Directed by Clarence Brown • 1949 • United States
Starring David Brian, Juano Hernández, Claude Jarman Jr.
One of the first major Hollywood films to deal seriously and sensitively with the subject of racial injustice, this landmark adaptation of the novel by William Faulkner features a towering performance by Juano Hernandez as Lucas Beauchamp, a Black man accused of murdering a white lumberman in a small Mississippi town. As the dead man’s brother whips the local whites into a lynch-mob frenzy, Beauchamp refuses to confess to the crime or give in to intimidation. Now it’s up to a few brave people to take a stand and—without regard to the race of either the victim or the accused—uncover the startling truth.
Up Next in Noir and the Blacklist
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Obsession
Directed by Edward Dmytryk • 1949 • United Kingdom
Starring Robert Newton, Sally Gray, Naunton WayneThe first film director Edward Dmytryk made in England after being blacklisted from Hollywood is a wittily inventive blend of black comedy and suspense in which the investigation by a Scotland Ya...
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Gun Crazy
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis • 1950 • United States
Starring Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry KroegerBart Tare (John Dall) has been enamored with firearms since he was a kid. Annie Laurie Star (Peggy Cummins) is the sharp-shooting queen of a traveling carnival. When Bart beats Laurie in a sexuall...
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The Lawless
Directed by Joseph Losey • 1950 • United States
Starring Macdonald Carey, Gail Russell, Johnny SandsThe second of five films leftist director Joseph Losey made in Hollywood before being blacklisted, this socially conscious noir traces simmering racial tensions between white farmers and Mexican ...
