The Sound of Fury [Try and Get Me!] **** (1950, Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Lloyd Bridges, Richard Carlson) – Classic Movie Review 11,673

‘A blonde with ice cold nerves and deep warm curves !’

Director Cy Endfield’s masterly 1950 American black and white film noir crime drama The Sound of Fury [Try and Get Me!] stars Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson and Lloyd Bridges. Broke family man Frank Lovejoy joins tough crook Lloyd Bridges for a downward spiral of theft, abduction and sudden death in this fine, very satisfying thriller, with an outstanding script taken from a Thirties news story. The Sound of Fury is its original title and it was reissued as Try and Get Me!

It is a cleverly orchestrated downbeat lynching thriller wrapped in a drama of small-town anger and prejudice, with the townsfolk’s fury irresponsibly whipped up by the local newspaper and directed at the men (Frank Lovejoy, Lloyd Bridges) accused of carrying out thefts, abduction and murder.

Frank Lovejoy plays broke jobless family man Howard Tyler living in California, who meets charismatic tough small-time thief Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges) who convinces him to participate in gas station robberies but then hatches a plot to kidnap a wealthy man son for a large ransom. Slocum murders the man and forces Tyler to help him to throw the body into water.

Richard Carlson plays the tabloid journalist Gil Stanton, who is exploiting the robberies, and Kathleen Ryan plays Tyler’s wife pregnant Judy.

The writing, acting and direction are imaginative, vibrant and first-rate in a small-scale production made outside the big studio system. Jo Pagano’s sharp script (based on his 1947 novel The Condemned and adapted from a real-life 1930s incident) often hits uncomfortably close to the bone and the entire cast put in effective, highly believable performances. Talented director Endfield handles the direction with great economy and style, and, as it should be, the lynching scene is film’s standout sequence.

Also notable in the cast are Katherine Locke, Adele Jergens, Art Smith, Renzo Cesara, and Irene Vernon.

It is based on events in 1933 when two men were arrested in San Jose, California for the kidnapping and murder of Brooke Hart. The suspects confessed and were subsequently lynched by a mob of locals. Some people leading the lynch mob are seen in the film wearing University of Santa Sierra shirts as Brooke Hart had recently graduated from the university and it is believed that the mob was led by Hart’s friends and classmates. No one was ever arrested or identified in the lynching. Fritz Lang’s 1936 film Fury was also inspired by the incident.

The Sound of Fury [Try and Get Me!] is directed by Cy Endfield, runs 92 minutes, is made by Robert Stillman Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Jo Pagano, is shot in black and white by Guy Roe, is produced by Robert Stillman, and is scored by Hugo Friedhofer.

It was released on 12 December 1950 in the US. After the film flopped, it was re-released as Try and Get Me!

Billy Fury’s pop album is also called The Sound of Fury.

The cast are Frank Lovejoy as Howard Tyler, Kathleen Ryan as Judy Tyler, Richard Carlson as Gil Stanton, Lloyd Bridges as Jerry Slocum, Katherine Locke as Hazel Weatherwax, Adele Jergens as Velma, Art Smith as Hal Clendenning, Renzo Cesana as Dr Simone, Irene Vernon as Helen Stanton, Cliff Clark as Sheriff Deming, Harry Shannon as Mr Yaeger, Mary Lawrence as Kathy, and Donald Smelick as Tommy Tyler.

It is supposedly an example of ‘film gris’, a sub-category of film noir with a left-wing narrative.

Martin Scorsese owned the only remaining 35mm print and agreed its use for an upgraded new print in 2013.

Cyril Raker Endfield (November 10, 1914 – April 16, 1995) was named as a Communist at a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, then blacklisted, and moved to the UK in 1953, where he had the rest of his career. He cast fellow blacklist victims such as Lloyd Bridges and Sam Wanamaker in his films.

First recruited by Orson Welles as an apprentice for Mercury Productions, Endfield signed on as a contract director at MGM before freelancing. The film noir The Underworld Story (1950) was an attack on press corruption, and newspaper irresponsibility is a major theme of The Sound of Fury.

Lloyd Bridges was also blacklisted in the 1950s after he admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had been a member of the Actors’ Laboratory Theatre, a group with links to the Communist party.

Frank Lovejoy (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) is best remembered for appearing in the film noir The Hitch-Hiker.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,673

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