The Burning Cross

The Burning Cross
Film poster
Directed byWalter Colmes
Written byAubrey Wisberg
Produced byWalter Colmes
StarringHank Daniels
Virginia Patton
CinematographyWalter Strenge
Edited byJason Bernie
Music byRaoul Kraushaar
Production
company
Somerset Pictures
Distributed byScreen Guild Productions
Release date
  • September 1, 1947 (1947-09-01)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budgetless than $100,000[1]

The Burning Cross is a 1947 American drama film produced and directed by Walter Colmes. It was written by Aubrey Wisberg and released by Screen Guild Productions.

The film depicts Ku Klux Klan activities and was censored in Virginia and Detroit.[2][3][4][5]

Plot

War veteran Johnny Larrimer joins the Ku Klux Klan and comes to regard it as evil. When he betrays his Klan oath, he is brought before Klan officials for a mock trial and lynching. One of Johnny's friends, a government agent working under cover, alerts the state troopers. The Klan is routed, Johnny beats the Klan organizer into submission, and the law grants Johnny a light prison sentence in the wake of his efforts to break up the terrorist group.

Cast

  • Hank Daniels (Henry H. Daniels, Jr.) as Johnny Larrimer
  • Virginia Patton as Doris Greene
  • Dick Rich as Lud Harris
  • Joel Fluellen as Charlie West
  • John Fostini as Tony Areni
  • Betty Roadman as Agatha Larimer
  • Raymond Bond as Chester Larrimer
  • Matt Willis as Mort Dauson - the Grand Dragon
  • John Doucette as Toby Mason

Production

The Burning Cross was an attempt to cash in on the new anti-racism cycle of films popular at the time (like Gentleman's Agreement and Crossfire).

Somerset Pictures was established in 1947 by Walter Colmes, Solly Levenstein, and Jake Milstein. It was their first movie.[6] They signed an agreement with Robert L. Lippert's Screen Guild Productions to distribute the film.

Filming started in June 1947[7] at producer Jack Schwarz's new, ultra-modern Equity studio on Cahuenga Boulevard, originally the site of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first studio.[8] The low-budget production was completed in six days.[9]

Release

The producers planted small "teaser" ads in trade periodicals (not mentioning the actors, studio, or film title) showing a hooded vigilante on horseback. These ads, published over a matter of weeks, were an attempt to pique the curiosity of theater managers. Exhibitors with long memories would remember the controversy around D. W. Griffith's Klan-themed melodrama The Birth of a Nation and how profitable that venture had been. However, the ads may also have aroused resentment or hostility among Southern showmen. The New York Times referred to the film's sponsor, Screen Guild, as "a minor organization which can afford the risk of alienating the Southern market."[1] "[The Burning Cross] cannot be shown in some theaters, particularly in the South," cautioned trade publisher Pete Harrison. "The story has been founded on facts gathered by Jack Cartwright while he was a reporter for a Denver, Colorado newspaper."[10]

Trade reviewers were charitable, calling it a well-intentioned film that would generate great audience interest. Showmen's Trade Review said, "Though this has no name draw, the title and subject matter make it not only timely but excellent for advance exploitation. Correctly handled, the picture should bring in very satisfactory returns."[11] Columnist William H. James commended the film: "Somerset Pictures deserves a salute for a courageously uninhibited exposé of the facts, factors, and warped psychology behind the Ku Klux Klan and other hatemongers."[12]

The Burning Cross was banned in Virginia and Detroit.[13] Screen Guild distributed its films through regional exchanges; Albert Dezel, handling the film in Michigan and Ohio, asked local and national officials to intercede on the film's behalf.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b T. F. (June 1, 1947). "Big temblor staged for 'green dolphin, street' -- KKK expose -- addenda". New York Times. ProQuest 107926088.
  2. ^ Schallert, Edwin (September 22, 1947). "DRAMA AND FILM". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 165803973.
  3. ^ THOMAS F BRADY (September 23, 1947). "LOW-BUDGET FILMS EXPANDING AT FOX". New York Times. ProQuest 108074960.
  4. ^ Ooten, Melissa (April 10, 2013). "Censorship In Black And White: The Burning Cross (1947), Band Of Angels (1957) And The Politics Of Film Censorship In The American South After World War II". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. Vol. 33. pp. 77–98.
  5. ^ Pryor, Thomas M. (February 20, 1948). "At the Victoria". New York Times. ProQuest 108312513.
  6. ^ "FILMLAND BRIEFS". Los Angeles Times. May 21, 1947. ProQuest 165768143.
  7. ^ "Film exposes collaborator". Los Angeles Times. June 1, 1947. ProQuest 165762281.
  8. ^ MacGillivray, Scott and Jan. Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, iUniverse, 2005, p. 229. ISBN 978-0-595-37080-1.
  9. ^ Motion Picture Production Encyclopedia, Hollywood Reporter Press, 1949, p. 449.
  10. ^ Harrison, Pete. Harrison's Reports, Aug. 2, 1947, p. 24.
  11. ^ Showmen's Trade Review, Aug. 2, 1947, p. 19.
  12. ^ James, William H. Hollywood Motion Picture Review, July 21, 1947, p. 3.
  13. ^ "Protest ban on 'burning cross'". New York Times. November 4, 1947. ProQuest 108056373.
  14. ^ Film Daily, "Dezel to Fight Banning of The Burning Cross", Nov. 5, 1947, p. 12.
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