Storm Center

1956

Drama

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 33% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 33% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 1862 1.9K

communist

Plot summary

Politicians go after a small-town librarian when she refuses to ban a book. She's quickly labeled a Communist.

Director

Daniel Taradash Photo
Daniel Taradash

Top cast

Brian Keith Photo
Brian Keith as Paul Duncan
Howard Wendell Photo
Howard Wendell as Sen. Bascomb
Malcolm Atterbury Photo
Malcolm Atterbury as Frank
Bette Davis Photo
Bette Davis as Alicia Hull
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
790.41 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 1
1.43 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by willsnydersnyder 8 / 10

Brave and Daring For the Times

I first saw "Storm Center" when I was eight years old. Even though the film was meant for adults, my parents respected my intelligence and maturity to think I would get the film's meaning. I did. Even though I didn't see the film again until I was an adult, I understood how brave and daring the film was. An example of this might have been that my next door neighbor kids didn't want to play "Cowboys and Indians." It was "Americans and Communists" for them. That was the mentality of 1956 America. Fear was everywhere. A right to voice an unpopular opinion was not only unpopular, but made one suspicious. Bette Davis' role as Yankee liberal librarian Alicia Hull perfectly fit in with our family. She wasn't a left-wing radical, but she did want to have the radicals have a right to speak, no matter how odious. My thought is that when this film shows up at 3 am, some Tea Party types will stay up to watch and pray Bette gets burned at the stake.
Reviewed by moonspinner55 6 / 10

Fear of the Red Menace...

Widowed librarian in a small American town, with some 25 years of experience under her belt, is ousted from her post after refusing to take a book about Communism off the shelves. Despite her sensible pleas to the skittish City Council about censoring any type of material, no matter how abhorrent, the woman is soon branded an outcast among the townspeople when her past affiliations with Communist organizations hits the press. Decent potboiler material wants to hit home with a thought-provoking message, but the dramatic handling of the situations is so stilted--and Bette Davis' lead performance is so mannered--that eventually the film succumbs to a kind of pedantic obtuseness. An exaggerated sub-plot about a book-loving child who turns on Davis is ridiculous, as are the characterizations of his parents (his father wants the kid to play ball, like all the other boys, and considers brainy occupations pinko propaganda!). It's insufferable all right, even with Bette attempting to play it with a stiffer-upper-lip; she's dignified in her little hats and unruffled, low-income outfits, but the high-powered star doesn't seem to connect with this part. The supporting cast (including an open-mouthed Kim Hunter as the assistant librarian) alternate between worried concern and prickly consternation, hardly the combination for a stormy melodrama. **1/2 from ****
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