INTRUDER IN THE DUST

US, 1949, 87 minutes, Black and white.
David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr, Juano Hernandez, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Will Geer.
Directed by Clarence Brown.

Intruder in the Dust is based on a novel by William Faulkner. It is set in Faulkner’s own home town of Oxford, Mississippi. Filmed in 1949, this was fourteen years before Martin Luther King’s civil rights march on the Capitol, 1963. Films on black-white issues were beginning to emerge – for example No Way Out with Sidney Poitier.

The film captures the atmosphere of the south, the racial prejudice and presumptions, the possibilities of lynch law. David Brian portrays a lawyer, John Stevens who is asked to defend a black man, found standing over a dead body with a gun which had been fired. Stevens refuses. However, his nephew, played by Claude Jarman Jr, is a friend of the black man and persuades his uncle to take the case. The film is interesting as court case drama, the prejudices of the south – and is reminiscent, in that respect, to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

David Brian was usually a criminal or a heavy in his films. This makes a welcome change for him. Juano Hernandez portrays the black man with great presence and dignity. Child actor Claude Jarman Jr (The Yearling, also directed by Clarence Brown) is fine as the young boy.

Clarence Brown had begun to direct films in the 1920s. He made a number of the early Greta Garbo films including Anna Christie. During the 1930s he made a number of interesting films with some of the top stars including Garbo in Anna Karenina, Joan Crawford in Sadie McKee? and The Gorgeous Hussy, Garbo in Conquest. However, he had a much more successful 1940s with a range of films including The Human Comedy, The White Cliffs of Dover, National Velvet, The Yearling. His films of the 1950s were much slighter.

Other films based on Faulkner stories include The Long Hot Summer, Tomorrow, Tarnished Angels. This film is well worth seeing to get some kind of insight into the perspective of Faulkner and his understanding of race attitudes in his own state.

1. The significance of the name and the racist question? the atmosphere of William Faulkner’s writing?

2. How did the film picture the town itself? settings and the realism of the location photography? ?he black and white photography for a black and white theme?

3, How did the film quickly show the people of the town, their attitudes and expectations? The atmosphere of waiting? The longing for a lynching? response to this? Why?

4. The impact of the shower and the black man, Beauchamp? The dignity of Lucas? What attitudes in the audience did the film presuppose about whites and blacks, justice? Lynching?

5. First impressions of the boy Chick? His being looked by Lucas? the human contact by this communication and Chick's awareness of innocence? What importance was shown to this kind of intuition without evidence?

6. How well did the film picture Chick, in his family? His mother and father in the particular scenes in which they interact? How important was this in establishing Chick as a person? his relationship with Lucas?

7. The importance of Uncle John? the broad-minded man and yet who had a mental block about Lucas? Who presumed guilt? the dramatic and emotional impact?

8. How important was Chick's story of falling in the river and being saved by Lucas? Lucas's courtesy and the impression he made on the audience as a person? the sequence of the meal? the role of Alex towards Chick?

9. What was the emotional response to the sequence where Chick offered to pay Lucas? What message was there about human dignity and relationship in this sequence?

10. How important was the elderly lady in believing the truth about Lucas? the young and the old intuiting the truth?

11. Impressions of the Gowrie family? their status in the town, their sinister aspects? their inhuman attitudes?

12. How central was the sequence of the digging up of the grave? 7he attitudes of the three involved? the role of Alex?

13. What happens when people's fixed attitudes and prejudices are challenged? The change of attitude of the people in the town? the sheriff?

14. Why did the elder Gowrie change his attitude?

15. Was the scene with Vinson Gowrie in the quicksand too melodramatic? surprise at the truth? the fact that a Gowery would allow a black man die for their crime?

16. The sequence of the old lady at the prison? Its emotional impact?

17. How dramatic or melodramatic Vine Gowrie's trying to get into the prison? the father confronting the son? the boy's reaction?

18. When the truth was told, the people ran away. Were they running away from them, the truth? How important was this for the message of the film?

19. For the message aspect of the film how important were the conversations between Chick and his Uncle John? What message was intended for the audience?

20. The importance of Lucas paying John? The fact that he would always be there amongst the people as a message and a reminder of what they had done?

21. How important a film was this for an American audience? For a world audience? Racism and learning to cope with it? Live with it and change it?