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US (1960): Drama
127 min, Black & White
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| Actor | Role |
| Fredric March | Matthew Harrison Brady |
| Spencer Tracy | Henry Drummond |
| Gene Kelly | E.K. Hornbeck |
| Florence Eldridge | Mrs. Brady |
| Dick York | Bertram T. Cates |
| Donna Anderson | Rachel Brown |
| Harry Morgan | Judge |
| Elliot Reid | Davenport |
| Philip Coolidge | Mayor |
| Claude Akins | Rev. Brown |
| Paul Hartman | Meeker |
| Jimmy Boyd | Howard |
| Noah Beery | Jr. Stebbins |
| Gordon Polk | Sillers |
| Ray Teal | Dunlap |
| Norman Fell | Radio Announcer |
| Hope Summers | Mrs. Krebs |
| Renee Godfrey | Mrs. Stebbins |
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In the summer of 1925 the state of Tennessee played host to one of the most spectacular and ludicrous court trials in the history of American jurisprudence. A teacher named John T. Scopes had been arrested for teaching Darwin's theories of evolution in a public school, thus violating a state law. Prosecuting Scopes was the Rock of Ages fundamentalist, William Jennings Bryan, and defending him was the champion of liberal thinking, Clarence Darrow. The trial was truly a battle of the titans. Producer-director Stanley Kramer used this high-voltage historical "Monkey Trial," as it came to be known, as the basis for one of his best filmic efforts.
Synopsis
The trial begins The names of these historical figures were all changed for the film, but their characters remain clearly recognizable. A meek teacher Bertram T. Cates (Dick York) is imprisoned for daring to teach Darwin in tiny Hillsboro (supplanting the real town, Dayton, Tennessee). His girlfriend is the daughter of a fundamentalist preacher Rev. Brown (Claude Akins) who agonizes over his daughter's affection for the religious infidel. It is Rev. Brown as leader of the outraged religious community who sends for the lawyer Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March) to prosecute the young teacher. When Matthew arrives there are bands playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and hordes of citizens on hand to pay homage to the man who ran for the American presidency three times (as did Bryan, losing each time).
The defense attorney Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) arrives in town with much less of a welcome, as does a cynical journalist E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly). Colorful skirmishes precede the opening of the trial, with Henry objecting to the banners festooning the town's buildings which condemn Bertram and exalt Matthew. His objections are ignored and the trial begins in earnest.
With the trial commencing during the summer, the heat is intense, matched by the intensity of the trial. Henry is wily and skilled in the ways of the law, but Matthew is in his element and brilliantly manipulates the feelings of the people in the courtroom. Matthew takes his after-court bows before an adoring population and leads torchbearing fundamentalists in prayer during outdoor nighttime services. Henry spends most of his off-hours listening to E. K. Hornbeck sneeringly deride "the rubes" of the town, mocking their religious beliefs.
Prejudicial surroundings The real battle begins when Henry engineers Matthew onto the witness stand and then backs him into an untenable fundamentalist position, getting Matthew to state that the earth was literally created in seven days. Henry pounces, demanding to know if each day of creation was 24 hours and when Matthew says he does not know, Henry tells him each day of creation could have been as long as thousands of years. "I am more interested in the Rock of Ages than the age of rocks," Matthew quips. But Henry relentlessly pounds home his Darwinian points and wins almost every round. At one point he corners Matthew, who refuses to concede an evolutionary point, smugly adding: "I don't think about things I don't think about." Retorts Henry: "Yes, but do you think about the things you do think about?"
In the highly prejudicial surroundings, with Matthew's followers packing the courtroom and yelling out fundamentalist slogans, Bertram has no chance at all and neither does his hard-pressed, brilliant lawyer. Bertram is found guilty, but the judge (Harry Morgan) realizes that the fundamentalist prosecution has been ridiculous and he fines Bertram a token $100, much to the chagrin of Matthew and his followers.
Closing arguments Matthew, who is ignored when he attempts to read a lengthy speech, becomes apoplectic, then topples to the floor with a seizure and dies. E. K. Hornbeck gives Henry a victory smirk, but the valiant lawyer quickly defends his fallen foe by telling the cynical newsman: "A giant once lived in that body!" He is then upbraided by E. K. Hornbeck who watches Henry pick up two books, Darwin's Theory of Evolution and The Bible, holding them tightly together and carrying them off. E. K. Hornbeck calls him a fraud, who really does believe in the Good Book. Henry tells E. K. Hornbeck he is sorry for him, that he has no beliefs whatsoever and has no friends, that he is a lonely man who needs a friend.
Critique
Spellbinding INHERIT THE WIND acutely captures the farcical Monkey Trial and offers the awesome talents of two double-Oscar winners, Tracy and March, in their only film together. The success of the film is due largely to the casting of these giants; in their scenes together they are nothing less than spellbinding, working off each other and holding their own—two of the most forceful images to grace the screen. Though Tracy had the more sympathetic role, that of Darrow (a man more crude and coarse than the actor portrayed him), March made up for his cold character by epitomizing the stunning orator Bryan, duplicating his real-life counterpart by donning a bald pate, adding girth, and employing mannerisms he learned from watching newsreel footage of Bryan. Tracy was seldom upstaged, but March's histrionics were often overwhelming.
Directing such giants proved a bit of a chore for Kramer. At one point he couldn't hear a line Tracy was delivering and told the actor: "Spence, it's taken me six months to write that line and I couldn't understand what you said." Tracy replied: "It's taken me 25 years to learn how to read a line like that and now you want me to recite it." Kelly is surprisingly good as the sarcastic newsman, handpicked for the role by Kramer, and so too is Morgan as the thoughtful southern judge. The dialogue is witty and literate, much of it kept intact from the successful Broadway play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and first starring Paul Muni and Ed Begley.
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Leonard Maltin Review: 3.0 stars out of 4
Absorbing adaptation of Jerome Lawrence-Robert E. Lee play based on notorious Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, when Clarence Darrow defended and William Jennings Bryan prosecuted a schoolteacher arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Names are changed (Kelly's character is based on acid-tongued H.L. Mencken), but the issue is real and still relevant. An acting tour de force, with solid support from Morgan as the judge, Reid as a lawyer, Eldridge as March's devoted wife. Only offbeat casting of Kelly doesn't quite come off. Screenplay by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith. Remade as a TV Movie.
Pauline Kael Review
In 1925, in Dayton, Tennessee, a young high-school biology teacher named John T. Scopes instructed his class in Darwin's theory of evolution in order to test a state law forbidding the teaching of anything that "denies the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible." At his trial—the famous Monkey Trial—the great orator William Jennings Bryan, a Bible-thumping fundamentalist who had three times been a candidate for the U.S. Presidency, served as prosecutor; the famous criminal lawyer and agnostic, Clarence Darrow, represented the defense; H.L. Mencken reported the case. This semi-fictionalized version of the events was adapted from the Broadway play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, and produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, for United Artists release. Padded and heavily made up, Fredric March does an embarrassingly hollow imitation of the portly Bryan. Spencer Tracy, whose girth made him the more likely candidate for the role, is cast instead as the lean Darrow, and he plays the part in his patented wise, humane, meant-to-be-irresistible manner. Scopes (Dick York) is portrayed as a man torn between his principles and his love for the local preacher's daughter (Donna Anderson). The movie presents the fundamentalists as foolish bigots, then turns around and tries to make peace with them by coming out against Mencken's satirical outlook (which is equated with cynicism). This Mencken (Gene Kelly) is a brash, hollow, lip-curling villain and Bryan and Darrow join forces to denounce him—"Where will your loneliness lead you? No one will come to your funeral!" The case itself had so many dramatic elements that the movie can't help holding our attention, but it's a very crude piece of work, totally lacking in subtlety; what is meant to be a courtroom drama of ideas comes out as a caricature of a drama of ideas, and, maddeningly, while watching we can't be sure what is based on historical fact and what is invention. With Florence Eldridge, Harry Morgan, and Norman Fell.
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 5.0 stars out of 5
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Tracy was nominated for Best Actor, losing out to Burt Lancaster in ELMER GANTRY. The film also received nominations for Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.
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