All I know about Director Daniel Taradash is that he was involved in the FROM HERE TO ETERNITY screenplay and directed PICNIC. He probably has other feathers on his cap, I just do not know them.
In STORM CENTER, completed just as the HUAC/Senator McCarthy repression tornado began to lose force in the United States, Taradash shows the consequences of attempting to repress culture, and the effects it can have for future generations, embodied by Kevin Coughlin (who is given the unenviable role of Freddie the library arsonist).
Ray Bradbury had published his sci-fi novel, FARENHEIT 451 by 1953, and its ending sees the regime burn books. I wonder whether Taradash had read Bradbury's work...
Bette Davis remains as watchable as ever, with fewer hysterical bursts than in most of her films - though she lost my sympathy when she started slapping Freddie left and right in front of the crowd. She may have had all the good reasons to do it - the initially sweet bookworm of a kid turns into a proper pest! - but she should have retained the intelligence and thoughtfulness she had shown as librarian, and at best avoided the slapping, at worst done it all the behind doors (joking, of course, but I rate that scene the worst I have seen from Davis).
Brian Keith looks good and suitably pompous as a local political figure, Paul Kelly is the pick of the bunch in terms of acting and character, and Kim Hunter displays a sensitive touch.
Perhaps the film's finest asset is the way it shows how a witch hunt - obviously in reference to the McCarthy/HUAC anticommunist drive - can isolate and doom an individual.
Competent cinematography, uneven script. Well intentioned but somewhat over the top message movie. 7/10.
In STORM CENTER, completed just as the HUAC/Senator McCarthy repression tornado began to lose force in the United States, Taradash shows the consequences of attempting to repress culture, and the effects it can have for future generations, embodied by Kevin Coughlin (who is given the unenviable role of Freddie the library arsonist).
Ray Bradbury had published his sci-fi novel, FARENHEIT 451 by 1953, and its ending sees the regime burn books. I wonder whether Taradash had read Bradbury's work...
Bette Davis remains as watchable as ever, with fewer hysterical bursts than in most of her films - though she lost my sympathy when she started slapping Freddie left and right in front of the crowd. She may have had all the good reasons to do it - the initially sweet bookworm of a kid turns into a proper pest! - but she should have retained the intelligence and thoughtfulness she had shown as librarian, and at best avoided the slapping, at worst done it all the behind doors (joking, of course, but I rate that scene the worst I have seen from Davis).
Brian Keith looks good and suitably pompous as a local political figure, Paul Kelly is the pick of the bunch in terms of acting and character, and Kim Hunter displays a sensitive touch.
Perhaps the film's finest asset is the way it shows how a witch hunt - obviously in reference to the McCarthy/HUAC anticommunist drive - can isolate and doom an individual.
Competent cinematography, uneven script. Well intentioned but somewhat over the top message movie. 7/10.