After hearing about this movie for years I finally caught it on TCM. Overall I was impressed. It's not the searing indictment of the KKK many would've hoped for, but a studio movie made in 1951 (in the McCarthy era) could only be expected to go so far, so it's not fair to judge it by today's standards.
Similar to "Black Legion," also made by Warner Brothers 14 years earlier, the local Klan leaders are shown as primarily interested in making money off their gullible membership, and their fear regarding the story being written by the reporter they murder is that it's going to get them in trouble with the IRS. Actually, "Black Legion" went a bit further by showing the Klan beating and burning down the house of a young Eastern European immigrant who gets promoted at the local factory over "pure American" Bogart. So it did show the Klan leaders as being motivated by bigotry and hate, and not just out for a buck. It's sad but true that Hollywood was braver in 1937 than 1951, but like I said, it was a reflection of the times. The boldest thing in "Storm Warming" is when the Klan leader says to Ginger Rogers that without them she wouldn't be able to walk the streets safely at night. This is a reference to vicious lies spread by the KKK in the south post-Civil War, but you would have to know that history to get what he is alluding to.
Unlike some other reviewers, I was not bothered by the fact that the people in this southern town had no accents, because then it made the theme more universal instead of it being confined to "rednecks." Also, in a lot of movies set in the south, the actors' fake southern accents are laughably bad. I certainly didn't want to hear Ronald Reagan, who was supposedly born and bred in that town, doing a southern accent. But there was a weird bit of casting with character actor Ned Glass (Doc in West Side Story) as the local bowling alley manager. With his New York accent he seems distinctly out-of-place.
I thought that both Ginger Rogers and Doris Day gave good performances, and it's a bit shocking to see how badly they're treated. Doris is essentially playing the Kim Hunter part from "A Streetcar Named Desire" (and even looks like her), but is treated far worse than Stella. She gets pushed, punched, and eventually shot. No movie ever treated Doris that way again. Ginger also gets physically abused, and even whipped (though through her blouse, so that scene cops out a bit). I thought that Steve Cochrane, an underrated actor, was quite good as Doris' husband, though there are some credibility issues with his character. Initially you think he's a decent but not very bright guy who's being exploited by the Klan, but as the movie progresses he gets increasingly mean and crazy, climaxing in his attack on Blanche, I mean Ginger, a scene that is well directed and has real impact.
The big climax also delivers some real tension, thanks in part to the visual iconography of the Klan uniforms and burning cross. But the way the group folds up and slinks off into the night after Ronald Reagan verbally shames them lessens the impact. That scene is like the movie as whole. It delivers, but only up to a point.
Interesting to note that the movie's screenwriters were heavyweights Daniel Fuchs ("Criss Cross" and "Panic in the Streets," among other classic noirs) and Richard Brooks (later the writer-director of "Elmer Gantry," "In Cold Blood"), both personally very political and known for not shying away from controversial subjects, I'm guessing that their original script may've been toned done by the studio?
Similar to "Black Legion," also made by Warner Brothers 14 years earlier, the local Klan leaders are shown as primarily interested in making money off their gullible membership, and their fear regarding the story being written by the reporter they murder is that it's going to get them in trouble with the IRS. Actually, "Black Legion" went a bit further by showing the Klan beating and burning down the house of a young Eastern European immigrant who gets promoted at the local factory over "pure American" Bogart. So it did show the Klan leaders as being motivated by bigotry and hate, and not just out for a buck. It's sad but true that Hollywood was braver in 1937 than 1951, but like I said, it was a reflection of the times. The boldest thing in "Storm Warming" is when the Klan leader says to Ginger Rogers that without them she wouldn't be able to walk the streets safely at night. This is a reference to vicious lies spread by the KKK in the south post-Civil War, but you would have to know that history to get what he is alluding to.
Unlike some other reviewers, I was not bothered by the fact that the people in this southern town had no accents, because then it made the theme more universal instead of it being confined to "rednecks." Also, in a lot of movies set in the south, the actors' fake southern accents are laughably bad. I certainly didn't want to hear Ronald Reagan, who was supposedly born and bred in that town, doing a southern accent. But there was a weird bit of casting with character actor Ned Glass (Doc in West Side Story) as the local bowling alley manager. With his New York accent he seems distinctly out-of-place.
I thought that both Ginger Rogers and Doris Day gave good performances, and it's a bit shocking to see how badly they're treated. Doris is essentially playing the Kim Hunter part from "A Streetcar Named Desire" (and even looks like her), but is treated far worse than Stella. She gets pushed, punched, and eventually shot. No movie ever treated Doris that way again. Ginger also gets physically abused, and even whipped (though through her blouse, so that scene cops out a bit). I thought that Steve Cochrane, an underrated actor, was quite good as Doris' husband, though there are some credibility issues with his character. Initially you think he's a decent but not very bright guy who's being exploited by the Klan, but as the movie progresses he gets increasingly mean and crazy, climaxing in his attack on Blanche, I mean Ginger, a scene that is well directed and has real impact.
The big climax also delivers some real tension, thanks in part to the visual iconography of the Klan uniforms and burning cross. But the way the group folds up and slinks off into the night after Ronald Reagan verbally shames them lessens the impact. That scene is like the movie as whole. It delivers, but only up to a point.
Interesting to note that the movie's screenwriters were heavyweights Daniel Fuchs ("Criss Cross" and "Panic in the Streets," among other classic noirs) and Richard Brooks (later the writer-director of "Elmer Gantry," "In Cold Blood"), both personally very political and known for not shying away from controversial subjects, I'm guessing that their original script may've been toned done by the studio?