Inherit the Wind (1960)
classic film review
INHERIT THE WIND
Certificate: U Runtime 127 minutes
Director: Stanley Kramer
I am more interested in the 'Rock of Ages' than I am in the age of rocks. Matthew Harrison Brady
As we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origins of the Species this year it is time to look again at this film and its continuing relevance in the perceived battle between science and faith. Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind is a lightly fictionalised account of the infamous 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ in Dayton, Tennessee when two famous lawyers – one a former presidential candidate – volunteered to argue the case of the teaching evolution by natural selection in local schools. John T Scopes was arrested and accused of breaking the State law by teaching Darwin’s theories in a State-funded school. The title came from a passage in Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."
In fact Scopes lost his case despite a brilliant defence by Clarence Darrow. He was fined $100. On appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court the case was dismissed on the technicality that the fine ought to have been set by the jury, not the judge. The law remained on the books until 1968 when it was deemed unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court as violation of the first amendment of the US Constitution that prohibits the establishment of any religion.
Kramer’s film changes some of the names and the facts of the actual case in order to heighten the drama, bring in a love interest and send a ‘message’ against repression and hidebound conformity to dead orthodoxy. Spencer Tracy plays famed defense lawyer, 68 year-old Clarence Darrow as Henry Drummond . Frederic March excels in his role as a former Presidential candidate, former Secretary of State, populist orator and firm believer in ‘that old time religion’, 65 year-old William Jennings Bryan as Matthew Harrison Brady. Dick York plays the 24 year old Tennessee high-school biology teacher John T Scopes as Bertram T. Cates. In an unusual role for him, Gene Kelly plays the Baltimore Evening Sun's acid-penned columnist H. L. Mencken as the fictitious Baltimore Herald's E. K. Hornbeck. Even the location was fictionalised, as Dayton became ‘heavenly’ Hillsboro in the film.
The stage for the sweltering courtroom battle is set to the opening strains of the gospel standard ‘Gimme that old time Religion’. Four stony-faced men – one wearing a clerical collar – walk determinedly past a statue of Blind Justice into a school room to arrest the young school teacher Bertram T Cates for breaking State law by teaching Darwin’s theories to his students. The cynical Baltimore Herald columnist E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) captures the moment of the arrest on camera. His paper has sponsored a defence attorney for Cates, so Hornbeck is the only one in the town to welcome the celebrated big city Chicago attorney Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) to heavenly Hillsboro.
Tracy and March were both nominated for Oscars for their roles in this film but none were won. Both actors play their respective parts with deep conviction. March is terrific as the upright and outraged Bible believer determined to stand up for his faith and his view of truth and Tracy as the laid back tousle-haired libertarian equally determined to defend his client and his own conception of truth,
Inherit the wind is available on DVD and can be viewed for free online on http://www.theonlydevice.com/inherit-the-wind-1960/
INHERIT THE WIND
Certificate: U Runtime 127 minutes
Director: Stanley Kramer
I am more interested in the 'Rock of Ages' than I am in the age of rocks. Matthew Harrison Brady
As we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origins of the Species this year it is time to look again at this film and its continuing relevance in the perceived battle between science and faith. Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind is a lightly fictionalised account of the infamous 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ in Dayton, Tennessee when two famous lawyers – one a former presidential candidate – volunteered to argue the case of the teaching evolution by natural selection in local schools. John T Scopes was arrested and accused of breaking the State law by teaching Darwin’s theories in a State-funded school. The title came from a passage in Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."
In fact Scopes lost his case despite a brilliant defence by Clarence Darrow. He was fined $100. On appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court the case was dismissed on the technicality that the fine ought to have been set by the jury, not the judge. The law remained on the books until 1968 when it was deemed unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court as violation of the first amendment of the US Constitution that prohibits the establishment of any religion.
Kramer’s film changes some of the names and the facts of the actual case in order to heighten the drama, bring in a love interest and send a ‘message’ against repression and hidebound conformity to dead orthodoxy. Spencer Tracy plays famed defense lawyer, 68 year-old Clarence Darrow as Henry Drummond . Frederic March excels in his role as a former Presidential candidate, former Secretary of State, populist orator and firm believer in ‘that old time religion’, 65 year-old William Jennings Bryan as Matthew Harrison Brady. Dick York plays the 24 year old Tennessee high-school biology teacher John T Scopes as Bertram T. Cates. In an unusual role for him, Gene Kelly plays the Baltimore Evening Sun's acid-penned columnist H. L. Mencken as the fictitious Baltimore Herald's E. K. Hornbeck. Even the location was fictionalised, as Dayton became ‘heavenly’ Hillsboro in the film.
The stage for the sweltering courtroom battle is set to the opening strains of the gospel standard ‘Gimme that old time Religion’. Four stony-faced men – one wearing a clerical collar – walk determinedly past a statue of Blind Justice into a school room to arrest the young school teacher Bertram T Cates for breaking State law by teaching Darwin’s theories to his students. The cynical Baltimore Herald columnist E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) captures the moment of the arrest on camera. His paper has sponsored a defence attorney for Cates, so Hornbeck is the only one in the town to welcome the celebrated big city Chicago attorney Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) to heavenly Hillsboro.
Tracy and March were both nominated for Oscars for their roles in this film but none were won. Both actors play their respective parts with deep conviction. March is terrific as the upright and outraged Bible believer determined to stand up for his faith and his view of truth and Tracy as the laid back tousle-haired libertarian equally determined to defend his client and his own conception of truth,
Inherit the wind is available on DVD and can be viewed for free online on http://www.theonlydevice.com/inherit-the-wind-1960/
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