Winter set (film)

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Movie
Original title Winter set
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 77 minutes
Rod
Director Alfred Santell
script Anthony Veiller
production Pandro S. Berman
for RKO Radio Pictures
music Nathaniel Shilkret
camera J. Peverell Marley
cut William Hamilton
occupation

Winterset is a 1936 American crime film directed by Alfred Santell .

action

In 1920 the immigrant Bartolomeo Romagna was found guilty of murdering a factory paymaster . He was pulled into his car by strangers on the street, and the shot at the purser came from Bartolomeo's car, which was found a little later. Since Bartolomeo owed other people money, a motive was found and the judge sentenced him to death on the electric chair. Bartolomeo predicts that as an innocent man he will persecute the judge after his death. A short time later he was executed.

In 1936, during an exam, law students investigate an exemplary legal case - that of Bartolomeo Romagna. For the first time in the history of his subject, the examining professor receives the same verdict from all 100 students. Romagna is believed innocent and the students point out numerous errors in the process. A certain Garth Esdras, among others, was believed to be a key witness, but was never summoned to testify. The case is in the press.

Meanwhile, in New York City, gang boss Trock Estrella is getting nervous. He knows that the criminal Shadow sat in the car with him and Garth and shot the purser. He is known to the police and has no interest in the case being re-investigated. He thinks Garth talked or will talk and goes to see him. Garth lives with his sister Miriamne and his father and also wants to be kept out of the matter, especially since Miriamne did not know anything about his involvement in the case. Trock forbids Garth to leave the house.

Meanwhile, Miriamne meets young Mio not far from her house and they both dance to organ music in a backyard until the spontaneous celebration is interrupted by the police. Mio reveals to Miriamne that he is the son of Bartolomeo Romagna and wants to prove his innocence. Since Miriamne von Garth knows who killed Bartolomeo at the time, she advises him to look for Garth. She doesn't tell him that he is her brother. At Garth, meanwhile, the judge who was considered crazy at the trial against Bartolomeo at the time appeared to reassure Garth. If he had considered his testimony important at the time, he would have summoned him. When Mio asked about Garth, the judge told him convincingly that Bartolomeo was guilty at the time. Garth, in turn, claims that he never sat in the car and was therefore never called as a possible witness. Mio is dejected because he built his life on his father's innocence.

While looking for the judge, Trock, who recently shot Shadow on the street, suddenly appears at Garth's. He wants to get rid of both the judge and Mio, but suddenly the blood-covered Shadow stands in the doorway and points his gun at dry. However, he dies before he can shoot Trock. While Trock and Garth bring Shadow's body into an adjoining room, Mio takes Shadow's pistol and threatens Trock, who now admitted in a panic that Shadow murdered Bartolomeo at the time. The judge collapses and Trock manages to get the gun. Suddenly the police appear looking for the confused judge. You don't believe Mio there's a body in the next room. In fact, it's hidden so well that the police can't find anything. They threaten Mio that he will be taken to the station the next time he is suspected, and they take the judge away. Mio is disappointed that Mariamne did not stand by him, but she reveals to him that Garth is her brother. Trock goes to prepare things. With an accomplice, he positions himself not far from the house to shoot Mio while leaving. As a signal to fire, he turns off a cigarette with his accomplice.

Garth, plagued by guilt over the murder his whole life, now realizes that Mariamne loves Mio. He goes out of the house in Mios place and is shot after Trock's signal. Mio and Mariamne are still trapped in the forecourt of the house, as Trock realized that the wrong person was shot. Mio finally begins to play the organ organ still standing in the courtyard. A policeman appears and takes the already known and provocative Mio with him. Dry, who wanted to shoot Mio, had taken cover from the policeman. Meanwhile, a tramp has found the cigarette that was thrown away by Trock from the first murder and lit it. Trock's accomplice sees it as a signal and shoots Trock.

production

Burgess Meredith, leading actor in the film

Winterset is based on Maxwell Anderson's play Dezembertag (original Winterset ) , which was based on the Sacco Vanzetti case and won a Drama Critics Circle Award in 1935. The film was shot from July to September 1936. It was the screen debut of Maurice Moscovitch and after two small roles without mention in the credits, the first major screen appearance of Burgess Meredith . Meredith, like Margo, Eduardo Ciannelli, Myron McCormick and Fernanda Eliscu, had already played the same role in the play, with Myron McCormick in the film as Carr, but in the play like Ciannelli as Trock. The film, which cost around $ 400,000, hit theaters on November 20, 1936.

criticism

The New York Times praised the film in 1936 as a successful mixture of theater and film, with both the film and the play being a “poetic outcry against injustice and mass hysteria”. The newspaper particularly praised the ending, which was changed in contrast to the piece, which allows Mio and Mariamne to survive and thus accommodates the viewer's sense of justice.

Classic Film Guide called the characters simple and one-dimensional and the interpretation too dramatic. The plot is outdated and partly implausible, but the actors make the story so believable that the film knows how to captivate in the end.

Awards

Winterset was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best production design in 1937 and received another Oscar nomination in the category of best film music .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See chicagoreader.com
  2. ↑ See Notes on TCM
  3. ↑ "a surging poetic outcry against injustice and mob hysteria." See. JTM: Winterset (1936) . In: New York Times , December 4, 1936.
  4. ^ "The characters are straightforward and simple (eg one dimensional), and are played somewhat over dramatically. The story is both dated and unbelievable at times, but the actors seem to believe in it such that it's still compelling to the end ”. See classicfilmguide.com