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Fury (1936 film)
Encyclopedia
Fury is a 1936 American drama film which tells the story of an innocent man who narrowly escapes being lynched
and the revenge he seeks. Directed by Fritz Lang
, the film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
and stars Spencer Tracy
, Sylvia Sidney
and Bruce Cabot
and features Walter Abel
, Edward Ellis
and Walter Brennan
. Loosely based on the events surrounding the Brooke Hart
murder, the movie was adapted by Bartlett Cormack and Lang from the story Mob Rule by Norman Krasna
.
), Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy
) is arrested on flimsy circumstantial evidence for the kidnapping of a child. Gossip soon travels around the small town, growing more distorted through each retelling, until a mob gathers at the jail. When the resolute sheriff (Edward Ellis
) refuses to give up his prisoner, the enraged townspeople burn down the building.
The district attorney (Walter Abel
) brings the main perpetrators to trial for murder, but nobody is willing to identify the guilty, and several provide alibis. The case seems hopeless, but then the prosecutor produces hard evidence: newsreel
footage of twenty-two people caught in the act.
However, Katherine is troubled by one piece of evidence. The defense attorney had tried to get his clients off by claiming that there was no proof Joe was killed, but an anonymous letter writer had returned a partially melted ring belonging to Joe. Katherine notices that a word is misspelled just as Joe used to spell it.
She discovers that Joe escaped the fire and that Joe's brothers are helping him get his revenge. She goes to see Joe and pleads with him to stop the charade, but he is determined to make his would-be killers pay. However, his conscience starts preying on him and, in the end, just as the verdicts are being read, he walks into the courtroom and sets things straight.
.
nomination for Best Writing, Original Story
. In 1995, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
and the revenge he seeks. Directed by Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
, the film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
and stars Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
, Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
and Bruce Cabot
Bruce Cabot
Bruce Cabot was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong . He is also known for his roles in films such as the sixth version of Last of the Mohicans, Fritz Lang's Fury and the western Dodge City.-Early life:Cabot was born Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad,...
and features Walter Abel
Walter Abel
Walter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
, Edward Ellis
Edward Ellis (actor)
Edward Mayne Ellis was an American film actor. He is best known for playing the title role in The Thin Man, as well as in A Man to Remember.-Early life:...
and Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:...
. Loosely based on the events surrounding the Brooke Hart
Brooke Hart
Brooke Hart was the oldest son of Alexander Hart, the owner of L. Hart and Son Department Store in San Jose, California. His kidnapping and murder was reported throughout the United States, and the lynching of his alleged murderers, Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M...
murder, the movie was adapted by Bartlett Cormack and Lang from the story Mob Rule by Norman Krasna
Norman Krasna
Norman Krasna was an American screenwriter, playwright, and film director. He is best known for penning screwball comedies, melodrama, and early films noir. Krasna also directed three films during a forty-year career in Hollywood...
.
Plot
En route to meet his fiancée, Katherine Grant (Sylvia SidneySylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
), Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
) is arrested on flimsy circumstantial evidence for the kidnapping of a child. Gossip soon travels around the small town, growing more distorted through each retelling, until a mob gathers at the jail. When the resolute sheriff (Edward Ellis
Edward Ellis (actor)
Edward Mayne Ellis was an American film actor. He is best known for playing the title role in The Thin Man, as well as in A Man to Remember.-Early life:...
) refuses to give up his prisoner, the enraged townspeople burn down the building.
The district attorney (Walter Abel
Walter Abel
Walter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
) brings the main perpetrators to trial for murder, but nobody is willing to identify the guilty, and several provide alibis. The case seems hopeless, but then the prosecutor produces hard evidence: newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
footage of twenty-two people caught in the act.
However, Katherine is troubled by one piece of evidence. The defense attorney had tried to get his clients off by claiming that there was no proof Joe was killed, but an anonymous letter writer had returned a partially melted ring belonging to Joe. Katherine notices that a word is misspelled just as Joe used to spell it.
She discovers that Joe escaped the fire and that Joe's brothers are helping him get his revenge. She goes to see Joe and pleads with him to stop the charade, but he is determined to make his would-be killers pay. However, his conscience starts preying on him and, in the end, just as the verdicts are being read, he walks into the courtroom and sets things straight.
Cast
- Spencer TracySpencer TracySpencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
as Joe Wilson - Bruce CabotBruce CabotBruce Cabot was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong . He is also known for his roles in films such as the sixth version of Last of the Mohicans, Fritz Lang's Fury and the western Dodge City.-Early life:Cabot was born Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad,...
as Kirby Dawson - Sylvia SidneySylvia SidneySylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
as Katherine Grant - Walter AbelWalter AbelWalter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
as District Attorney - Edward EllisEdward Ellis (actor)Edward Mayne Ellis was an American film actor. He is best known for playing the title role in The Thin Man, as well as in A Man to Remember.-Early life:...
as Sheriff - Walter BrennanWalter BrennanWalter Brennan was an American actor. Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions, which is currently the record for most wins.-Early life:...
as "Bugs" Meyers - Frank AlbertsonFrank AlbertsonFrank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....
as Charlie - George Walcott as Tom
- Arthur Stone as Durkin
- Morgan WallaceMorgan WallaceMorgan Wallace , was an American actor. He appeared in 28 films between 1914 and 1946, including It's a Gift and My Little Chickadee starring W.C. Fields and Mae West....
as Fred Garrett - George ChandlerGeorge ChandlerGeorge Chandler was an American actor best known for playing the character of "Uncle Petrie" on the television series Lassie...
as Milton Jackson - Roger Gray as Stranger
- Edwin MaxwellEdwin MaxwellEdwin Maxwell was an Irish character actor in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, frequently cast as shady businessmen and shysters, though often ones with a dignified bearing....
as Vickery - Howard C. HickmanHoward C. HickmanHoward C. Hickman was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince. He co-starred with his wife, actress Bessie Barriscale, in several productions before returning to the theatre...
as Governor - Jonathan HaleJonathan HaleJonathan Hale was a Canadian-born film and television actor.-Career:Born Jonathan Hatley in Ontario, Canada, Hale was well known as Dagwood Bumstead's boss, Julius Caesar Dithers, in the Blondie film series in the 1940s. He is also notable for playing Inspector Farnack in various The Saint films...
as Defense Attorney - Leila BennettLeila BennettLeila Bennett was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles as either slapstick sidekicks, mousy maids, and scatterbrains. Her biggest trade mark was her long thin lips...
as Edna Hooper - Esther DaleEsther DaleEsther Dale was an American actress, best known perhaps for her role as Aunt Genevieve in the 1935 Shirley Temple vehicle, Curly Top....
as Mrs. Whipple - Helen Flint as Franchette
Production
Fury was Lang's first American film, and is considered by critics to have been compromised by the studio, which forced Lang to make the protagonist innocent of the crime he's nearly lynched for, and to tack on a reconciliation between him and his girlfriend. The film was a major departure for MGM, which at the time was known for lavish musicals and glitzy dramas – the expensive production features expansive and stylised sets to create its gritty world and its style is more in keeping with the social issue films associated with Warner Brothers, such as I Am a Fugitive from a Chain GangI Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a Pre-Code crime/drama film starring Paul Muni as a wrongfully convicted convict on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from Robert Elliott Burns's autobiography, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain...
.
Reception
The film received an Academy AwardAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for Best Writing, Original Story
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
. In 1995, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."