Storm Warning

Storm Warning is a 1950 American thriller film noir starring Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day, and Steve Cochran. Directed by Stuart Heisler, it follows a fashion model (Rogers) traveling to a small Southern town to visit her sister (Day), who witnesses the brutal murder of an investigative journalist by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The original screenplay was written by Richard Brooks and Daniel Fuchs. Filmed in Corona, California in late 1949, Storm Warning premiered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1950, before receiving an expanded theatrical release in the United States on February 10, 1951. The film earned $1.25 million in North America, and was a box-office flop. In the years since its original release, it has been subject to analysis by film scholars as an allegory for the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations, while both contemporary and modern critics have noted that its depiction of the KKK does not address the organization's predominant racist origins. Despite this, the film's performances (particularly Rogers’, appearing in a rare dramatic role) and direction have been widely lauded. Plot Marsha Mitchell, a dress model from New York City, is traveling by bus during an extended job for her employer during Christmastime of 1949. En route, she decides to spend the night in the rural Southern town of Rock Point to visit her newlywed sister, Lucy Rice, who has relocated there. Within minutes of entering the town she notices unwelcoming and evasive behavior from the townspeople. As she walks down the almost-pitch-black main street she hears loud noises coming from the police station. She hides and witnesses a drunken KKK mob, which murders a man whom they had just broken out of jail. The man untangles himself and only manages to run briefly before getting cut down by gunfire. The mob, slightly apprehensive, approaches the fallen man, arguing among themselves. Marsha gets a good look at two of the men, who have removed their hoods.