Storm Warning (1951 film)

Storm Warning is a 1951 American Film Noir thriller, directed by Stuart Heisler, and featuring Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day and Steve Cochran. Lauren Bacall was originally cast in the part eventually played by Rogers. Bacall turned it down and was put on suspension by Warners for her defiance.

After the mob quickly leaves the scene, Marsha runs to the nearby bowling alley, where her sister works. Lucy quickly notices the shocked and horrified look on her sisters face and inquires. Marsha tells her about the murder she just witnessed, which causes Lucy to tell her about the undercover work of Walter Adams, whom, she believes, must have been the slain man. She explains that Adams arrived in town recently and got a job with the phone company, but he was secretly a journalist, writing critical material about the towns klavern. The police decided to put an end to his reporting and arrested him on a false charge of driving while intoxicated.Lucy takes Marsha to her home and encourages her to tell her husband, Hank, about what Marsha saw. However, there is a problem As soon as Marsha meets Hank, she recognizes him as one of the two men who removed their hoods. Within minutes, while Marsha and Lucy are alone at least she thinks they are alone, Marsha tells her sister that her husband was one of the Klansmen. Hank, eavesdropping, with a clear look of guilt on his face, denies everything. However, hes not able to hold his own against Marshas insistence, so he confesses. He sobs and says that he was drunk and was forced to go with the other men to the scene, and did not intend for the man to die. All they wanted to do, according to Hank, was to talk to the guy and persuade him to leave and to stop criticizing their town. Hank then desperately tries to persuade Marsha to keep her mouth shut for the sake of his life and his marriage to her sister, who is pregnant. Lucy forgives her husband and decides that he was simply a part of something beyond his control. Marsha, still viewing him as a vile person, reluctantly agrees to leave town and forget about the incident. ........

Source: Wikipedia