Now, of course, Ronald Reagan as an actor was eclipsed by Ronald Reagan the President. So no one really talks about his films on their own merits other than to point out he was an actor.
This is an interesting film, as it takes on the Ku Klux Klan (which is just called "the Klan" in this film). Ginger Rogers plays a model who witnesses a murder by the Klan on her way to visit her sister (played by Doris Day, of all people) only to find out her husband was one of the Klansmen.
Reagan plays a crusading district attorney who challenges the Klan and investigates the murder with vigor.
Now, my complaint is that the Klan are the villains, but they are sanitized. YOu get no feeling for WHY the Klan was evil. There's no mention of their racism. (In fact, there is not one black person in the entire film.) Their strength comes in their ability to terrorize white people into shutting up. To top it off, almost none of them have southern accents. (By 1951, the KKK had been pushed back into only the south.)
They do have the great scene at the end where Reagan saves Ginger from a flogging, denouncing the Klan members and pointing out that he knew who they were even with the robes and hoods, and denounces them for "desecrating the cross". A nice scene at the end where the Klansmen retreat in a panic and the burning cross falls because one good man said "no".
This is an interesting film, as it takes on the Ku Klux Klan (which is just called "the Klan" in this film). Ginger Rogers plays a model who witnesses a murder by the Klan on her way to visit her sister (played by Doris Day, of all people) only to find out her husband was one of the Klansmen.
Reagan plays a crusading district attorney who challenges the Klan and investigates the murder with vigor.
Now, my complaint is that the Klan are the villains, but they are sanitized. YOu get no feeling for WHY the Klan was evil. There's no mention of their racism. (In fact, there is not one black person in the entire film.) Their strength comes in their ability to terrorize white people into shutting up. To top it off, almost none of them have southern accents. (By 1951, the KKK had been pushed back into only the south.)
They do have the great scene at the end where Reagan saves Ginger from a flogging, denouncing the Klan members and pointing out that he knew who they were even with the robes and hoods, and denounces them for "desecrating the cross". A nice scene at the end where the Klansmen retreat in a panic and the burning cross falls because one good man said "no".