Directed by Anatole Litvak • 1941 • United States
Starring John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell
John Garfield and Ida Lupino star in the big-screen adaptation of Irwin Shaw’s play “The Gentle People,” a pre–World War II allegory warning of the seductive allure and danger inherent in pretending that the looming danger of fascism could be ignored. In a small fishing village, the locals are relentlessly threatened by the town thug, Harold Goff (Garfield), who extorts cash each week for “protection,” yet they feel it’s better to pay and turn the other cheek than risk violence. But everything begins to change when the tailor’s daughter (Lupino) becomes attracted to Goff, seeing in him a way to escape the boredom of her dull, small-town life.
Up Next in Coastal Thrillers
-
The Breaking Point
Directed by Michael Curtiz • 1950 • United States
Starring John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis ThaxterMichael Curtiz brings a master skipper’s hand to the helm of this thriller, Hollywood’s second crack at Ernest Hemingway’s “To Have and Have Not.” John Garfield stars as Harry Morgan, an hone...
-
Key Largo
Directed by John Huston • 1948 • United States
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren BacallThe final film pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is a torrid noir chamber piece adapted from Maxwell Anderson’s play of the same name and directed with sweltering, claustrophobic...
-
Insomnia
Directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg • 1997 • Norway
Starring Stellan Skarsgård, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Bjørn FlobergIn this elegantly unsettling murder mystery, Stellan Skarsgård plays an enigmatic Swedish detective with a checkered past who arrives in a small town in northern Norway to investigate the ...
