In a small town, Lucas Beauchamp, a Black man, is arrested for the murder of Vinston Gowrie, a white lumberman. As he is sent to the jail house, Lucas turns to Chick Mallison in the crowd, and asks for his uncle John Gavin Stevens to be his attorney. Chick returns home and has dinner with his parents and uncle, who inquires why Chick was at the jail house. Troubled by Lucas's arrest, Chick leaves the dinner table and goes to his bedroom, where John follows. There, Chick recalls on a cold November day, he was hunting rabbits with his black friend Aleck until he fell and nearly drowned in a frozen creek. Lucas, who owns land near the creek, comes to his aid and takes Chick to his residence, where Chick is fed and dressed in dry clothes. In gratitude, Chick repays Lucas.
One day, at a country store, Chick witnesses Vinson attempt to strike Lucas. As Chick watches, some of the men prevent Vinson from attacking Lucas, who promptly leaves. Chick concludes his story, believing Lucas considers him to be his friend. John reluctantly agrees to represent Lucas, and he and Chick arrive at Lucas's jail cell. John inquires Lucas about the murder, in which Lucas states Vinston and his partner were stealing another man's lumber though he is reluctant to finish the story. John leaves, but Chick returns to the jail cell, where Lucas suggests to exhume Vincent's body to inspect the bullet was not fired by his pistol. However, John opposes the suggestion.
Miss Eunice Habersham, an elderly woman, believes in Lucas's presumed innocence, and has Chick and Aleck driven to Vinston's gravesite near a chapel. However, they discover the coffin is empty. When they return, John and Sheriff Hampton become convinced that Lucas is innocent. They return to the gravesite where Vincent's father Nub arrives. Chick notices a nearby trail of footprints, which leads to Vincent's corpse being retrieved from the quicksand. It is then determined that the bullet that killed Vinston was not fired from Lucas's pistol.
Back in town, a mob of white men led by Vinston's brother Crawford arrive at the jail house and demand for Lucas to be hanged. John and Chick return to Lucas's jail cell where Lucas confesses he knows the identity of Vinston's partner and was present when Vinston was shot, but he could not identify the assailant. After it is announced that Lucas will be released, Sheriff Hampton arrives at Lucas's residence, in the hopes that Vincent's real killer will retaliate. The plan succeeds and Crawford is arrested. The mob then disperses when Crawford is taken to the jail house.
The next morning, Lucas pays John for his legal expenses and walks away a free man, as John and Chick look on.
Clarence Brown, who had been born in Massachusetts but was raised in Tennessee, wanted to do a film version of the book when it was released in 1948. As a mainstay of MGM for over two decades, he asked studio head Louis B. Mayer about doing a film adaptation, but he had his doubts over whether it would be a profitable venture. Dore Schary, recently brought in as a vice president of production, gave support to Brown, which allowed the film to go through. Brown insisted on filming in Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner had lived for most of his life.[3]
Reception
According to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer records the film earned $643,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $194,000 elsewhere, for a worldwide box office of $837,000.[1][2]
More than 50 years later, in 2001, film historian Donald Bogle wrote that Intruder in the Dust broke new ground in the cinematic portrayal of blacks, and Hernandez's "performance and extraordinary presence still rank above that of almost any other black actor to appear in an American movie."[6] The film has been praised by Ralph Ellison and The New York Times.[7]
Of the various race-related features released in 1949 (such as this film and Pinky, released months earlier), author Ralph Ellison cited Intruder in the Dust as “the only film that could be shown in Harlem without arousing unintended laughter, for it is the only one of the four in which Negroes can make complete identification with their screen image.”[3]
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