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Intruder in the Dust

1949 · 87 min

This film immerses you in a suffocating atmosphere where the fight for basic justice feels perilous and deeply personal.

Directed by
Clarence Brown
Genres
Drama, Crime, Mystery
Starring
David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernández
Tagline
It's Sensational!
Overview
Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Clarence Brown
Genres
Drama, Crime, Mystery
Starring
David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernández
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • justice
  • race
  • crime
  • power
  • freedom
Places
  • small town
  • prison
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • procedural
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action5
Horror3
Humour2
Realism7
Romance1
Tension8
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, crime, mystery
Directed by
Clarence Brown
Written by
Ben Maddow
Starring
David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernández, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Kemper, Will Geer, David Clarke
Music
Adolph Deutsch
Cinematography
Robert Surtees
Runtime
87 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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