THEY WON'T FORGET (1937) B/W 94m dir: Mervyn LeRoy

w/Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris, Otto Kruger, Allyn Joslyn, Lana Turner, Linda Perry, Elisha Cook Jr., Cy Kendall, Clinton Rosemond

An exceptional drama about a prosecutor in a southern town who turns a murder case into a political stepping stone. Good writing, superb acting, and LeRoy's expert direction make this a compelling film.

From The Movie Guide: "Chiefly known now for introducing [Lana] Turner to cinema audiences --- she'd done bits before, but had never gotten billing --- THEY WON'T FORGET (which followed closely on the heels of Fritz Lang's famed lynch-mob film FURY) was touted by some critics as a true classic and cited by the National Board of Review as one of the ten best of 1937. The screenplay [by Robert Rossen] closely follows its source, Ward Greene's novel, Death in the Deep South, which was in turn based on a true incident that occurred in Atlanta in 1915. Turner, though sixth-billed and featured only in the first few minutes of the film, nonetheless makes a vivid impression as the fresh-faced, blossoming adolescent victim. Director LeRoy's 75-foot tracking shot of Turner's sensual strut [along the town's street where a Confederate Day parade is taking place] established in every viewer's mind the sex-related nature of her character's murder without in any way invoking the wrath of the censors; if the character was violated, the Production Code was not."