They Won't Forget (Warner Bros.) (1937)

REVIEWER PAGE! YBIL HALE loved her husband. Loved him so much that she’d faced poverty and starvation with a smile, so they could be together forever and ever. But all that was over now. He had a job teaching school, and they had a tiny flat all their own. Sitting on the arm of his chair that night, she was perfectly happy, basking in his love and protection. Alone together in a world of their own they were making rosy plans for the future, when suddeniy there was a knock at the door — and anything can happen. Two policemen stood waiting as he opened the door. ““Come on, Hale, you’re wanted fer the murder of Mary Clay.’’ ‘“My husband couldn’t do a thing like that,’’ she screamed. That’s the situation faced by Sybil Hale in the opening scenes of ‘‘They Won’t Forget,’’? which came yesterday to the Strand Theatre. And you won’t forget it. No woman who has ever been in love will forget the agony on Sybil Hale’s face when her husband is torn from her arms. No mother will ever forget the piercing scream of Robert Hale’s mother when her son is sentenced to death. Her private life laid bare by the newspapers, every innocent word misconstrued and used against the man she loves, Sybil Hale faces a world suddenly gone mad with lust for her husband’s blood. Somebody had to answer for the lustful murder of the pretty little schoolgirl, Mary Clay. He was in the building at the time the murder occurred. He had a tiny bloodstain on his coat—a friend of the murdered girl testifies that he had always been partial to Mary Clay. And more important, he was a stranger in the small city, and the narrow-minded small town people distrusted strangers. A political career was at stake — too —that of Andy Griffin, District Attorney — as unscrupulous as he was clever. Horror-stricken, Sybil sees these tiny pieces of circumstantial evidence built up into a giant structure against which she can do nothing. ‘‘But he couldn’t have done it,’’ she screams at the trial. ‘‘My husband never looked at another woman. He loved me, I tell you.’’? And at the other side of the room sits another grief-stricken woman —the mother of the murdered girl. She alone of all the town asks no revenge. Her child is gone, nothing can bring her back. And the machinery of the law grinds on. ‘‘As God is my judge, I know nothing of the death of Mary Clay,’’ says Hale. ‘‘Ah don’t know nuthin’ about it,’’ screams the terrified negro janitor who is the chief witness for the prosecution. ‘‘I demand a verdict of guilty, guilty, guilty!’’ thunders the prosecuting attorney. ‘‘The verdict is guilty’’ says the foreman of the jury. ‘*But you can’t let my husband die,’’ Sybil Hale tells the governor of the state. ‘‘He’s innocent, I tell you,’’ Hale’s mother insists. The sentence is commuted. But the mob take the matter into their own hands. Bill Brock, a reporter who has helped to frame the case, and Andy Griffin are in the attorney’s office when Sybil Hale appears before them. The kind of thing you’ve done is never over. It will stay with you as long as you live,’ she tells them. Then she goes out to face life suddenly emptied of all that had made it worth living. And as they watch her go, Brock says, ‘‘I wonder if) Hale really did it.’? ““T wonder too,’’ says Griffin. And like the two of them, you’ll wonder who really did it. And you’ll go away feeling that you’ve lived through a memorable experience. Superb acting marks each individual performance. The roles of Robert and Sybil Hale are played respectively by Edward Norris and Gloria Dickson — two brilliant newcomers to the screen. Claude Rains is Andy Griffin to the life. Mervyn LeRoy, the screen’s outstanding directorial genius, both produced and directed ‘‘They Won’t Forget.’’ From the ever-shifting theatre of public opinion comes the Reviewers Battle Page—a place for critics to speak their minds, to give the public a better understanding of the issues, situations and performances presented in “They Won't Forget.” The samples on this page give you actual copy to use. Better yet, get the local papers to assign crack reviewers —a man and a woman—to cover your showing, write their own. Idea can also be aired by capable radio commentators; followed up by reading of opinions by those who have seen the picture. THE INQUIRING REPORTER — A p ; f t : THE QUESTION: er ec (asked of people who have seen . previews of “They Won’t Forget”). Do you believe that Rob Reason To eee Norris) was in, | THE PLACE: Get Local || wre tezexsrame R e p 0 rte rs THE ANSWERS: Ruth Weisberg, W. 23rd St., private secretary: “I do not believe “Robert Hale” was the murderer mainly because he seemed so much in love with his wife. Anyone perfectly T is human nature to rebel against being told a story without a solu tion. When a motion picture containing a murder comes to an end without the offender being disclosed, it is — to put it mildly — indeed unusual. Yet it is not the first time that Producer Mervyn LeRoy and the Warner Bros. have undertaken something new and different in the field of motion picture endeavor. “They Won’t Forget,’ a First National picture which is playing this week at the Strand is another ster . : . ~“live example. 8 Busy. Like "be story is one of a politically -. : a ambitious district attorney, (Claude Rains), who seizes an opportunity to reap glory in the eyes of those directly about him. In a murder trial a school teacher (Edward Norris), is being tried on a combination of circumstantial evidence aided by prejudice, he goes to his doom and the district attorney achieves his ultimate purpose. At the end however, the latter admits to wondering whether or not the accused really was guilty. While it is therefore not the point of the picture to have a murder case reviewed, those who have seen the film or read Ward Greene’s “Death In The Deep South,” which served as a basis, cannot help but try, at least in his own mind, to effect a conclusion. Controversial though it may be, the subject lends itself readily to discussion, and there doubtless will be much before “They Won’t Forget” is forgotten. There are three people who know that Mary Clay (Lana Turner) went back into the building, and two who were already in the school when Mary entered. An instructor who had stayed late, Robert Hale (Edward Norris), and the janitor, Tump Redwine (Clinton Rosemond), were the two in the building. A girl friend, Imogene Mayfield (Linda Perry), a suitor, Joe Turner (Elisha Cook, Jr.) and the school headmaster, Carisle Burton (E. Alyn Warren) are the others who know that Mary Clay went back into the building to get her vanity case. Suspicion falls on the four men but Redwine and Hale in particular. The ambitious district attorney, realizing that it is a simple and inglorious achievement to convict a negro, charges Hale. A strong, well-knit story, you know that any one of the abovementioned four men could as easily have been the murderer as Hale on the basis of circumstances, but that the latter was the only one that District Attorney Griffin could accuse to achieve his aim. Those who have read the book and seen the picture will contend that Carlisle Buxton was the murderer. The manner in which he looked at Mary Clay when she returned to the school makes us distrust him. A target for suspicion, he is nevertheless a pillar of tradition in the town and thus unimpeachable. The suitor, Joe Turner, a youth of the proverbial hot-headed variety, is shown as being angry at Mary Clay’s tardiness on the occasion of a date they had. He is also one to suspect, but he is a youth, popular in the town, and also thus bad timber for an indictment. Tump Redwine, a negro, known to have been in the school, is fodder for the juridical guns, but hardly the type Andy Griffi t h So Robert Hale is indicted. uP y Griffin wants on the stand. Claude Rains as the district attorney gives a performance that is never to be forgotten by even the most critical and oratorical members of the bar. Producer-Director Mervyn LeRoy has given Allyn Joslyn, Gloria Dickson, Ed ward Norris, all seasoned stage performers the title roles, and they come through in style. Excellent Work By Director And New Players In “They Won't Forget” Page 8 S it possible, in the United States, for an innocent man to be con victed of murder and sent to his doom because of circumstantial evidence alone? It is, according to a truly sensational motion picture called ‘‘ They Won’t Forget,’’ which had its first local showing yesterday at the Strand Theatre, and which profoundly stirred each audience that saw it. Mervyn LeRoy, whose astonishing movie entitled ‘‘I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang’’ caused nationwide discussion a few years ago, is responsible for this one, too. It is distributed by Warner Bros. ‘“They Won’t Forget’’ was made from the much-talked-of novel by Ward Greene, ‘‘Death In The Deep South.’’ “trictly speaking, it wasn’t cireumstantial evidence alone that doomed young Robert Hale, the victim. It was also a spirit of sectional hatred, viciously and craftily stirred up by a politician-prosecutor who sought to ride to higher honors on the wave of hysteria. But this merely adds to the gripping and thought-provoking quality of the photoplay. Briefly. here’s the story: Hale (Edward Norris) is a newly-come Northerner, teaching a class of young girls in a Southern business college. Mary Clay, a pupil (Lana Turner), is found murdered there. Hale and Tump Redwine (Clinton Rosamond), a negro janitor, are the only two known to have been in the building at the time of the killing. Andy Griffin (Claude Rains) ig District Attorney but wants to be Governor. He needs something to cast the spotlight on him. He knows it would be easy to convict the poor negro, but that wouldn’t be enough. So with diabolical shrewdness he builds up a circumstantial case against Hale and at the same time fas the fires of sectional prejudice. Hale is convicted and sentenced to death. The Governor commutes his sentence to life imprisonment, so that some day perhaps his innocence may be established. But on his way to prison he is seized by & mob and lynched. Claude Rains, as the villainous prosecutor, gives perhaps the best performance of his screen career. Otto Kruger, as a Northern lawyer who defends Hale, likewise is perfect. Clinton Rosemond, as the negro janitor, wins himself a place as perhaps the best actor of his race. Amazing, for a first screen appearance, is a newcomer to films — Gloria Dickson, whom Mervyn LeRoy found in a Federal Theatre Project show in Los Angeles. Edward Norris, as Hale, the martyr, wins all sympathies. Excellent also Lana Turner, a Hollywood High School youngster of 17, as the girl who is murdered; Elisha Cook, Jr., as her boy friend ; Allyn Joslyn, from the New York stage, as a reporter; Linda Perry, as a fellow pupil of the murdered girl—jin fact the entire cast, though most of them are newcomers, is unusually good. Without doubt, ‘‘They Won’t Forget’’ is one of the strongest film dramas of the year— and it will be one of the i.0st discussed. satisfied with home life the way we are led to believe he was, would have no motive for committing such a crime.” Irving Schwartz, Church Avenue, Brooklyn, salesman: “I am inclined to believe he was innocent. At first I thought the blood spot on his coat would be hard to explain, but when the barber later testified very hesitatingly that he did not cut Robert Hale while shaving him, I immediately become sympathetic toward the defense.” Ralph Wallace, East 56th St., advertising executive: “If we are to believe circumstantial evidence, Robert Hale might very well have been the murderer. However there are three others who could have been convicted on the same score. The story though seems to lead us to the thought that it is prejudice rather than the cold facts which brought in a guilty verdict. Harry Lee, Madison Avenue, newspaperman, “Like Mr. Wallace here, I prefer to straddle the issue. While it is not the point of the film whether Robert Hale murdered Mary Clay or not, it is true that he could have been. If it were purely a murder case I would say ‘No, he was not guilty’. Personally I think Carlisle Buxton, the headmaster, was the guilty one.” Eva Siegel, Central Park West, free lance magazine writer: “] could say either yes or no, and still have much to support my stand either way. As a member of that jury I would say yes, but. as a bystander I would say that Hale. was innocent, and the school principal was the murderer. I base this conclusion on the slow lurid manner in. which he looked after Mary Clay had gone into the building, and then the same slow way in which the door to the death room was opened. If you read the book, you would get the same impression.”