Storm Warning: A Review

STORM WARNING

Warner Brothers was the studio that dared. It took on tough topics. At a time when most other studios were either ignoring or avoiding tense subjects, Warner Brothers dove right in. They dared to make Confessions of a Nazi Spy before we entered the war. After the war, the studio took on a domestic terrorist organization with Storm Warning. While the film did water down somewhat the evil elements that make up the Ku Klux Klan, Storm Warning still has enough of its demonic nature to make it work both as a drama and time capsule of its malevolence. 

Fashion model Marsha Mitchell (Ginger Rogers) is on her way to a fashion show when, by luck, her route takes her through the small town of Rock Point. This is where her sister, Lucy Rice (Doris Day) now lives with her new husband, Hank (Steve Cochran). Marsha opts to leave the bus early and stay overnight as a surprise visit. Marsha could not have picked a worse time to show up.

Rock Point is a wildly unfriendly town, full of terrified citizens who won't help her in any way. The depot hurriedly closes. The taxi driver brusquely refuses to take her anywhere. The burger joint where the obnoxious taxi driver is at also closes long before the official closing time. Marsha is forced to walk to the Recreation Center where she knows Lucy works. On her way, Marsha sees a mob breaking into the County Jail and then is horrified to see that mob kill a man. Fortunately, she managed to hide throughout the ordeal and makes it to the Rec Center. Lucy is delighted to see her older sister. She also thinks that the dead man was Walter Adams, an out-of-town reporter looking into the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Lucy is not oblivious but also keeps to herself, more interested in her upcoming baby than on murders on the streets. One person who is not oblivious is town prosecutor Burt Rainey (Ronald Reagan). He knows that the KKK is behind this killing. He knows that the townspeople are either willing participants or terrified onlookers to their actions. He also knows that no one will come out publicly against them in Rock Point. Marsha herself may not tell what she knows when she finally meets Hank. He is one of the two men who unmasked themselves unwittingly in front of Marsha. 

Marsha is conflicted. Lucy initially believes Hank's story that he was coerced into participating. Marsha attempts to leave town, but Rainey learns she might be a witness. Her efforts to dodge his inquiries backfire, forcing her to stay and testify at the public inquest. That, however, ends up backfiring on Rainey when Marsha opts to protect Hank in a misguided effort to protect Lucy. All that ends up backfiring on everyone when Hank and Imperial Grand Wizard Charlie Barr (Hugh Sanders) abduct her to try to force her to stay quiet. It's an ultimate showdown where not everyone will live to see the sunrise.

I was surprised by much of what Storm Warning built. It was, if not brave, at least a step in the right direction to show the Ku Klux Klan in film at all. A section of Storm Warning has Hank, after his court win, attempt to violently assault Marsha. You also had a very strange section at the end where Marsha is literally whipped at the massive Klan rally. 

One of the most shocking moments in the film is when Lucy is killed by Hank. Even now, it is still shocking to see Doris Day shot. It is a credit to both Day and Ginger Rogers that this scene never slips into exaggerated farce. Instead, this is a deeply moving and tragic moment, underscoring how even the most innocent are sometimes caught up in awful circumstances.

Storm Warning is a showcase for Doris Day as a dramatic actress. Day was still early in her film career and had made only one dramatic film before Storm Warning. Even in that prior film, Young Man with a Horn, she played a singer. This is the first film in Day's filmography that was a straight drama. Day is still working her way through to playing drama. There is a bit of a rushed manner to some of her scenes, as if she is trying to hide her nervousness by speaking faster than others. However, in Day we see Lucy's genuine fear and disbelief that Hank could be involved with people who terrorize her community.

As a side note, in the scene where Marsha is assaulted, Hank takes a few swipes at Lucy when she defends her older sister. Given Day's real-life experiences with domestic abuse, one can only marvel at how she got through those scenes. Those who know that her first husband beat her and even attempted to induce a miscarriage through physical violence must have chills at this Storm Warning sequence. 

Storm Warning also is a showcase for the other actors. Ginger Rogers may have won a Best Actress Oscar for her turn in Kitty Foyle. However, I think most people then and now still identify her as a great musical/comedy performer. Storm Warning shows that Rogers was very much capable of a dramatic performance. Rogers goes through various emotions ranging from confusion to terror to conflicted to deeply grieved. She shows herself to be someone of exceptional range as an actress.

Ronald Reagan's acting career is now colored through political lenses. People who hate his Presidency may dismiss him as an actor. Storm Warning shows Reagan to be competent. I would not call him among the greatest actors. However, Reagan in Storm Warning shows a likeability and moral certainty as Burt Rainey. I found his performance to be very relaxed and casual, edged with cynicism about how the town either cowered to or collaborated with the KKK. He has a strong scene with Rogers when Rainey is questioning Marsha, showing that her efforts to avoid naming those involved went instead in his favor. Steve Cochran did well as Hank Rice. It was a wise decision to not make Hank either sympathetic or truly monstrous. Instead, Cochran, directed by Stuart Heisler, played Hank as both a killer and a frightened man. 

Daniel Fuchs and Richard Brooks' screenplay at times was a bit heavy-handed, such as when Rainey explains how Rock Point's mix of indifference and fear has emboldened the Klan. Storm Warning has been criticized also for skimping on its racism, xenophobia and antisemitism. Walter Adams, who is white, is killed for reporting against them. There is little to no mention of the KKK's violence towards minorities, Jews or Catholics. However, that any film, let alone of this era, was willing to take on the Klan is something that should not be dismissed.

Stuart Heisler does have some wonderful visual moments in Storm Warning. There is when Hank assures Imperial Wizard Barr that Marsha will leave town tonight. The scene is mostly in the dark, making their conversation more sinister. 

I do think that Daniele Amfitheatrof's score was excessively dramatic to where it could come off as farce. 

Storm Warning may not have shown just how evil the Ku Klux Klan are. That being said, the film itself does not shy away from its dangers while not shortchanging the story of sisterly bond put to the test. Storm Warning has fine performances from its cast and a fast-moving and engaging story. On almost every level, Storm Warning does a strong job. 

DECISION: B+