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.
Review of They Won't Forget
