''Fury '' is a 1936 American drama film directed by

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary '' Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. ...

that tells the story of an innocent man (

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...

) who narrowly escapes being burned to death by a

lynch Lynch may refer to: Places Australia * Lynch Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica * Lynch Point, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica * Lynch's Crater, Queensland, Australia England * River Lynch, Hertfordshire * The Lynch, an island in the Rive ...

mob and the revenge he then seeks. The film was released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

and stars Sylvia Sidney and Tracy, with a supporting cast featuring

Walter Abel Walter Abel (June 6, 1898 – March 26, 1987) was an American film, stage and radio actor. Life Abel was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Christine (née Becker) and Richard Michael Abel. Abel graduated from the American Academy of ...

Bruce Cabot Bruce Cabot (born Étienne de Pelissier Bujac Jr.; April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll (character), Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films ...

, Edward Ellis and

Walter Brennan Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...

. Loosely based on the events surrounding the Brooke Hart murder in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, the film was adapted by Bartlett Cormack and Lang from the story ''Mob Rule'' by

Norman Krasna Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year ca ...

. ''Fury'' was Lang's first American film.

Plot

En route to meet his fiancée Katherine Grant, gas-station owner Joe Wilson is arrested on flimsy circumstantial evidence for the

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

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 refuses to give up his prisoner, the enraged townspeople burn down the building, throwing

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and patented in 1867. It rapidl ...

into the flames as they flee the scene. Unknown to anyone else there, the blast frees Joe but kills his little dog Rainbow, who had run in to comfort him in the cell. The

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

brings the main perpetrators to trial for murder, but nobody is willing to identify the guilty, and several provide false alibis. The case seems hopeless, but then the prosecutor produces hard evidence:

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

footage of 22 people caught in the act. Katherine discovers that Joe escaped the fire and that his brothers are helping him take revenge by concealing his survival and framing the defendants for his murder. She goes to see Joe and pleads with him to stop the charade, but he is determined to make his would-be killers pay. His conscience begins to weigh on him and, just as the verdicts are being read, he walks into the courtroom and sets things straight.

Cast

* Sylvia Sidney as Katherine Grant *

as Joe Wilson *

as Adams, the District Attorney *

as Kirby Dawson * Edward Ellis as Sheriff *

as "Bugs" Meyers *

Frank Albertson Francis Healey Albertson (February 2, 1909 – February 29, 1964) was an American actor who had supporting roles in films such as ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and ''Psycho (1960 film), Psycho'' (1960). Early life Albertson was a nat ...

as Charlie * George Walcott as Tom *

Arthur Stone The Artognou stone, sometimes erroneously referred to as the Arthur stone, is an archaeological artefact uncovered in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was discovered in 1998 in securely dated sixth-century contexts among the ruins at Tintage ...

as Durkin * Morgan Wallace as Fred Garrett *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the televi ...

as Milton Jackson * Roger Gray as Stranger * Edwin Maxwell as Will Vickery *

Howard Hickman Howard Charles Hickman (February 9, 1880 – December 31, 1949) was an American actor, director and writer. He was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince. Career In 1900, Hickman ...

as Governor *

Jonathan Hale Jonathan Hale (born Jonathan Hatley; March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor. Life and career Hale was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Before his acting career, Hale worked in the Diplomatic C ...

as Defense Attorney *

Leila Bennett Leila Bennett (November 17, 1892 – January 5, 1965) was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles as either slapstick sidekicks, mousy maids, and scatterbrains. Early life Bennett was born in Newark, New Jerse ...

as Edna Hooper *

Esther Dale Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen. Early years Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont. In Berlin, Germany, she stu ...

as Mrs. Whipple * Helen Flint as Franchette * Gwen Lee as Mrs. Fred Garrett (uncredited) * Frederick Burton as Judge Daniel Hopkins (uncredited) The part of Wilson's dog Rainbow was played by

Terry Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albrit ...

, the same

Cairn Terrier The Cairn Terrier is a terrier breed originating in the Scottish Highlands and recognized as one of Scotland's earliest working dogs. The breed was given the name Cairn because the breed's function was to hunt and chase quarry between the cai ...

who played Toto in '' The Wizard of Oz''.

Development

was inspired to write the story after reading about a lynching in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

''. He pitched the idea to Samuel Marx and Joseph L. Mankiewicz at MGM, who were attracted to it. Krasna claimed that he did not write a script; he verbally pitched it to Mankiewicz, who then dictated it.McGilligan, Patrick, "Norman Krasna: The Woolworth's Touch", ''Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age'', University of California Press,1986 pp. 218–219 Multiple changes were made from Krasna's story to the final script. ''Fury'' was Lang's first American film, and is considered by critics to have been compromised by the studio, which forced Lang to tack on a reconciliation between Tracy's character and his girlfriend at the end. The film was a major departure for MGM, known for its lavish musicals and glitzy dramas; the expensive production features expansive and stylized sets to create its gritty world, and its style is more in keeping with the social-issue films associated with Warner Bros., such as '' I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang''. Lang originally wanted to make a film about a black victim of a lynching, but the idea was rejected by MGM. The kiss scene at the end, a typical Hollywood "happy ending," was appended because the production manager insisted. Lang, who credited himself with changing the protagonist from a lawyer to a mechanic, also said that he wanted to reveal that the protagonist had committed the murder.

Reception

The film received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Writing, Original Story. Frank Nugent, in a review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', praised it as " mature, sober and penetrating investigation of a national blight." Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

strongly praised the film, describing it as "the only film I know to which I have wanted to attach the epithet of 'great'." Expressing his view that the film completely conveyed the "sense of spiritual integrity ... by sound and image better than by any other medium," Greene drew particular attention to the contributions of Sylvia Sidney: " e has never more deeply conveyed the pain and inarticulacy of tenderness ... no other director has got so completely the measure of his medium, is so consistently awake to the counterpoint of sound and image." In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It was released on Blu-ray disc in the North American region by Warner Bros. in their Archive Collection in 2021. The film earned domestic rentals of $685,000 and $617,000 overseas. According to MGM records, the final profit was $248,000.Eyman, Scott (2005). ''Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer'', Robson, p. 219

Notes

External links

Essay
by Raquel Stecher at

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fury 1936 films 1936 crime drama films 1930s prison films American black-and-white films American courtroom films American crime drama films American films about revenge Films about capital punishment Films directed by Fritz Lang Films produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Films scored by Franz Waxman Films with screenplays by Fritz Lang Lynching in the United States Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films United States National Film Registry films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films