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Conscientious director Stanley Kramer (Judgment at Nuremberg, The Defiant Ones) tackles America’s clashing beliefs in evolution and creationism in Inherit the Wind, a stage play adaptation inspired by the 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’. Names and locations are changed and several characters in the film are invented, but the film captures the essence and historical significance of the trial, one that pitted a deeply religious community against a high school teacher who dared to teach Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
In the film, Spencer Tracy is hired by a defiantly secular newspaper man, Gene Kelly, to defend the teacher (Bewitched‘s Dick York) against a fiery, Bible-thumping prosecutor played by Fredric March (A Star is Born, Executive Suite). As the trial progresses, the local community is whipped into a potentially dangerous fervor. Characters on both sides of the issue begin to wonder if free thinking and a diversity of ideas are worth the emotional strain it puts on families and the community.
Kramer directs the shit out of this movie, with a constantly moving camera, deep layers of action within the frame, and measured use of film editing — often for considerable, dramatic impact. Inherit the Wind is truly cinematic, with only its meaty dialogue to remind us of its stage play roots. Tracy and March are both Oscar-worthy (Tracy was nominated). There’s a fire in both these actors that keeps this film moving along with never a dull moment. And then there’s Gene Kelly (Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris), the most inspired casting choice. As the sarcastic news reporter overseeing the film’s events, he offers recurring comic relief with his witty one-line responses to March’s and Tracy’s courtroom shenanigans. If Tracy and March bring passion and importance to the film, Kelly adds the much needed humor that makes Inherit the Wind so palatable.
This is a noble, meaningful film that tries to give every viewer, regardless of their beliefs, a seat at the table. While Kramer ultimately seems to skew in favor of secularism, he’s careful to make March’s character empathetic, and Tracy’s character understanding of him. At one point, these two men even share a porch-side conversation in rocking chairs where we learn they were once friends. When the town’s angst reaches a fever pitch, it’s March’s character who brings the temperature down. There’s another moment of ideological reconciliation when Tracy reveals that he has more in common with March’s character than Gene Kelly’s passionless, opportunistic one. America has only become more hotly divided in the last 100 years since this trial took place, so it’s heartwarming — inspiring, even — to see a film that at least attempts to bring people together.
Meaty supporting roles are filled by Donna Anderson as the teacher’s fiancée, at odds with her reverend father, played by Claude Akins. Harry Morgan (M*A*S*H) plays the trial judge, and Florence Eldridge plays March’s wife.
Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (Spencer Tracy), Adapted Screenplay (Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith), Black & White Cinematography (Ernest Laszlo), Film Editing (Frederic Knudtson)