inquest, which will take place that afternoon. Rainey feels satisfied, and he believes that the mere fact of her having seen Klansmen is enough to bring them down. Many townsfolk try to dissuade Rainey from investigating the case, for fear of his destroying the town's reputation and economy.Īt Rainey's office he questions Marsha and gets a half-truth – that she saw Klansmen but did not get a look at their faces because of their hoods. He then learns about Marsha and requires her to meet him in his office the next morning. He then arrives at the bowling alley and questions Charlie Barr, the Imperial Wizard of the town's KKK, but he gets no answer. They claimed that they were simply outnumbered Rainey, however, feels skeptical of that excuse, and he suggests that they were accomplices. Marsha, still viewing him as a vile person, reluctantly agrees to leave town and "forget" about the incident.ĭistrict Attorney Burt Rainey arrives at the murder scene and asks the police about how they could let a mob break through their doors and kidnap one of their prisoners, reminding them of their duty to protect the inmates. Lucy forgives her husband and decides that he was simply a part of something beyond his control. Hank desperately tries to persuade Marsha to remain silent for the sake of his life and his marriage to her sister, who is pregnant. According to Hank, the men simply wanted to stop Adams from smearing their town. He sobs and says that he was drunk and was forced to go with the other men to the scene, and did not intend for the man to die. However, he is unable to hold his own against Marsha's insistence, and confesses. Within minutes, while Marsha and Lucy are alone, Marsha tells her sister that Hank was one of the Klansmen. However, Marsha is shocked when she recognizes Hank as one of the klan members. Lucy takes Marsha to her home and encourages her to tell her husband, Hank, about what she witnessed. The police decided to put an end to his reporting and arrested him on a false charge of driving while intoxicated. She explains that Adams arrived in town recently and got a job with the phone company, but he was secretly a journalist, writing critical material about the town's klavern. Marsha tells her about the murder she witnessed, which causes Lucy to tell her about the undercover work of Walter Adams, who, she believes, must have been the slain man. Lucy quickly notices the shocked and horrified look on her sister's face. Marsha gets a good look at two of the men, who have removed their hoods.Īfter the mob quickly leaves the scene, Marsha runs to the nearby bowling alley, where her sister works. The mob, slightly apprehensive, approaches the fallen man, arguing among themselves. The man untangles himself and only manages to run briefly before getting cut down by shotgun blasts. She hides and witnesses a drunken KKK mob, who murder a man whom they had just broken out of jail. As she walks down the almost-pitch-black main street, she hears loud noises coming from the police station. Within minutes of entering the town she notices unwelcoming and evasive behavior from the townspeople. En route, she decides to spend the night in the rural town of Rock Point to visit her newlywed sister, Lucy Rice, who has relocated there. Marsha Mitchell, a dress model from New York City, is traveling by bus for a modeling job during Christmastime. Despite this, the film's performances (particularly Rogers, appearing in a rare dramatic role) and direction have been widely lauded. In the years since its original release, it has been subject to analysis by film scholars as an allegory for the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations, while both contemporary and modern critics have noted that its depiction of the KKK does not address the organization's predominant racist origins. The film earned $1.25 million in North America, and was a box-office flop. The original screenplay was written by Richard Brooks and Daniel Fuchs.įilmed in Corona, California in late 1949, Storm Warning premiered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1950, before receiving an expanded theatrical release in the United States on February 10, 1951. It follows a fashion model (Rogers) who witnesses the brutal assassination of an investigative journalist by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) while traveling to a small Southern town to visit her sister (Day). Storm Warning is a 1950 American thriller film noir directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day, and Steve Cochran.
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