This film is a classic; maybe not in the conventional sense of classic film-making, but certainly for librarians, for anyone interested in the topics about intellectual freedom, censorship and/or strongly principled individuals who believe in free speech! This should be available on DVD.If there are any issues involved, such as copyright, someone at Sony should work them out and make this film available for classroom and library discussion groups. The relevance to contemporary issues is significant. This was the height of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union, the era of Senator Joe McCarthy and the "Red scare," and the blacklisting of Hollywood industry folks. Bette Davis is the principled librarian who challenges her City Council's dictate that she remove a book on Communism from the library because there are complaints from patrons. Some of the dialog and characters are stilted but the feel is definitely the '50s. The challenges to libraries have not gone away but the commitment and dignity of the true librarian spirit has not changed. Here we are, almost 50 years later, confronted with the Patriot Act. George Clooney's recently released film "Good Night and Good Luck" about McCarthy and Edward R. Murrow's effort to expose McCarthyism prove that some things, unfortunately, never do go away, they just come around again.
Review of Storm Center
