Moonrise (film)


Moonrise is a 1948 American film noir crime film directed by Frank Borzage starring Dane Clark, Gail Russell and Ethel Barrymore. It is based on the novel of the same name by Theodore Strauss.

Plot

In a small southern town, Danny Hawkins is the son of a murderer who was hanged for his crimes. Throughout his childhood, he is haunted by his father's past and cruelly harassed by other children, including the bully Jerry Sykes. As a young man, Danny's only friend is Gilly Johnson, who is falling in love with him, despite the fact that her boyfriend is Danny's chief tormentor, Jerry Sykes. After a particularly intense confrontation in the woods, during a dance, Danny and Sykes fight and, in self-defense, Danny kills him. He fears the same fate as his father and his behavior grows erratic and temperamental, puzzling Gilly. When Jerry's body is found and Sheriff Clem Otis, who suspects Danny acted in self-defense and is sympathetic, starts closing in, Danny becomes crazed. He nearly strangles the harmless mute Billy Scripture, who found Danny's pocket knife near the murder scene, and he jumps from a Ferris Wheel when he notices Otis following Gilly and him as they try to enjoy a date at the fair. While hiding out in the swamps, Hawkins visits his grandma, who tells him the truth about his father's crime. Hawkins realizes he is not tainted by "bad blood" and turns himself in to the police.

Cast

The New York Times wrote that "the book towers above the picture" despite its fidelity to the source.

Accolades

Nomination: Moonrise received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound Recording in 1948.