Movies

Storm Warning (1951) Outstanding Ku Klux Klan thriller starring Ginger Rogers, Doris Day and Ronald Reagan. Rogers stops in a small town to visit kid sister Day and witnesses a Klan murder, soon learning that one of the killers is her brother-in-law. Reagan is the prosecuting attorney who just needs to get her to stop trying to protect her sister and say what she saw. At the time, racial equality was a far more dangerous topic than the Klan, and they get through it by presenting it as gangsterism and a moneymaking scheme for the leaders with little said that can be stretched to imply the Negro Question. As Donna said, this is the Hollywood South where nobody has a southern accent - I was surprised they even put African Americans in the crowd scenes but they sure didn't let any of them speak. Despite the alternate universe approach this is a stirringly atmospheric and threatening depiction of insular small-town life and the spectacular finale in which Rogers is dragged before the Klavern and whipped at the foot of the flaming cross is amazing. This is the best serious acting I have ever seen her do, and Steve Cochran deserves recognition as the moronic lout of a brother-in-law whose idiocy screws things up for the Klan every step of the way. 8/10

The Early Bird (1965) Norman Wisdom is the sole milkman for a one-horse dairy, under attack by a soulless corporation. No songs or love interest here, just vast destruction accompanied by relentless repetitive symphonic Comedy Music. There is a remarkable sequence in which he accidentally destroys the extensive garden, the greenhouse and the Rolls Royce belonging to the manager of the rival dairy, all while being dragged behind a runaway lawn mower - much of it being done with models. There is a golf sequence and an extended fireman bit at the end which gets tiring. Some really funny bits balance it out. Moderately amusing. 6/10