FURY

US, 1936, 94 minutes, Black and white.
Spencer Tracy, Sylvia Sidney, Bruce Cabot, Walter Abel, Edward Ellis, Walter Brennan, Frank Albertson.
Directed by Fritz Lang.

Fury is a sombre piece of Americana with a mid-'30s setting. It was directed by veteran German director Fritz Lang (Destiny, Metropolis and other German classics) who was to make his mark in American film-making during the coming decades. It was produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who was to move into direction in the '50s with such masterpieces as A Letter To Three Wives, All About Eve.

The film takes the theme of the wrong man and shows the reaction of the American public to rumour, suspicion and branching into lynch-law behaviour. Spencer Tracy is the innocent victim - and does something of a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in his performance (which he was to play four years later) with the charming innocent of the opening and the embittered victim of the latter part of the film. Sylvia Sidney is a pleasing heroine.

The film is a criticism of American behaviour, the ideal and people not living up to it. It is also an alarming vision of a lynch mob getting out of hand and its consequences. The film reaches some kind of nice ending - people at the time commenting that it was a combination of requirements of the Hayes Office with the rather strong tone of the film.

1.Themes of justice, the law? Mob behaviour? '30s? Now?

2.MGM production values, black and white photography, cities? Musical score? Fritz Lang and his German experience brought to American film-making?

3.The title - in the people, in Joe Wilson, in the audience itself?

4.The sequences establishing the relationship between Joe and Katherine: pleasant, the shop windows, sweet, the engagement, the sewing of the raincoat, the giving of the ring, the word `memento'? The railway station departure? Hopes, letters over a year? Katherine and her work, her situation (and the point of seeing the black woman singing, doing the washing)?

5.Joe and his brothers, the seeming hopelessness of his life, not getting enough money? A man of righteousness? American pride?

6.The plan for meeting, Kathy and her preparing to go, waiting for Joe? Joe and the car, driving, speeding, Bugsy taking him in, the sheriff, discussion, the peanuts - and the information about the kidnap gang?

7.Joe detained, put in the cell? Bugsy talking at the bar? The situation of the kidnap gang? Gossip, people telling others in confidence? The collage of people talking, whispering, gossipping? The news through the town? Ringleaders like Kirby Dawson, the challenge to the sheriff? His position of influence? The building up of atmosphere, vengeance, bloodlust and anger, the lynching mob, at the outside of the prison - and the urging on of the visitor?

8.Holding the prison? The governor and his aide, National Guard, the decision not to send them? The governor's regret? The telegrams in support? Press statements?

9.The sequences of the mob, rabble-rousing, inflamed? The leaders? The bashing of the door, pelting the sheriff during his speech, setting the fire alight, the burning prison, people watching with glee, the mother showing her child, the woman praying? Katherine and her arrival, the focus on her face? The horror?

10.Joe and his experience in the cell, watching the mob gather, not being heard by the sheriff and staff? Looking out the window? The prison going up in flames?

11.The brothers and their anger, Joe's arrival, his bitterness, having watched the newsreels? His wanting revenge, his plan?

12.The trial and the number of people coming? The position of the judge? The 22 accused? The skill of the prosecutor? His witnesses and their perjuring themselves? His tactic for their denials, the reaction of the crowd, the judge holding some in contempt? The tactic of showing the newsreel and identifying the accused? The response of press and radio? Joe listening, listening to Katherine's testimony, emotionally moved and breaking the radio?

13.Katherine, her state of shock, recognising the brothers, testifying? The puzzle about the peanuts and the coat, the word `momentum' with the anonymous letter? The testimony of the ring? Following the brothers and discovering the truth?

14.Joe and his bitterness, enjoying the trial? Wanting the 22 to experience what he felt? Katherine and her challenge, saying he was as bad as the others? Unwilling to marry him?

15.His anger, walking the streets? The desperation of his brothers?

16.His going into the court, his speaking to the judge? The behaviour of the 22, the death sentences, their sharing his experience?

17.Themes of the American nation, the statistics about lynchings and those coming to court? Sense of right and wrong? Katherine and her stand? The reconciliation?