MovieChat Forums > They Won't Forget (1937) Discussion > Didn't this movie violate the censorship...

Didn't this movie violate the censorship code? (spoiler)

posted 12 years ago by tmaj48
3 replies | jump to latest

Although obviously based on the Leo Frank/Mary Phagan case, the film claims
to be fictitious. If so, how did it get away with its ending? Not so much the
lynching itself, but the success of Claude Rains' character at the end. Wasn't
this a violation of the Hollywood production codes of that era, as it was
depicting the triumph of evil? Griffin's primary motive in getting Hale
convicted seemed to be based less on the likelihood of his being the murderer
as it was that he seemed to Griffin the suspect most likely to get Griffin the
maximum amount of attention.

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

[–] rtw416 10 years ago

I thought you were going to mention Lana Turner in her sweater....wow

[–] YouToober 10 years ago

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, but most likely those were fake. If you check out the scene (early in the film) when Lana was in the classroom, the "gifts" don't seem anywhere near as big as when they showed her walking down the street. Also, check out her later films, is she well endowed in any of those films?

And I heard or read somewhere that Lana wore fake breast or "falsies" for her films.

But don't get me wrong, well endowed or not, Lana Turner was BEAUTIFUL!

[–] mam13143 10 years ago

my take is that it wasn't so much a triumph of evil as ambition. Rains says many times he is looking for a high profile case and this fits the bill, but while he isn't quite sure he is the murderer, he certainly has the circumstantial evidence to accuse him. Even I am not sure whether he is truly innocent or not in the movie. the real life case is a different matter. the point was that in the south at that time this type of thing (hanging and lynchings) was not uncommon, and as the whimsical opening illustrated, they still hadn't forgotten the civil war. And many say they still haven't. He may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but then again... Good movie with some fine acting.