They Won’t Forget **** (1937, Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris, Otto Kruger, Lana Turner, Clinton Rosemond) – Classic Movie Review 7606

Claude Rains stars in the 1937 film noir mystery drama They Won’t Forget as a racist prosecuting attorney, who manipulates the press and Southern prejudice to gain election as governor after a teenager (Lana Turner, in her début) is raped and murdered. 

Claude Rains stars in producer-director Mervyn LeRoy’s 1937 film noir-style mystery drama They Won’t Forget as racist prosecuting attorney Andrew J Griffin, who manipulates the press and Southern prejudice to gain election as governor after teenager Mary Clay (Lana Turner, in her début) is raped and murdered.

Among the suspects are her Northerner business school teacher Robert Hale (Edward Norris) and a black janitor called Tump Redwine (Clinton Rosemond) who finds the body. A lynching follows when the guilty man is convicted but not sentenced to death.

They Won’t Forget is atmospheric, intelligent and tense, with an urgent message about racism and the proper rule of law. Beautifully filmed in noirish realist style, it boasts excellent performances, particularly from Rains and Rosemond.

They Won’t Forget is taken from Ward Greene’s 1936 novel Death in the Deep South, in turn based (fictionalised and with the names changed) on a 1913 real life case, the trial and lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan, later dramatised as a 1987 TV movie miniseries in The Murder of Mary Phagan, written by Larry McMurtry and starring Jack Lemmon, Peter Gallagher, Kevin Spacey, Rebecca Miller, Cynthia Nixon and William H Macy.

Also in the cast are Gloria Dickson, Otto Kruger, Allyn Joslyn, Linda Perry, Elisha Cook Jr, Cy Kendall, Elisabeth Risdon, E Alyn Warren, Granville Bates, Ann Shoemaker, Paul Everton, Donald Briggs, Sybil Harris, Eddie Acuff, Frank Faylen, Leonard Mudie, Trevor Bardette, John Dilson, Harry Davenport, Harry Beresford, and Edward McWade.

They Won’t Forget is directed by Mervyn LeRoy, runs 95 minutes, is made by Warner Bros-First National Picture, is released by Warner Bros Pictures Inc, is written by Robert Rossen and Aben Kandel, is shot in black and white by Arthur Edeson and Warren Lynch, is produced by Mervyn Le Roy, is scored by Adolph Deutsch and Leo F Forbstein, and is designed by Robert Haas.

It was released on July 14, 1937.

It is available on Region 1 DVD (US import).

Clinton Rosemond (November 1, 1882 – March 10, 1966) acted in many American films of the 1930s and 1940s, often uncredited and typecast as a butler or servant.

The cast are Claude Rains as District Attorney Andrew J Griffin, Gloria Dickson as Sybil Hale, Edward Norris as Professor Robert Perry Hale, Otto Kruger as Michael Gleason, Allyn Joslyn as William A Brock, Lana Turner as Mary Clay, Linda Perry as Imogene Mayfield, Elisha Cook Jr as Joe Turner, Cy Kendall as Detective Laneart, Clinton Rosemond as Tump Redwine, E. Alyn Warren as Professor Carlisle P. Buxton, Elisabeth Risdon as Mrs. Hale, Clifford Soubier as Jim Timberlake, Granville Bates as Pindar, Ann Shoemaker as Mrs. Mountford, Paul Everton as Governor Thomas Mountford, Donald Briggs as Harmon Drake, Sibyl Harris as Mrs. Clay, Trevor Bardette as Shattuck Clay, Elliott Sullivan as Luther Clay, Wilmer Hines as Ransom Scott Clay, Eddie Acuff as Fred, Frank Faylen as Bill Price, Leonard Mudie as Judge Moore, Harry Davenport as Confederate Veteran, Harry Beresford as Confederate Veteran, Edward McWade as Confederate Veteran, John Dilson, and Ronald Reagan as Man in Crowd.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7606

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