Part of Nashville: A City On Film
Sun, Sep 14 at 12:30pm: Introduction by T. Minton, Belcourt’s public historian and archivist | BUY TICKETS
Set in a segregated Mississippi town, INTRUDER IN THE DUST follows young Chick Mallison (Claude Jarman Jr.) as he becomes embroiled in a tense quest for justice. When a proud Black man, Lucas Beauchamp (Juano Hernández), is wrongfully accused of murdering a white man, Chick — along with his lawyer uncle and a determined elderly woman — races to uncover the truth before mob violence erupts.
Adapted from William Faulkner’s searing 1948 novel and filmed on location in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, the film was groundbreaking in its unflinching depiction of racial injustice and the looming threat of lynching in the Jim Crow South. Released years before the Civil Rights Movement gained national momentum, INTRUDER IN THE DUST was one of the earliest studio films to confront America’s violent racism and social divides head-on.
THE YEARLING (1946) director, Tennessee-raised Clarence Brown, reunites with Nashville native Claude Jarman Jr., who again brings youthful sincerity and acting chops to this MGM Studios production.
“A brilliant stirring film…. It is probably this year's pre-eminent picture and one of the great cinema dramas of our times.” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (Nov 23, 1949)
