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While audio levels could be goosed a bit higher, dialogue sounds full and analog audio anomalies (hiss, pops) are virtually non-existent. Grain (remember when this was a BIG issue?) is present but completely appropriately.Īudio is presented via DTS-HD Mono. Contrast and gray scale are balanced, with solid whites and deep blacks. Details just pop, whether it’s the constant beads of forehead sweat or the texture of 1920s tweed jackets. Filmed in black and white by the great cinematographer Ernest Laszlo, the film has never looked better. Presented in 1.85, this is a sumptuous HD transfer. When “Inherit the Wind” on Blu-ray was first announced, I eagerly chucked the previous MGM/UA non-anamorphic DVD release. Eldredge’s scenes as Brady’s gentle but resolute wife almost reconcile the lopsided narrative tone. Akins’ fiery sermon where he damns his own daughter strikes what I feel is the story’s falsest note. Fredric March in real life) and 60s character actor Elliott Reid (the co-prosecutor) are all solid. The performances by Anderson, York, Harry Morgan (the presiding judge), Florence Eldredge (Mrs. Kelly is quite good when he’s finding the hopeless in, well, everything.
INHERIT THE WIND BLURAY TRIAL
In addition to Tracy and March, there’s Gene Kelly as the cynical Hornbeck, stand-in for real trial chronicler H.L. Kramer assembled an ace cast for the film. As Henry Drummond would say, “Well, that’s evolution for you.” In many ways, the debate that Lawrence and Lee tried to subvert in 1955 has come full circle 60 years later. In 2015, it’s not hard to see a contemporary analogy, with continued efforts of an overzealous few to equate Creationism with Darwin’s scientifically accepted theories. When the play debuted in 1955, it was more about McCarthy hysteria than religion vs. I’ve returned to it many times over the years, if only to enjoy Tracy and March re-chew the scenery, but in a good way. Even so, the film is immensely watchable. As helmed by Kramer, and adapted for the screen by Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith, nothing is subtle here: the sides are clearly delineated the deck is stacked in presenting opposing arguments and despite a symbolic olive branch, Kramer leaves nothing to chance that the viewer might make the “wrong” choice.
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“Inherit the Wind” is a message piece writ large. As Drummond and Brady spar in the sultry courtroom, Cates must not only deal with the legal fallout, but the damage done to his fiancé Rachel Brown (Donna Anderson), who happens to be the daughter of the town’s “spiritual leader” Reverend Brown (Claude Akins). Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) announces during a Brady welcoming rally that Drummond, “the most agile legal mind of the 20th century” has been tapped to defend Cates. For the townspeople of Hillsboro, Cates’ actions are not only illegal, but perceived as a direct attack on their beliefs and unite against him, especially when religious crusader Bryan announces he will help prosecute. Lawrence and Lee transformed Darrow and Bryan into Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady, played in the film by two just-as-legendary master thespians – Spencer Tracy and Fredric March.īertram Cates (Dick York of “Bewitched” fame) is arrested for including evolution in his high school curriculum. What helped generate headlines were the two men who argued the case: legal wizard Clarence Darrow for the defense, and former Presidential candidate and fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution. Lee, plainly state their case at the outset: “Inherit the Wind is not history.” The play is a heavily fictionalized interpretation of the infamous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, challenging a state law that made teaching Charles Darwin in the classroom a crime. In the forward of the printed play, the playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.
INHERIT THE WIND BLURAY FREE
In 1960, Kramer tackled no less heady a subject than the concept of free thought with his film adaptation of the stage play “Inherit the Wind.” Twilight Time recently released a Blu-ray edition of this courtroom classic and befitting the subject matter, Twilight’s treatment is just as reverential.
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T.” However, starting with 1955’s “Not with a Stranger, “Kramer also took on directing chores. Seuss-scripted fantasy “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. Starting as a producer, he guided such esteemed – and for the time, culturally risky – productions as “High Noon,” “Home of the Brave,” “The Men,” and “The Wild One.” He also produced such “respectable” films as “Cyrano De Bergerac,” “Death of a Salesman,” and even the 1953 Dr. But perhaps no one embodied the “message” filmmaker like Stanley Kramer. If the script had epic storytelling elements, Samuel Bronston or Sam Spiegel would be your first call. If you had a property leaning towards science fiction and fantasy, you’d go after George Pal. Just as stars had been typecast, so were some producers. During the 1950s, Hollywood mutated from the monolithic studio system to the more risk-friendly independent film companies.