User Reviews

Between the time that Bette Davis finished THE STAR and her appearance in POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES, none of her films was an outstanding box office success. This was not a problem that she alone suffered. Only a handful of the stars of the 1930s and 1940s were able to maintain their starring positions in the 1950s, many being plagued by bad health, aging, or blacklisting. Davis at least still had some films to appear in, including this forgotten one: STORM CENTER. For a woman who was (at the time) washed up, Davis demonstrated she could still deliver a restrained and intelligent performance in a picture with an important message.

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS

STORM CENTER is about politics and censorship. Davis is a librarian, and is only concerned in running her town library as well as possible, and in encouraging literacy among the children of the town. One of the children is played by Kevin Coughlin, a wonderful child actor who would grow into a capable actor before being killed in a traffic accident when only 30 years old. Kevin is bookish - too bookish according to his "know nothing" blue-collar father (Joe Mantell). There is a struggle or tug of war between Mantell, wanting his son to be more like a typical boy (i.e. a sports oriented kid) and Davis, who wants Kevin's mind to grow.

Adding to her problems is that a book in the library that Davis has put out is controversial. A number of citizens would like it removed. Brian Keith, a new member of the city council, decides to take this up as a political issue (for his own advantage, of course). Soon, all sorts of pressures are put on Davis to get rid of the nasty book, and she refuses to do so. The pressures turn nastier and nastier. Despite the support of an old friend (Paul Kelly), Davis faces dismissal. In the meantime Kevin has been affected by the near hysteria sweeping through the town. His father is pretty happy about that - maybe his son will become normal. The father lets Kevin know that the problem is the library itself. So Kevin, in his own hysterical state, sets fire to the town's library.

I saw this film only once, back in the 1970s. The arson sequence always remained with me, for the director/writer Daniel Taradash, showed the names of the titles of the burning books throughout the building. There is a build-up in the titles, as most are classic or well known works, but the last is a life of Jesus Christ - certainly the last person most right wing American fanatics would think of destroying (at least in their claimed rhetoric) from among all potential targets.

There is a sense of shame at the conclusion from Keith and the townspeople, but Davis shows no triumph over them. She simply starts planning to rebuild the library, and starts planning to help Kevin regain his normal state of mind.

It was a fine piece of film, and it is a pity it is so little known or remembered. More people should have a chance to watch it and decide for themselves about it.

Widowed librarian in a small American town, with some 25 years of experience under her belt, is ousted from her post after refusing to take a book about Communism off the shelves. Despite her sensible pleas to the skittish City Council about censoring any type of material, no matter how abhorrent, the woman is soon branded an outcast among the townspeople when her past affiliations with Communist organizations hits the press. Decent potboiler material wants to hit home with a thought-provoking message, but the dramatic handling of the situations is so stilted--and Bette Davis' lead performance is so mannered--that eventually the film succumbs to a kind of pedantic obtuseness. An exaggerated sub-plot about a book-loving child who turns on Davis is ridiculous, as are the characterizations of his parents (his father wants the kid to play ball, like all the other boys, and considers brainy occupations pinko propaganda!). It's insufferable all right, even with Bette attempting to play it with a stiffer-upper-lip; she's dignified in her little hats and unruffled, low-income outfits, but the high-powered star doesn't seem to connect with this part. The supporting cast (including an open-mouthed Kim Hunter as the assistant librarian) alternate between worried concern and prickly consternation, hardly the combination for a stormy melodrama. **1/2 from ****

There is just a handful of contemporary movies from the fifties dealing with that dark chapter of McCarthyism. "Invasion of the body snatchers" and the allegoric western "Silver Lode" are well known. Hence it's strange that this one, probably the most decided and direct anti-McCarthyism movie of them all, is almost forgotten today. Screenwriter Daniel Taradash's ("Picnic" / "From here to Eternity") directorial debut "Storm Center" is utterly convincing and politically correct. There are fine performances throughout (especially Brian Keith does a good job), and even the kid actors are bearable. The title credits are an early artwork by Saul Bass who obviously must have been involved in directing the climactic burning books sequences.

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 today's environment--with civil liberties in question and with a book praising Joe McCarthy on the best-seller lists--this powerful and eloquent anti-censorship film needs to be reissued. Bette Davis plays a small-town librarian asked to remove a communist-oriented book from her library. The city council tries to buy her off by offering to build a children's wing to the library that she has been asking for--after thinking, she refuses to remove the book. Not only do they try to take her job from her, but she becomes the target of a smear campaign based on half-truths and innuendo. As other reviews have

stated, both the "good" and the "bad" characters are three-dimensional, and Paul Kelly in particular is superb as an old friend of Bette's who tries to defend her but is caught up in the hysteria. The scene where Kelly is asked to vote to condemn her, pauses, and lowers his head in shame is quite moving. Columbia always made good, solid B-movies, and the direct, matter-of- fact presentation of this material only strengthens the overall impact. Also, The musical score, although subtle and not calling attention to itself, is perfectly crafted. In fact, the film is filled with nice little touches. Note to Columbia/Sony: put this out on DVD immediately! It will get uniformly positive reviews from the critics and it has a message needed now more than ever. If you have any opportunity to see this, do not miss it.

I recently watched Storm Center (1956) on Tubi. The plot revolves around a librarian who acquires a new book on communism for her library. When the town council demands its removal, she refuses, leading to her dismissal. She steps down gracefully but highlights the dangers of censorship to the community.

Directed by Daniel Taradash in his first directorial project, the film stars Bette Davis (All about Eve), Brian Keith (Young Guns), Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire), and Paul Kelly (Flying Tigers).

While it falls into the category of agenda-driven films common in its era, Storm Center boasts a compelling premise with a strong message. Bette Davis's performance is exceptional, delivering a convincing and authentic portrayal perfectly suited to the role. The storyline unfolds methodically and at a slow pace, but the conclusion is remarkable, featuring a memorable face-slap scene.

In conclusion, although Storm Center carries an agenda, the message is effectively conveyed, and Davis delivers an entertaining performance. I would give it a 7/10 and recommend watching it once.

I guess I'll have to be the outlier here and state that "Storm Center" is an overdone B movie starring Bette Davis. The premise is excellent -a librarian, Mrs. Hull (Davis) refuses to remove a book about Communism from the library. An ambitious politician, played by Brian Keith, discovers that Mrs. Hull joined a few organizations during the war that were Communist fronts. The fact that she quit them when she realized this doesn't make much of an impression on him. She ends up losing her job and being branded a Communist.

There isn't any doubt that a Communist was about the worst thing you could be called or suspected of being in the '50s, and the film makes an excellent point about the damage gossip and innuendo can do, and how people used the accusations as a soap box for their own means. The main problem I had with the film was the 9-year-old boy (Kevin Coughlin) who was close to Mrs. Hull and turns on her once his idiot father badmouths her. I'm sorry, but are we supposed to believe this kid is normal, and his reactions are because he thinks this woman is a Communist? The kid is another Unibomber in the making - a deeply disturbed child. I just can't blame it on Communist rumors.

Davis gives a good, if mannered performance, and is very effective when she talks about how she could have stood anything but the children turning away from her. "Storm Center" has a good message even today, but I could have done without the psycho kid.

Bette Davis plays the title role and in fact she is the Storm Center of this film, a librarian who wouldn't remove a book from the shelf called The Communist Dream. Bette had the notion that those who want to should read the book and find out if it was a dream or a nightmare.

This is one of Davis's best performances, one that had it been in an A film might have earned her another Academy Award nomination. Bette plays a World War I widow whose work is her life as a librarian in your average small town USA. The character is very close to the real Davis who remarked that work is the one thing in life that is stable and when done well, will give you more satisfaction and no pain than any relationship.

A chance remark by her associate at the library, Kim Hunter to Brian Keith a city councilman she's dating sends the ambitious Keith off on a Red hunt. Keith finds out that she joined many do gooder organizations back in the day later labeled Communist fronts and together with the aforementioned book is proof positive that the Red Menace has come to town.

There's also a subplot involving young Kevin Coughlin, a bright young kid who totally does not connect with his blue collar dad, Joe Mantell. Davis has befriended him, but when the stories about her start to circulate faster than the library books out, he turns on her most dramatically and sets the stage for the film's climax. If there was a special award that year for best performance by a child, Coughlin would have taken it hands down.

Writer Daniel Taradash directed Storm Center in his one and only time in the director's chair, he should have done more. There are a lot of carefully done small performances in Storm Center showing a lot of small town types. Taradash carefully did his characters, there are no stereotypes as you might expect in a film like this.

Two of Davis's most consistent supporters are café owner Joseph Kearns and minister Edward Platt. I liked Platt's performance very much, the minister is not some bible thumping right-wing clown, but a very intelligent man who understands what the Constitution and the First Amendment are all about.

Paul Kelly has a nice performance here as well, one of his last. He plays a judge who is a decent man, but a guy inclined to always go along and take the easy way out. He's Davis's long time friend and he thinks he's giving her good advice in telling her to just go along with the majority wishes.

Sad to say Storm Center is maybe more relevant today than it was at the time it was out. Back then it was a book called The Communist Dream, today it's Heather Has Two Mommies. All over America there are politicians like Keith looking to make cheap points exploiting prejudice.

Storm Center is an underrated gem of a film, one of the best in Davis's career. There's an old adage in that when you talk about the Bill of Rights you're a conservative, when you actually try to put them in practice you're a radical. I've rarely seen that demonstrated better on screen than in Storm Center and the performances of Brian Keith and Bette Davis.

***SPOILERS***Hard hitting attack of the surge of McCarthyism that went almost unchecked in the early 1950's in the US and ended up destroying thousands of innocent lives, physically and financially, until Senator Joseph McCarthy overreached himself in taking on the US Army in the disastrous, for him, Army/McCarthy Hearings in the spring of 1954. The film "Storm Center" centers around this small New England town where the widowed and beloved Alicia Hull, Bettie Davis, is its library's head Iberian. Mrs. Hull allows this very pro Communist book "The Comunist Dream" in the liberty's bookshelf and that leads to her being fired form her job and almost run out of town on a rail by the local town fathers as well as population.

In her refusing to give into the pressure put on her Mrs. Hull ends up losing all her friends in town and slandered as a Pinko Commie and that lead to little Freddie Slater, Kevin Coughlin, who thought the world of here to turn against her. Even though Mrs. Hull seemed to take all the slings and arrows at her in stride little Freddie soon went over the deep end in not being able to handle what he was brainwashed, by the local townspeople, into thinking that his once good friend Mrs. Hull was made out to be.It was at the dedication of the town library's new children wing that Mrs. Hull did so much to get built that little Freddy finally lost it and went completely bananas when he was ask to be in a photo op with her. By then they die was cast into what was going to happen next with little Freddie going from a book loving young boy to a book burning Nazi type.

***SPOILERS*** Shocking ending to the movie has Freddie going insane and setting the town library on fire with him inside it. By then it was too late to stop the damage that all this red bating started with Freddy setting the library on fire and possibly, it's not quite sure, ending up killing himself. We see in the final moments of the movie all the great books that enlightened mankind being burned to a crisps and the townspeople who in fact, in their mindless actions against Mrs. Hull, initiated this horror watch helplessly as the entire town library went up in flames. And with that the both humanism and all that was good in being an American go up in flames along with it along with it.

Plot-- A town librarian follows her conscience by refusing to remove a communist book from the library. This sets off a chain of events as the town struggles to find its own civic conscience.

Please allow me a moment before turning to the movie itself, which is notable for being the first to take on the purges of what's known as the McCarthy era. Importantly, there's a popular assumption that has arisen about that period and goes with the movie. I want to briefly question that assumption.

Put simply, the main misconception about the McCarthy era (early 1950's) is that it failed. In a sense the movie reflects that misconception in its ending, when the community resolves to rebuild the library. Nonetheless, the right-wing purges of New Deal liberals from positions of influence (Henry Wallace among the most notable) succeeded by leaving a permanent imprint on the nation's political direction. More importantly, the chill that went through liberal ranks led to considerable self-censorship, sinking any hopes that the US might expand New Deal policies into European-type social democracy. Being branded a "com-symp" could not only get a person dismissed from positions of influence, (teaching, engineering, administration, union leadership, etc.), but also risk established relationships, whether personal or professional. Popular history likes to think the period was something our liberal democracy got over quickly once McCarthy was censured. But the senator was only a spokesman of a broader powerplay, the effects of whose chill last to the present day. That's especially evident in the constricted nature of the Democratic Party, which never recovered from the loss of its progressive New Deal Wing. Nor, for that matter, did the vigor of the union movement. In sum, the fact that the Senator himself crashed and burned should not be confused with the success of the program as a whole, which was much greater than popular history likes to admit.

The movie itself is safely centrist, reducing the highly charged Cold War issues to the single one of free speech, a constitutional right that presumably principled liberals and conservatives could both support. Nor does the movie risk political partisanship by caricaturing the opposing factions. After all, the censorship faction has a point: we're in a war, they assert. It may be a cold war, but it's a war, no less. And censorship is accepted in wartime. To that, the movie libertarians reply that freedom of speech must be preserved to distinguish us from our totalitarian enemy, (presumably the unmentioned Soviets), otherwise we loose a key difference.

As to the movie itself, the acting is low-key, though Davis oh-so-perfectly enunciates her lines, while the boy's (Coughlin) melodramatic part appears badly over-done. I assume writer Tarradash was using the boy to symbolize what could happen to the younger generation should the anti-intellectual push get a toe-hold. The photography is rather flat b&w, presumably not to distract from the key message. Overall, it's not a particularly distinguished production apart from its place in film history. But, whatever else, the hopeful message should not be allowed to detract from the lasting ill-effects of that crucial period.

Nobody could play such role as the remarkable Bette Davis did in movie about censorship that spread in America personified in the bleak character of Joseph McCarthy on the early fifties until 1957 one year before Storm Center be release, dealing with the same paronoid subject over reds alleged that were plotting against democracy whereof crushed reputations of many American citizens imposed by the McCarthysm or more commonly known as witch hunt.

At conservative small town on America a librarian head Alicia Hull (Bette Davis) enters in a clash with the city council about a book over communist propaganda, for a long time Alicia struggles to build a new wing addressed by children, she needs their financial support to take it ahead, an appointment is settle to tackle the issue, the council board voted by consensus approve such endeavor, in other hand another council member Paul Duncan (Brian Keith) requires that Mrs. Alicia pull out from the library the book that regarding the communist system for good, meanwhile the prouder librarian disagreed of such outrageous order, just for own principles, it somehow angers Duncan that has yearns political ladder with strong statement against any kind of reds liaisons, whatever it's be.

Even coerced accept at first moment Mrs. Alicia goes back your early agreement and turn over putting the infamous book at library's shelf available to the readers, it's raises wrath in the council board to make a quickly and hard resolution, the resignation of Mrs. Alicia from the charge that were approved by all them, triggering many nasty gossips, anger that ends up in an outrageous isolation of Mrs. Alicia of the whole community including their beloved kids readers that she had in high esteem.

Notwithstanding the subject in question be treat a bit contrived, it somehow hit the target concerning the jeopardy over the pre-censorship deploy in a democratic ground, where the American people already are aware this menace in advance due the bad samples scattered around the world and they sadly unfolding, fine approaching over this neuralgic issue, nevertheless in an overdone manner, which I watch in my teenager years.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1977 / Source: TV-Youtube / How many: 2 / Rating: 7.

This great little film compares favorably with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Yet the critics seem to dislike an elderly woman hero and "cheap" production. Mr. Smith is tedious, long-winded, self-congratulatory, preachy and vague, yet he gets all the acclaim whereas Storm Center is relegated to oblivion. Alas, the beautiful old Santa Rosa Library was torn down too. Anyone who loves libraries has got to like this movie. Female librarians are often ridiculed as dried up spinsters, as if being a dried up spinster were a bad thing! It's WONDERFUL, and so is being a librarian, one of the nobler callings. This movie works in every department. Everything is just perfect. It transcends mere plot and becomes art. The tapestry of SOUNDS is fantastic. The essence of a movie is, paradoxically, its audio, not its video. Great movies are a feast to the ear. The composer deserves a lot of credit for a rich, eerie score. This classic should be out on DVD.

A film about censorship of books and why it's wrong is a noble concept. Aside from a grossly exaggerated child character who loves reading and his misguided father who doesn't understand, the first act led me to believe I was in for a juicy potboiler that was somehow lost in the Columbia vaults. I wish.

"Storm Center" is contrived and manipulative propaganda done in the most sensationalist, cartoon-like manner conceivable. The climax almost looks like a satire and is even more hokey than the red scare films it was clearly attempting to counter. This was really just Hollywood attempting to dumb down their vision of the blacklisting scandal so that even the mere dummy general public could see the evil of hatin' on commies. It didn't work. Further, the theme of book burning is used to 'subliminally' rail against McCarthyism -- they really have nothing in common, so the story sets up the offensive book in question about Communism, which allows the film to haphazardly leave its bread crumbs.

The screenplay is terrible and despite a whole lot of good talent in the cast, they are too often directed to perform on the same level as the script. (ie, Bette Davis' closing speech, Kevin Coughlin's performance after his remarkable change of personality, etc.) The entire subplot of Davis' librarian being a buddy to all the neighborhood kids is unrealistic and calculated.

I suppose it's worth watching if you have an interest in any of the cast; a number of TV character actors also appear, like Edward Platt (Get Smart) and Joseph Kearns (Dennis the Menace.) But the main interest should be to see hyperbolic melodrama at its most vacuous.

In this 1956 film starring Bette Davis who is a head librarian in a small narrow minded town and refuses to withdraw a controversial book during the height of the "McCarthy Era" which unfortunately ends in disastrous results.This great film has never been released on VHS/DVD so far, unless you're fortunate to catch it on TV sometime.

This is a very flawed movie but well worth watching. We all live in a world saturated with politically correct nonsense as demonstrated by the reviews of this over-the-top parody of selfrighteousness. Just to set the record a bit straighter, McCarthy was not interested in banning books. Actually that was more in keeping with the mission of HUAC, aka Bobby Kennedy, et al. Tailgunner Joe was interested in communists working within the government to bring the United States down. Anyone remember Alger Hiss? To give this confused and confusing movie its due, we can all agree that book banning is bad and book burning is worse. That said, this movie is right on point that books should be exposed to light and air but never to flames. The best thing about the movie is the fact that the librarian actually loved the children more than the books. Let us enjoy Bette and the movie for what it is and not follow it into the soul deadening and intellectually arid wasteland of political correctness.

I first saw "Storm Center" when I was eight years old. Even though the film was meant for adults, my parents respected my intelligence and maturity to think I would get the film's meaning. I did. Even though I didn't see the film again until I was an adult, I understood how brave and daring the film was. An example of this might have been that my next door neighbor kids didn't want to play "Cowboys and Indians." It was "Americans and Communists" for them. That was the mentality of 1956 America. Fear was everywhere. A right to voice an unpopular opinion was not only unpopular, but made one suspicious. Bette Davis' role as Yankee liberal librarian Alicia Hull perfectly fit in with our family. She wasn't a left-wing radical, but she did want to have the radicals have a right to speak, no matter how odious. My thought is that when this film shows up at 3 am, some Tea Party types will stay up to watch and pray Bette gets burned at the stake.

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.

It is amazing that Bette Davis disparaged this great film as a failure and blamed 9 year-old Kevin for not being affectionate enough! She complained so much on the set that the boy wouldn't cry on cue, that his poor mother had to resort to pinching and slapping him. In fact, just about everything about this film is perfect, the acting, the pacing, the music, the subject, the casting, the gorgeous black and white photography. Although there is a well-crafted plot, the real protagonist of Storm Center is not a nice librarian and a bookish boy, but an entire town going mad with fear, afraid of its own shadow. Sure it is `preachy', but what a sermon! How many movies can deliver this sort of inspiration? The great seriousness of the film's purpose elevates it above most others.

The individual characters are symbolic, sketchy, and that's exactly as it should be. A second-rate film would have gotten off on tangents, emphasizing the purely anecdotal aspects. This is the quintessential anti-censorship and anti-bigotry film, a passionate outcry for tolerance, reason and compassion, like `Harvey' (1950). The film's nobility and beauty is evident in its refusal to draw caricatures. Even the bad guys are presented as human beings, and one finds oneself liking them. But beyond the message, there is great esthetic satisfaction. I would call it a work of art.

Bette Davis' performance is flawed, in stark contrast to little Kevin's near perfection. But her overacting can be enjoyed too. A touch of camp is a good thing.

Kevin Coughlin had a happy life and a tragic end. At age 30 he was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

He was one of the finest, funnest and also most earnest people ever to work in Hollywood. Storm Center is his first film.