Intruder in the Dust (1949)
95%RT Audience Score: 94%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Like the William Faulkner classic it’s adapted from, Intruder in the Dust confronts American racism with skilled storytelling and unflinching courage.
Intruder in the Dust is a movie that will make you feel all the feels. It’s got drama, passion, and a powerful social message that will leave you thinking long after the credits roll. Plus, the performances by Juano Hernandez, Claude Jarman Jr., and David Brian are top-notch. But let’s be real, the real star of the show is the crowd gathering outside the gaol waiting for the dreadful, murderous show. I mean, the horror of this crowd is in its very casualness, its almost festive air. It’s like they’re waiting for a parade or something. Overall, this movie is a classic that deserves all the accolades it’s received.
Production Company(ies)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Oxford, Mississippi, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Approved
Year of Release
1950
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Feb 1, 2011
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Intruder in the Dust, drama, William Faulkner, racism, Mississippi, lynching, murder, adaptation, Juano Hernandez, Claude Jarman Jr., Clarence Brown, directed by, produced by, written by, box office performance, budget, reviewed by, critic names, MPAA rating, English, David Brian, John Gavin Stevens, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Kemper, genre, 1940s, small-town, social message, courage, passion, engrossing, thrilling, story, location, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Guardian, The Reporter, The Nation, Baltimore Sun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Francisco Examiner
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Claude Jarman Jr. – Chick Mallison
Juano Hernandez – Lucas Beauchamp
Porter Hall – Nub Gowrie
Elizabeth Patterson – Miss Eunice Habersham
Charles Kemper – Crawford Gowrie
Director(s)
Clarence Brown
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Clarence Brown
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (3)
As producer and director. Brown has maintained brilliant balance between the film’s melodrama and its powerful social message.
January 29, 2021
Mildred Martin
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Intruder in the Dust is not only a great social document but an engrossing, thrilling story of courage and passion.
January 29, 2021
Marjory Adams
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
While we may not like what we see on the screen, we must admit that Brown’s intention in capturing the Faulkner yarn on film was a meritorious one.
January 29, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Kate Cameron
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
Grimly courageous.
January 29, 2021
Edwin Schallert
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Good performances by Juano Hernandez, Claude Jarman Jr., David Brian and others, and superbly directed by Clarence Brown.
January 29, 2021
Myles Standish
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
Its great effectiveness lies less in its story than in, for instance, the picture it presents of the crowds gathering outside the gaol waiting for the dreadful, murderous show. The horror of this crowd is in its very casualness, its almost festive air.
January 29, 2021
Guardian Staff
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
The great significance of the definition of Lucas Beauchamp’s role in Intruder in the Dust is that it makes explicit the nature of Hollywood’s changed attitude.
January 25, 2022
Ralph Ellison
The Reporter
[It’s hard] reconciling Faulkner’s beliefs with the tenets of Hollywood liberalism. Result: there is some very smooth broken-field running around all the implications that get in the way, but many of the dramatic potentialities of the plot are lost.
January 29, 2021
William Poster
The Nation
Intruder in the Dust deserves our award for uncommon merit, the Blue Ribbon with Palms, and an additional accolade as being worthy to be classed among the best American films in the history of the cinema.
January 29, 2021
Gilbert Kanour
Baltimore Sun
It is a movie that earns a distant respect and admiration, and stays on top of the skin.
January 29, 2021
Harold V. Cohen
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Intruder in the Dust belongs among the Hollywood classics of this era.
January 29, 2021
Carl E. Cooper
Kansas City Star
I have never seen a film done with more forthright purpose, with less emotional bias or with greater understanding than this story, which deals with bigotry.
January 29, 2021
Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
San Francisco Examiner…
Plot
Intruder in the Dust is a drama about a young boy who races against time to prove the innocence of a black man accused of murder in small-town Mississippi in the 1940s.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Juano Hernandez delivers a strong and powerful performance as Lucas Beauchamp in Intruder in the Dust.
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