User reviews

In a small Southern town celebrating Confederate Memorial Day, a young woman (Lana Turner) is murdered. Suspicion quickly falls on her Northern teacher at business school, Robert Hale (Edward Norris), whom she had a crush on. Ambitious district attorney Andy Griffin (Claude Rains) uses this as an opportunity to build a name for himself, not caring about Hale's guilt or innocence. Hale is arrested and tried but the anti-Northern sentiment running through the town guarantees his trial won't be fair.

Great role for Claude Rains, who owns every scene he's in as a remorseless politician out to further his career regardless of cost. Edward Norris (Ann Sheridan's first husband) has probably his biggest role as Robert Hale and does a fine job. Film debut of Allyn Joslyn, who plays a slimy reporter colluding with Rains. Pretty Gloria Dickson plays Hale's wife. She has a potent speech at the end. First significant role for Lana Turner. Note the tight sweater which accentuates her...attributes. This is why she was dubbed "the sweater girl" early in her career. The rest of the cast is made up of familiar faces, including Otto Kruger and Elisha Cook, Jr.

Loosely based on the real story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man accused of murdering 13 year-old Mary Phagan in Georgia. He was lynched in 1915. The story here keeps antisemitism out of it, instead making it more of a focus on the resentments and prejudices of the South towards the North. Having grown up in the South, I know these sentiments were very real for many even decades after this movie was made. This is a film that examines everything from bigotry to mob mentality and the manipulation of the public by politicians and the media. Sociologically and historically relevant, it's a powerful movie from Warner Bros. with a good cast.

One of Warner Brothers' `hard-hitting' social comment dramas of the 1930s, They Won't Forget leaves viewers all riled up – though, today, maybe less at the judicial process in the Deep South than at Mervyn LeRoy's depiction of it in the movie. Based not too loosely on the Mary Phagan murder case of 1913, it updates the events to the late Depression and also advances the victim's age (Phagan was 13; here, the victim – an unrecognizable Lana Turner, in her debut – is a student at a small business college).

It's Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, and the college lets out early, unexpectedly for instructor Edward Norris, a Northerner. But Turner returns for the vanity case she's left behind. Hours later, her body is discovered at the base of an elevator shaft. The town prosecutor (Claude Rains, slinging a Southern drawl) smells a political advantage that might propel him to the state senate, an advantage of no use if the perpetrator is only the illiterate black janitor who found her. Suspicion falls on Norris, and soon the judicial establishment, the press and the townspeople have turned against him. Outside help – a detective and a defense attorney – prove of no avail. Turner is convicted and sentenced to death; when the governor commutes his sentence, he's lynched (as was Leo Frank in the original case). It's fast, brutal and pretty unsentimental.

LeRoy was known for his slam-bang, take-no-prisoners style but here he dawdles at first. Under the credits is a medley of songs of the South, bolstered by quotations from Lincoln and Robert E. Lee to soften up those touchy audiences in Dixie so they won't know what hit them. When he gets up to speed, however, he doesn't slacken, cutting quick to advance the action – his movie's an unstoppable steamroller, just like the judicial railroading of the story (the lynching itself, expressed by a mailbag clipped off its hook by a passing train, is especially and darkly adroit).

But there's a near-fatal flaw in the story. We're meant to harbor persuasive doubts as to Norris' guilt, but the possibility of a suspect other than he is never more than fleetingly entertained. The movie purports to document a miscarriage of justice, but it fails to build an ironclad case.

Mary Clay, played by Lana Turner (living up to her sweater girl fame) very early in her career is a student at a small southern town's business college. She has a crush on her teacher, Professor Robert Hale, played by Edwin Norris. Hale, is a man from the north - not really welcomed in a town that has a parade for Confederate Memorial Day. After the class was dismissed, Mary and a friend went for a soda and Mary forgot her vanity case. She went back to the school and was murdered.

Local newspaper staff bursts into Hale's apartment, tells Hale's wife that he's in jail, and after she faints, newsmen search the apartment, taking a honeymoon photo, searching through drawers.

This movie demonstrates how a quest for political power can taint a trial. Being an "outsider" can make it difficult for a fair trial. Although this takes place in the south, mob justice can and has occurred all over the country during the 1920's and 1930's.

While not in the same class as Fritz Lang's "Fury", (one of my favourite movies) on the same subject as mob rule, "They Won't Forget" for all its faults still makes a strong case against lynch law, which has to have been director / producer Mervyn LeRoy's primary intention here.

I understand that the prejudicial case against the defendant in this film was watered down to a simple North / South divide, when the actual source case on which the film is based was against a Northern Jew. I personally found it hard to credit that Yankee / Confederate bias alone could motivate so many of the locals to overlook the skimpy evidence raised against Edward Norris's Robert Hale character as to firstly convict him and then snatch him from the train taking him to prison to ruthlessly hang him themselves.

Interestingly, the film doesn't choose to resolve the question of who actually murdered young Mary Clay, which only helps to reinforce the anti-lynching message as the now dead man's widow's condemnatory words are the last spoken, leaving them ringing in the ears of the prosecuting District Attorney Claude Rains and hell-raising reporter Allyn Joslyn.

I found LeRoy's direction to be of mixed quality. On the debit side, he allows Rains to shout and point like a preening peacock, especially with his over-the-top grandstanding in the extended courtroom scenes, uses awkward devices like cutting to a screen-filling megaphone to commentate on the trial's progress and worst of all stereotypically treats a key witness, a black janitor, as a cringing, spineless simpleton, completely at the mercy of powerful white men. To his credit though, he effectively puts over Hale's destruction by metaphorically cutting to a speeding train snatching the night mail from a gallows-like stand and hey, he does discover Lana Turner, who in her brief screen time, makes a big impression as the unsuspecting young victim.

I wondered the whole length of the movie about the film title until that final scene when the distraught widow delivers the eulogy to her late husband's blinkered accusers which seemed to make clear to me the film's message was as much against capital punishment as lynching. Rains' overacting besides, there are better, more restrained performances in his considerable wake by the hapless young couple caught up in the maelstrom, Edward Norris and Gloria Dickson, Otto Kruger as the powerless defending attorney and a young Elisha Cook Jr as the victim's disgruntled boy-friend. The girl's two brothers and cousin who head up the mob however would give the Three Stooges a run for their money with their taciturn obtuseness.

Like I said, a movie of mixed quality but the central message struggles its way through and for that at least, director LeRoy is to be commended.

Flawless blending of cynicism, humor and tragedy, this re-enactment of a real-life murder in the south consciously downplays the real-life anti-semitism in the real murder of Mary Phagan case, but carry more of an emotional wallop than the Jack Lemmon made-for-TV docudrama -- although the latter is still good on its own terms. Lana Turner has an impressive screen debut as the murder victim. Gloria Dickson is very powerful as the defendant's wife, and Claude Rains is magnificent as the politically minded prosecutor, but Allyn Joslyn as the cynical, burnt out reporter steals the show. A truly excellent example of how historically based movies can be among the most memorable.

A young girl (Lana Turner in her first role) is killed in a small Southern town. A Northener, Robert Hale (Edward norris) is accused of it...but is he guilty? It doesn't seem to matter because everybody uses his accusation for their own gain. Fast moving, still relevant (sadly) look at prejudice, gossip, mob rule and media manipulation. Occasionally the characters give out unmotivated speeches (especially Hale's wife), but the movie is very well-written and acted with Claude Rain chewing the scenery again and again. A must see...don't miss this one!

Robert Hale is a teacher from the north in a town proud of its southern heritage. Teen student Mary Clay has a crush on him. She is murdered in the closed school while most of the town is celebrating Confederate Memorial Day. The first suspicion falls on the black janitor but politically ambitious D.A. Andy Griffin (Claude Rains) is looking for bigger game. He soon focuses in on Hale with a tip from unscrupulous reporter Bill Brock. Despite being innocent, he is railroaded by both the judicial system and the media.

This is tough to watch for a few reasons. It's a really tough subject matter. It's tough to watch something so demented. It is a tabloid telling of a tabloid justice system. The acting is very broad except for the janitor. That actor shows real fear in his performance. The others are playing parts especially Claude Rains. He's playing a character who is playing a part in the drama. Edward Norris is a little too stiff. I can picture Jimmy Stewart doing a much better job. I do like the sleaziness of the reporters. All in all, there is real substance to this movie but it does need one more thing. I won't say what it is to not spoil the movie.

A hideous crime rocks a Deep South community and those who exploited it know THEY WON'T FORGET the part they played in the shame & violence that ensued.

Of all the hard-hitting dramas produced by Warner Brothers Studio in the 1930's, this was one of the most powerful. Absolutely no holds are barred in showing the aftermath of the murder of a pretty college girl and how events took on a life of their own - crushing the innocent lives who got in the way of the town's thirst for revenge. The film starts whimsically with six ancient Confederate veterans - among them Harry Davenport, Harry Beresford & Edward McWade - on a park bench, reminiscing upon the dim past & wondering if their contributions will be remembered. Poignantly, evil is about to reemerge and the old men will soon disappear, the dead ashes of the past engulfed by the passionate flames of the present. An urgent plea against sectarian hatred & mindless violence, the film sweeps the viewer along to its ultimate shattering climax.

Claude Rains gives a knock-out performance as the local politician who sees the murder as a chance to sweep him into the State Senate. Using his considerable vocal talent - even with his somewhat bizarre idea of a Southern accent - Rains steamrollers over nearly everyone else in the cast, deftly showing his character's utter fixation on prosecuting the case.

Kudos should also be extended to Edward Norris as the Northern teacher accused of the murder; Lana Turner as the victim; Elisha Cook Jr. as her strangely nervous boyfriend; and especially Clinton Rosemond as the terrified black janitor who discovers the crime.

Although Warners is at pains at the outset to deny any connection the story might have with an actual occurrence, the film is roughly based on the notorious 1913 murder of Atlanta factory worker Mary Phagan.

First, let's clarify one simple glaring error in the film. If the spot of blood on the teacher's coat is his own blood, then that would obviously sway a number of jurors. (yes, I know they didnt have CSI in those days, but they could still match his blood under a microscope with the spot fairly easily). It should have been a simple matter to analyze the blood to see if it was his or Mary's. Also, it might have been more satisfying to find out who the real murderer was near the end of the film, or if the teacher was the real murderer. I thought Rains was a bit hammy in this role; but his over the top performance might have been realistic, considering the personality of the Southern DA. There are a few other flaws, but generally speaking, the film is compelling and relentless. Good courtroom drama.

Quick-paced film from the late thirties, directed by Mervyn Le Roy, They Won't Forget in an eminently memorable lesson in how gossip, rumor, innuendo and ignorance can get a man lynched. Set in the Depression-era South, it perhaps lacks atmosphere, as I've seen more convincing pictures of this region. Nor are the actors especially believable as Southerners. Claude Rains is unable to harness his innate Britishness in his portrayal of the DA, maybe the film's single biggest drawback. But the other actors, with or without the appropriate Dixie cadences are superb, notably Allyn Joslyn, in his movie debut, as an amoral, opportunistic reporter. I'm particularly fond of Gloria Dickson's heartfelt performance as the accused man's wife, and sad to read that she died so young. This is an excellent film of its type: the Warner Brothers 'message picture'. It is not aesthetically pleasing in its detail or dialogue, but this was not the point. It gets the job done, stimulates the intellect and the emotions, and moves like lightning.

A young girl is murdered in a small southern town and her teacher is arrested for the murder. The entire town thinks he's guilty and Claude Rains is the prosecutor who is only thinking of political ambition. It's a good film and i didn't even recognize that the murdered girl was Lana Turner.

I can't believe this movie is so highly rated. Maybe it's a time capsule of a time when evidence didn't matter? In any sensible movie the fact that there is no real evidence would dismiss the case.

Further, the acting is atrocious. Claude Rains has some great movies but this is not one of them. The acting feels like some local melodrama troupe in a small town.

A dark haired, southern drawled Claude Rains has an actor's field day as D.A Andy Griffin. Griffin needs to win one sensational court case to move his career foward. He gets it when a Yankee school teacher (Edward Norris) is accused of murdering a high school girl (Fetching Lana Turner in her film debut) Griffin turns the trial into a media circus and a kangaroo court. The ending is grim, and Griffin gets what he wants. Mervyn LeRoy (Warner Brothers' prize director in the 1930's) moves the story along at rocket pace. He gets fine performances out of Rains, Norris, Otto Kruger and a young Elisha Cook Jnr. LeRoy always cut the fat from his films, meaning very rarely will he show an unimportant aspect of the story. (Example: a scene begins with a sobbing janitor calling the police. We see the police leave. Cut to them at the crime scene. Cut to them grilling their first suspect- the janitor- cut to a newspaper headline about the murder. all of this in about 12 seconds) A film far above average.

This film, as a curiosity piece, has its own rewards, but it has a dated feeling about it that even a director like Mervyn Leroy and his screenplay adapter, another would-be-director, Robert Rossen, can't overcome. This tragedy has been told in different ways before, as it's was a sensational crime story.

The resentment in the South over the defeat during the Civil War took ages to heal. In the film we are shown a small town where prejudice is a way of life because of ignorance. It's a story that still resonates because it feeds into the ambitions of raising stars in politics, as they tend to associate themselves with the kind of yellow journalism that will do everything to ruin lives and in this case send an innocent man to his death.

Sadly, Mr. Leroy chose to direct the film telling his actors to emote, as he obviously had no way to reining some of the performances. What comes across in the screen is uneven acting, in general. An excellent actor like Claude Rains' account of his character, the evil D.A., Andy Griffin, goes for histrionics, instead of having him play the part as a sly and suave man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Maybe it was the style Mr. Leroy wanted to convey, but for today's viewers, this looks a bit too intense.

Then there is the accused man, Professor Hale. As played by Edward Norris, we see a man that knowing he is innocent, accepts his fate without rebelling, or giving an impression that he will do anything to prove he is the wrong man. Or perhaps it was the filmmakers intention to give the film that tone of despair, as it's obvious this man is doomed from the beginning. He is the victim of circumstantial evidence that is piled against him by the power of the so called newspapers in town that are controlled by Griffin, intent in calling the attention to the fact Hale is a Northener, therefore, an enemy.

The acting, in general, with a few exceptions, is pathetic, that is, by today's more sophisticated tastes. It doesn't make much sense to see an Elisha Cook Jr., with a terrible Southern accent, who appears to be a closet case, cast as the murdered girl's boyfriend.

The only welcome sight is a young and still raw Lana Turner in her screen first appearance. This film is worth watching only to see Ms. Turner walking from the parade site to the college. No wonder she was dubbed "The sweater girl".

Outstanding film really about that happened in Atlanta, Georgia, circa 1913, the killing of Mary Phagan by a Jewish factory worker or owner. Prejudice came into play here and the worker was ultimately lynched by a mob.

The aspect of anti-Semitism is eliminated from this excellent film; instead, we focus on the biases of the south. The crime was even committed on Confederate Veterans Day.

You will never recognize Lana Turner, the young college student, murdered in a college university building. While Turner's appearance is brief, she was somewhat memorable here.

As always, Claude Rains steals the show as an ambitious attorney, who will use this case as the prosecutor, to further his political career. Allyn Joslyn is equally excellent as the reporter,anxious for a major news story. When he gets it, he stirs the feelings of the people by his writing and his actions.

The acting by the entire cast is top-notch. Prejudice, stupidity and utter hatred was never depicted better here.

We never know who the true killer was, but we are given a plethora of suspects. Too bad that the jury didn't see it that way. This is definitely a film of rare social conscience.

One person. Not the mob who ruled, incited by Claude Rains as the bombastic lawyer, who indifferently, save for his unquenchable desire for power, tricked his way through the trial. It was Lana's first film and she was pretty good, considering she never developed any further. Except for the end of her sentences, she had a good enough southern accent and didn't even use her baby voice. The subsidiary characters were played well - Gloria Dickson (killed in a fire in her home in the mid 1940's) was always easy to watch, playing the feisty blonde in most of her films; Allyn Joslyn, added grand flavor to any role he undertook; Otto Kruger, kindly or unkindly in his roles; Elisha Cook, Jr., devious and squirmy as ever. The only disappointment - STRONG disappointment - was, of all people, Claude Rains. I've never seen him do anything in which he didn't excel. His character was a creepy liar here, not unlike the ex-president of these United States (ha!), which in and of itself would have been fine, had he played it well. Overdone and overwrought, a ham sandwich without any bread and several side orders of all forms of pig. Great actor. But not in this film.

A stunning courtroom drama set in a small southern town about a northerner working as an instructor at a small local business college accused of the murder of a local girl who was one of his students. With racial and religious overtones, and a terrific performance by Claude Rains as a politically motivated prosecutor. The courtroom scenes are some of the best ever seen on film, with excellent editing and drama that reaches a feverish momentum. Knowing the fate that awaits the accused adds even more gravity to the film. Similar to LeRoy's earlier film, I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, both slam southern justice and have unforgettable endings.

A 1937 film from director Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar/Quo Vadis) dealing w/the murder of a young student. It's Confederate Memorial Day in a small town & the town is all a-bustle w/a parade & throngs of people who've come out to see it. At some point a woman, Lana Turner, is seen entering a business school building by its custodian who later turns away a suitor looking for her since at that point the school has been closed. When no one can confirm Turner's whereabouts, a search is made in the school where her body is discovered dumped down an elevator shaft. From there a circus of attention commences to find the culprit w/a reporter hounding any leads he can find & the district attorney, played by Claude Rains sporting an unwieldy Southern accent, wanting to get a political boost to his career by trying this case feels his suspect, Turner's teacher, Edward Norris, is his man even though the majority of the evidence is circumstantial. W/Norris' wife, Gloria Dickson, standing by his side, the trial commences w/Norris being railroaded toward a conviction (they wanted the death penalty but he ends up getting life) w/a tragic turn of events occurring as Norris is being transported to jail. Ahead of its time to be sure w/its depiction of mob rule & absolutism on its mind, it suffers from the ham acting on display, Rains being a prime example, which by the time The Ox-Bow Incident came around in 1943, all the elements of this story would be better realized. Also of note because I would assume this was a pre-code film, a shot of Turner wearing the tightest of dresses walking the street went by w/o a batting of a censor's eye. Also starring consummate character actor Elisha Cook, Jr as a witness.

From the murder of Stanford White to the O.J. Simpson case there are about 25 or so cases that have been labeled the 'trial of the century'. Another one of those was the Leo Frank case where a Jewish man and a northerner was tried and found guilty of the murder of Mary Phagan in Georgia. From that case the novel and the film They Won't Forget was constructed with the names and the religion of the defendant changed to protect God knows what.

Even with the name changed to a white bread WASP name of Hale, Warner Brothers was taking a chance on losing the southern market with the making of They Won't Forget. Edward Norris as the outsider, teacher at a small business school in a southern town is a man totally caught in the regional prejudices of a section of the country that is still fighting the War between the states.

Norris is accused of murdering young Lana Turner in her breakthrough role as an attractive and saucy young teenager. Though there is nothing but circumstantial evidence pointing to him and it could point to a few others, he's the most convenient one to prosecute because he's not of the community. So reasons Claude Rains an ambitious prosecutor who figures that a conviction in a notorious case will propel his political career upward. Rains portrays a man of frightening ambition and a type we're all too familiar with in real life.

Although the Leo Frank case took place in the teen years and this film is set in the contemporary Thirties, things hadn't changed all that much in the south. Otto Kruger as Norris's defense attorney and Gloria Dickson as his stricken wife also giver noteworthy performances, Trevor Bardette may have had a career role as Turner's father. He's a frightening man filled with anger and among the small parts he really stands out.

Mervyn LeRoy got some truly great performances from his players. They Won't Forget is something you won't forget.

I adore classic movies, but this one was just stupid. It had the worst cast of actors ever, it was badly written, and most of the time I laughed because I thought it was a joke.

A prosecuting attorney referred to evidence as "circumstantial" while trying to argue that the defendant was guilty. That is only one example of this film's stupidity. The defendants wife was just annoying by the end of the movie.

I'm sorry, I know many folks like this film. I tried to as well but I just couldn't.

Maybe it's just me. *shrugs*

It begins with a disclaimer that all characters are entirely fictitious, etc. etc., and cites as source material a novel, but you can't fool us: It's the Leo Frank trial of 1915, updated to the then-present-day South and with Frank's Judaism carefully removed. Other than that, the details are surprisingly close to the actual trial, and the downbeat ending chillingly mirrors reality. Warner Brothers, known in the 1930s as the socially conscious studio, had a message to flog, and in this case it goes a bit overboard: No character has more than one dimension, and even that excellent actor Claude Rains, as the DA, snarls and rolls his eyes and gesticulates wildly, overdoing the blind ambition bit. But for its day it's a pretty brave and out-there indictment against mob violence, bigotry, and sensationalism, particularly the latter. Indeed, the message one takes from it today is that the media hasn't really grown worse in the intervening years -- there's just more of it.