Winterset

Starring: Burgess Meredith & John Carradine Director: Alfred Santell

A man tries to clear the name of his executed father. This film is based on Maxwell Anderson's classic Broadway play.

Because of the poetic treatment of this contemporary urban tale, this film isn't going to appeal to everybody. But if you bring your imagaination, and let the film work its magic, you will be moved.

The original leading actors from the Broadway production are here -- Burgess Meredith (his movie debut), Margo, and Eduardo Cianelli, and all turn in sterling performances.

Print quality is very good -- a little worn, but still very watchable. You won't be disappointed.

I still have no idea what the title is supposed to mean, but the movie is fun if one doesn't mind melodrama. Obviously inspired by the Sacco & Vanzetti case, the story makes John Carradine a Christlike Italian immigrant unjustly convicted of murder due to "radical" beliefs not far from FDR's New Deal. Years later, his son, played by young Burgess Meredith, tries to clear his name, while the real killer (played by Eduardo Cianelli), just out of stir, tries to kill him and anyone else connected with the crime. The movie reflects its stage origins in using a small number of sets, setting up a nice claustrophobia when it looks like Meredith can't leave the crowded hovel of a vital witness without getting shot.