Film: They Wont Forget

 They Won't Forget film (1937)

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/A3W7FK/they-wont-forget-1937-warner-film-with-claude-rains-and-lana-turner-A3W7FK.jpg


In class, we watched the film "They Won't Forget" which was released in 1937 directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The film is based on the novel, "Death in the Deep South; (1936) by Ward Greene which dramatized the 1913 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl from Atlanta. 


Summary / Analysis :


The movie takes place in a town named Flooden in which the main scene of a crime takes place. A student is found dead on Memorial Day, but District Attorney Griffin (Claude Rains) sees it as an opportunity to progress himself into the U.S. Senate. The film was the most serious drama LeRoy had been given to portray. Griffin begins a meticulous smear campaign against the girl's teacher, Robert Hale (Edward Norris), who is an outsider from New York. He then works with a ruthless reporter to create a media frenzy of prejudice and hate against the teacher. Because only circumstantial evidence was available, Hale is convicted and the locals of the town threatened vigilante justice if he wasn't executed.


The film focuses on the main themes of fear and injustice which served a great amount of ego to Mr. Griffin especially as the mass following of the town's attention encouraged an execution of Mr. Hale. The injustice in the film angered me as prejudice and inequality were portrayed greatly. An example of this is previous to the teacher's arrest, the town originally wanted to arrest the janitor of the building where the girl was murdered. The janitor was also of African American race which was most likely the motive of accusatory action. 


The film can also be looked at through the lens of the major theme of media power and its major impact on the town and public perception. We can observe this in the film's portrayal of media outlet through the ongoing newspaper reports which lead up the trial ultimately serving as a guide to the public's perception of the press and politicians influence on legal matters of the case. This is a very important theme within the film given that this type of coverage is very much present within today's society in media coverage and our strong reliance on sources where we get our information from. 

 



The Film:

                                    

The Film alludes that Mr. Hale is innocent but never reveals if he or who the responsible party was. 


The main idea:

-The film is about newspapermen and politicians using the trial for personal gain (as we can observe with Mr. Griffin's character). 
-They use the prejudice of the North vs the South to fuel the trial into a media circus.
-"Never forget" embodies the line between the north and the south and how people will never forget that division (this was displayed by the films opening in which Civil War veterans discussed after the time people will always remember it)

The conclusion and final message to take away:

 -Both the northern and southern sides are equally guilty, this leaves viewers left to decide what they want to think after watching and what argument they truly believe. 




Works cited:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/they_wont_forget_1937
https://variety.com/1936/film/reviews/they-won-t-forget-1200411311/


 

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