Customer Reviews

Storm Warning

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished watching "Storm Warning". Let me tell you that it is a great movie. I have'nt seen many old moveis (only the original "Dracula") but I fell in love with this one. I am now an old movie fan.
I origionaly got this because of Ronald Reagan, and he gives a great preformance, but the real magic is behind this allstar suppoeting cast. This was one of the best movies I have ever seen. I suggest this to anyone and everyone. It speaks of the American "untouchables": the Klan. I think it was well done. Bravo!!!

I don't know why this DVD is so hard to get. Can it be that the subject matter is still too sensitive? This was a truly groundbreaking film in 1951, tackling the evils of the KKK, with strong performances from Ginger Rogers, Doris Day and Steve Cochran. Ronald Reagan is wooden as usual, and the role certainly should have been given to a stronger actor. Despite Reagan, this is an absorbing and compelling film that deserves rediscovery.

Worth a look if you want to see how Ginger Rogers and Doris Day do in serious roles. Day would go on to help Reagan be everyone's hero in the Norwegian baseball comedy "The Winning Team." Recommended.

When first released in 1950, this film was hailed as a first-rate thriller. Six decades later it still holds up as a raw-edged expose' of the Klu Klux Klan and their terrorising of a small town. The performances of Ginger Rogers,Ronald Reagan, Doris Day ( in a serious non-singing role) and Steve Cochran are certainly the best of their careers.

The story concerns a fashion model (Rogers) who visits the small town where her younger sister (Day) lives with her new husband (Cochran). On arriving she witnesses a killing by the Klu Klux Klan, two of whom remove their hoods and she sees their faces. Later she discovers that one of the men is her sister's husband. Her first instinct is to report him to the local police but rather than spoil her sister's happiness, she decides to leave town. It is at this point that the local District Attorney (Reagan) convinces her that she should testify as a witness to the brutal murder. But once on the witness stand, she again changes her mind and her sister's moronic husband walks free. What happens after that leads to a most suspenseful climax to what remains a truly thrilling film. Highly recommended.

Although Doris Day played a supporting role in Storm Warning, her performance was outstanding. This is the reason I purchased the movie.

This film began with a noir edge, that lost ground with the appearance of Ronald Reagan, playing his usual taciturn self. It was Ginger Rogers and Steve Cochran that kept my attention and interest, as they flashed anger combined with an undercurrent of lust at each other. Doris Day, in a non singing role was fine as the younger sister and wife. But things really only sparked when Steve and Ginger were on the screen. Steve, as a none too bright young husband and Klan member, lived up to Ginger's words in her bio re "Storm Center". "When I iirst heard Steve Cochran read his part, "I knew he would steal the film from the rest of us." According to Louella Parsons, they carried the sizzle over into their private lives.I gave it a 4 for being so graphic and tackling the KKK issue for that time period.

This film is a time capsule curio for sure. You can say it's part noir, part diatribe, and part "Dragnet". This stylistic hodge-podge kind of undercuts the film's anti-Klan message but it doesn't fail to entertain you. If for anything else see the film for a dynamic turn by Ronald Reagan as a crusading D.A. His towering presence brought to my mind the charisma when he was President. Close your eyes during the scenes when he's conducting an inquest into the murder of an investigative reporter or when he confronts the Grand Wizard of the Klan. You can almost imagine him telling Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall. The film is also helped by terrific performances by Ginger Rogers and Doris Day(two other underrated actors) and particularly Steve Cochran as Day's dopey Klansman husband.

I watched Storm Warning a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed the film. The film is about a Klan murder which is witnessed by the "outsider" sister who is in town to visit her sister (Doris Day). Ginger Rogers witnesses a murder which is carried out by the brother in law she is soon to meet (Steve Cochran).

The film is obviously about the Ku Klux Klan and it supposedly takes place in the American South, although apparently nobody has a southern accent, which is I guess better than the amusingly fake southern accents that comes out of Hollywood now. I didn't realize Ginger Rogers was such a quality actress, she did a fine job in this film. I guess I always thought of her in those more corny roles where she dances with Dean Martin or Fred Astaire, whoever it was.

Ronald Reagan plays the county or town prosecuting attorney and the best scene comes right at the end when shows up at a huge klan rally and delivers this quote after being threatened with a firearm and some kind of official sounding diatribe, "Don't give me that Halioween Routine." It's funny how he recognizes everybody in the klan, and they all scatter when Reagan gets tough, just like the communists did. It's a prophetic scene because I imagined him with all those Soviet officials and Gorbachev during all the Arms negotiations/talks.

Anyways I thought Storm Warning was going to be kind of corny, but it's a pretty good film, with very good acting. Ginger Rogers definitely was the star, her eyes are beautiul. I would like to see more of her films.

I first saw MOST of this film in high school. I say "most" because I recorded if from TV, and the film ran over a couple minutes so I didn't get to see the final few minutes until several years later when it was rerun. It was hell waiting. VERY suspenseful ending with some great performances, writing, and cinematography. Needless to say, I am SOOOOO glad to have this on DVD. It is a great film noir....ahead of its time in dealing with the consequences of consequences of extreme racism. Ginger Rogers and Steve Cochran give excellent performances. Steve Cochran was definitely an underrated performer, and although he plays a horrible character in this film, he does a wonderful job. Doris Day and Ronald Reagan are adequate in their performances, although frankly, Reagan's performance is actually pretty dull compared Steve and Ginger. Still, good job all around, and definitely worth a watch or more.

All in all not a bad movie to watch given it was made in 1950. The beginning has a great film-noir style setup with dark themes and scenes. But then actor Ronald Reagan enters as a wannabe tough guy in the role of detective/prosecutor and the hitchcock type magic is lost. It was like watching a mediocre magician's act, where you know the outcome of the trick but you watch anyway hoping this time the magician surprises you with a new twist on the outcome.

Good acting by Ginger Rogers probably saved this movie from being a complete flop. Though the movie attempted to expose and belittle the white supremacist ku klux klan organization and its hold on a small town, the main focus was on Rogers as a concerned sister reluctant to indict her sister's husband (a klan member) for a crime she witnessed him commit. Yes, its a crime detective story where you know who did it and why before the detective does.

This movie might've been ahead of its time in dealing with a serious american terrorist issue, but by depicting the root of this klan klavern as a few crazed and corrupt individuals, it gives the dangerously misleading perception of civic and community innocence when it came to klan activity. But give hollywood credit, their history of pulling a rabbit out of a hat and convincing viewers that its real has stood the test of time.

"Storm Warning" would've made a better book. I'm currently reading "Blood Justice" by Howard Smead. Its the true story of the 1959 Lynching of Mack CHarles Parker in Mississippi. It doesn't appear there will be any rabbit popping out of a hat in this tell all book. Real mob justice engulfs with rage and fear the entire town it proposes to protect and defend.