Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18987 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Customer Reviews

Can justice be served or will there be a lynching?
Based on a novel by William Faulkner, and filmed in 1949 in black and white, this is the story of an African American man wrongly accused of murder in a small Southern town. Actually filmed in Oxford, Mississippi, Faulkner's hometown, and using local residents as extras, there's a ring of authenticity about it.

There's tension throughout, from the very beginning when the dignified Lucas Beauchamp, played by Juano Hernandez is arrested for supposedly shooting a white man in the back. There's a huge crowd of white people lining the streets but there is absolute silence as the thud of Beauchamp's footsteps echo as he is led to the jail. A young white teenage boy, played by Claude Jamen, Jr., who had been befriended by the dignified Beauchamp several years before, convinces his uncle, played by David Brian, to help save Beauchamp from the inevitable lynching.

I thought the story was a good one as it kept me glued to the screen, not even walking away when my computer signaled that fresh e-mail had arrived. But yet, with the exception of Porter Hall who played the one-armed father of the murdered man and Elizabeth Patterson, cast as the feisty elderly lady who instigated the investigation and single handedly delayed the potential lynching, the performances of the leading characters seemed wooden. This is a basically a good film though and it deals with some important themes. Yes, it could have been done better, but I still think it's worthwhile seeing. And so I give it a warm recommendation.

very nice classic movie
This was a very good classic movie about racism. I am too young to recognize any of the actors and I wonder if any of the Black actors really experienced racism while filming this movie. Example, did they have to go through the back doors of restaurants and hotels. Also, maybe did they have to drink out of the "white only" water fountains while filming. This movie had to be surreal to the Black actors in this movie because I am quite sure they experienced racism in their everyday real lives.

Intruder in the Dust
The movie "Intruder in the Dust" takes some liberties in changing the details, but the storyline remains consistent with the book. Faulkner (and the movie) included some over-the-top social-statement lines -- an unheard of thing for the times, but effective. Movie is very good on several levels.