Storm Warning

1950
Approved
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

2.8K

YOUR RATING

Doris Day, Ronald Reagan, Ginger Rogers, and Steve Cochran in Storm Warning (1950)

Play trailer2:31

1 Video

41 Photos

Film Noir Crime Drama

Marsha Mitchell, a traveling dress model, stops in a southern town to see her sister who has married a Ku Klux Klansman. Marsha witnesses the KKK commit a murder and helps District Attorney ... Read allMarsha Mitchell, a traveling dress model, stops in a southern town to see her sister who has married a Ku Klux Klansman. Marsha witnesses the KKK commit a murder and helps District Attorney Burt Rainey bring the criminals to justice.Marsha Mitchell, a traveling dress model, stops in a southern town to see her sister who has married a Ku Klux Klansman. Marsha witnesses the KKK commit a murder and helps District Attorney Burt Rainey bring the criminals to justice.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

2.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
This was one of only a handful of straight-up dramas in which Doris Day ever appeared, and was her first (and only) film for Warner Brothers in which she did not sing a note. She accepted this role partly for the opportunity to work with one of her childhood idols, Ginger Rogers.

Goofs
The cabbie who declines to give Marsha a ride turns out to be a participant in the planned Klan lynching at the jailhouse, but he tells her to walk to the Recreation Center just 10 blocks away, knowing that she would need to pass the jailhouse on the way and possibly witness the crime. He could easily have driven her to her destination in a few minutes and still would have had plenty of time to drive back to the jailhouse to participate in the reporter's murder.

Quotes
Burt Rainey: Just wearing that hood doesn't change your voice, Walker. Am I supposed to be afraid of you because your face is covered up? It'll take more than these sheets you're wearing to hide the fact that you're mean, frightened little people, or you wouldn't be here, desecrating the cross.
Charlie Barr: In the name of the imperial Klan...
Burt Rainey: Don't give me that Halloween routine.

Connections
Featured in Biography: Doris Day: It's Magic (1998)

Soundtracks
Kiss Me Sweet
(uncredited)
Music by Milton Drake
Played when Marsha first goes to the recreation center

User reviews74

Review

Featured review

7/10

Decent film noir, but sidesteps any real social issues

A very nice film overall, with Ronald Reagan probably turning in the best performance of this cast. Also notable for its direct attack on the Klu Klux Klan at a time when they were still a force. But this is also where the film gets a little strange. Virtually no mention is made of the Klan's ideology -- other than a few passing references to "hate" and "bigotry". There is a mob lynching/murder at the start of the film -- but it is not a racial attack. It is the killing of a white reporter who had been investigating and threatening to "expose" the Klan. Expose them for what? Tax evasion! They had been selling Klan trinkets to members and not reporting the income. The Klan is shown as essentially a criminal organization whose purpose is to fleece its own members for profit. In fact not one black actor has a line in this film. I am sure the producer's intentions were noble and maybe they felt they could not address the issue of racism head on, and therefore chose a somewhat oblique approach to discredit the Klan. But I can't help but feel that there is a certain disingenuousness to this film. Maybe this was brave for 1951, I really don't know.