Cast:
Mala Powers (Ann Walton), Tod Andrews (Rev. Bruce Ferguson), Robert Clarke (Jim Owens), Raymond Bond (Eric Walton), Lilian Hamilton (Mrs. Walton), Hal March (Det. Sgt. Hendrix), Kenneth Patterson (Tom Harrison), Jerry Paris (Frank Marini), and Angela Clarke (Madge Harrison) Directed by Ida Lupino (#799 - The Hitch-Hiker, #1651 - Never Fear, #1811 - Not Wanted)
Review:
In 1950, the Production Code was still prevalent for most motion pictures in the United States. But cracks were starting to flow, and one of those films that helped was Johnny Belinda (1948), since it covered a topic that was prohibited from being depicted: the mention of rape (that movie, incidentally, was a period drama). But there was still lines to not cross when it came to this film, since the Code objected to a variety of phrases such as "sex maniac" and "sex fiend" being used countless times. The script was done by Ida Lupino, Malvin Wald, and Collier Young for Young & Lupino's The Filmakers company. The Production Code Administration (as led by Joseph I. Breen) approved a re-done version of the script that resulted in a film that never says the word "rapist" once. Outrage was the third of six films directed by Lupino from 1949 to 1953.
As a 75-minute B-movie that technically falls under the lines of film noir (with encroaching shadows and situations without being a straight crime drama), it is a fairly decent movie for what it manages to convey as a movie of the times talking about such a sensitive subject. In the act of not actually talking about "rape", it actually has staying power in the present time because of the fact that the film is about the psychological pain that comes with what happens after an assault (which is conveyed carefully). The blame inadvertently seems to be more on the assaulted than the assaulter, whether that involves her ordeal in being asked to participate in an identification lineup or in the ordeal of trying to just walk a corner. It is all about the experience of the woman who suffered this assault upon her that sees her break away in torment on all sides over perceptions that come from being firmly on edge every second. Powers (in her first starring film role) pulls in a well-rounded performance filled with raw conviction, one who evokes all of the qualities required in making her emotional turmoil our turmoil to experience in terms of not veering into exploitation. The plight experienced by the character she plays could happen to anyone of us, and the frustrations and fears showed here remind us that there are no simple absolutes. Andrews does fine with the material in calm stature, which mainly involves being oneself in the eyes of a small town with subtle religious tones. They have the kind of warm chemistry that is meant to rebuild one's sense of self rather than outright romance - admittedly, there is more than one way to recover (if possible) from an assault than what happens here, but the important thing that Lupino shows is a story without artifice. By the time the film gets to a tragic decision with a wrench, you see just how it gets to that point and wince. The ending of the film might seem quite sudden, but the important thing to remember is that it is not quite a movie that reverts everything to the status quo when it comes to the matter of a woman who will have to continue to forge her own path forward where forgetting about the past is simply not something that you can do. It isn't just finding their way back in the arms of a man that gives her identity back, it is finding one's faith in themselves that means the most. Seven decades later, this is still a lesson we are trying to search for inside.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
Next: The Wild Party (1929).
