After making a string of highly successful, light-hearted
musicals at Warner Brothers, 25 year old Doris Day ventured into her
first non-singing role, the dramatic "Storm Warning". The
film is significant for several reasons, one, it is the only picture
in which Doris Day dies, two, it dealt with a subject that was hard-hitting
and raw, and three, Miss Day got the opportunity to work with her girlhood
idol, the legendary Ginger Rogers and with the future President of the
United States, Ronald Reagan.
We discover that Marsha Mitchell (Ginger
Rogers) is a fashion model who arrives in a small Southern town to
visit her pregnant sister, Lucy Rice (Doris Day). Arriving on a rainy night,
she finds the streets totally deserted. Unable to secure a taxi, she
decides to walk to her sister's place of employment. In route, Marsha
observes a man being chased, then beaten and murdered. The hooded perpetrators
are obviously members of the Ku Klux Klan. Hiding in a doorway, she
sees the faces of two of them. Terrified, she later tells her sister about
the horror she has witnessed. Marsha has never met her sister's husband,
but as soon as she is introduced to him, she recognises him as one
of the killers. Steve Cochran portrays Hank Rice, Lucy's husband. His performance
is similar to the one he played in "White Heat",
oversexed and desperate.
Reagan plays the local police chief, Burt Rainy,
who is investigating the mob murder of the Northern reporter who
was investigating the Klan. Lucy innocently informs Hank that her sister
actually saw the attack. Shocked, Hank tells Charlie Barr (Hugh Sanders),
a local official and head honcho of the local Klan, who becomes increasingly
concerned whether Marsha will or won't talk. Rainy hears that Rogers
witnessed the crime, but she is reluctant to reveal the fact that
she actually saw the faces of two of them.
The Klan goes on trial for the
killing and Marsha is asked to testify. To protect her sister, she lies
on the stand, thwarting Rainy's last ditch opportunity to nail the Klan.
Triumphantly, the Klan is not convicted for lack of evidence. When Marsha
returns to her sister's house from the trial, she is confronted with
a drunken Hank who is celebrating the Klan's victory. Reminiscent of the
scene in "Streetcar Named
Desire" with
Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, he viciously attempts to rape Marsha
while his wife is out of the house. Lucy returns and drags Hank off
her sister only to be thrown across the room. This attack on her
sister prompts Marsha to threaten Hank that she intends, indeed,
to tell what she knows to the police.
Marsha is kidnapped and taken
to a Klan rally. The scene is eerie with crosses burning, men,
women and children dressed in KKK attire while Marsha is bound,
obviously subject to being executed. Rainey shows up and tries
to put an end to the proceedings. During this dramatic scene,
Lucy arrives to rescue her sister but is shot by her crazed husband
by accident. She dies in Marsha's arms.
"Storm Warning" is strong stuff and I am puzzled
as to why this has not been released on video or DVD. The picture has a
film noir quality, for it is dark, marose and very disturbing. Darkly handsome
Steve Cochran gives a crazed, swaggering performance as Hank. Ginger Rogers
is good as Marsha and showed what years of acting before the camera was
all about. Reagan did an adequate job as the investigator and Doris Day
wavered between good and inept. This was her first dramatic non-singing
role and it showed her inexperience. She faired much better in her earlier
appearance in the dramatic musical, "Young Man With A Horn".
The important novelty about this film is that you saw people
of colour walking down the street! This is something rarely seen in most
forties and fifties films. Their inclusion gave an extra feeling of authenticity
to the film.
The reviews were generally good to excellent. The Hollywood
Reporter wrote: "A
sombre but stirring and thought-provoking story, "Storm
Warning" spotlights
two new dramatic stars, Doris Day and Steve Cochran...Cochran
is a standout...lovely Doris is very convincing as the loving
wife..." Film Bulletin said, "Every element that
went into the filming of "Storm
Warning" is of the best calibre. The performances, notably
those of Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day and Steve
Cochran, are superb."
Newsweek raved about Day's acting saying "Surprise of the
occasion is the successful casting of the singer, Doris Day in
a straight role that calls for considerable dramatic assurance."
The
direction by Stuart Heisler and the screenplay by Daniel Fuchs
and Richard Brooks provided all that was needed to make this
an exciting film. The supporting work by Hugh Sanders, Lloyd
Gough and Ned Glass was strong. Praise must also go to the
cinematography by Carl Guthrie whose photography helped sustain the film
noir quality that was prevalent in so many Warner films. Ralph McKnight, New York, March 2002
