Fury - Fritz Lang, Spencer Tracy [DVD] [1936]

A man wrongly accused of kidnapping in a small town fakes his death at the hands of an angry lynch mob then comes back for revenge. The Hollywood directorial debut of Fritz Lang is a masterpiece up among his great silent films. A gripping tense thriller that becomes a tense courtroom drama with the lynch mob on trial for murder while not based on a true story is based on similar events that did happen in America at the time with excellent performances from Spencer Tracy as the man wanting revenge against the lynch mob and Sylvia Sidney as the woman who loved him and thinks he is dead. Should be regarded as one of the best films ever made and sadly still relevant today.

Although the film was made in 1936 its themes & message are conveyed majestically.

As described, well packaged and fast delivery.

what more can one say that hasn't been said

Great B&W classic film.

This powerful, angry, socially conscious drama was Fritz Lang’s first American film, and he hit the ground running.It’s a coruscating critique of the amorality of a lynch mob and the vagueries of the law when mob rule takes over, as well as being one hell of a nail-biting thriller.Spencer Tracy {then 36} is Joe Wilson, the oldest of three brothers, whose loving fiancée Katherine, played sensitively by Sylvia Sidney, returns to her provincial home for a time while they both save enough money to get married.After a year or so Joe visits her, but on the way is arrested for the kidnapping of a local girl. His guilt is quickly assumed by most of the town, and I won’t give away anything more.Tracy’s metamorphosis from good-natured, mild-mannered man into a righteously angry, vengeful victim is brilliantly done by this great actor ~ and, who knows, may even have led to his being cast as Jekyll & Hyde five years later.Other parts are played well, Lang’s direction is just right, and the tacked-on ending the producers insisted on doesn’t spoil a very fine movie.The first of Fritz Lang’s long run of superb American films.

Out of MGM, Fury is directed by Fritz Lang and stars Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney and features Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot, Edward Ellis and Walter Brennan in support. It's adapted by Lang and Bartlett Cormack from the story Mob Rule written by Norman Krasna. Loosely based around the events that surrounded both the Brooke Hart murder in 1933 and the Lindbergh kidnapping/murder case in 1932, the story sees Tracy as Joe Wilson, an innocent man who is jailed and apparently killed in a fire started by a rampaging lynch mob. However, as the lynch mob go on trial for his murder, Joe surfaces but is twisted by thoughts of revenge on those who happily watched him burn.Widely considered a classic, this first Hollywood outing from director Fritz Lang is a remarkable look at mob violence and one man's limit pushed to its breaking point - and then some. That Lang survived studio interference to craft such a penetrating study of injustice is a minor miracle. Fury is neatly put together as a story, the calm before the storm as Joe & Kath are brought to us as the happy face of Americana. Then it's the middle section as rumours run out of control, the dangers of idle prattling rammed home as things start to escalate out of control-culminating in the savage assault on the jail (a gusto infused action sequence indeed). Then the fall out of mob rule actions - the court case and Joe's malevolent force of vengeance, that in turn comes under scrutiny.The film was said to have been Lang's favourite American film, which is understandable given it bares all his trademarks. The expressionistic touches, shadow play dalliances and supreme cross-cutting between tormentors and the tormented, for sure this is prime Lang, with no frame wasted either. While it's no stretch of the imagination to think that Lang, having fled Nazi Germany, was pondering what he left behind as he moulded the picture together. Of the cast, Tracy is majestic as our main protagonist, while Sidney is brightly big eyed and hugely effective as the moral centre of Joe's universe.Controversial at the time, the film has naturally lost some of that controversial power over the decades. But as the film points out with the lynching statistics, there was once a time when inhumanity was able to rear its ugly head in the blink of an eye. Fury serves to remind two-fold that not only is it a potent social commentary, but also that it's a damn fine piece of skilled cinema. 9/10

ALONG WITH 'YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE',THIS FILM MARKS FRITZ LANG'S HOLLYWOOD DEBUT. SPENCER TRACY IS, AS EVER, SUPERB AS THE INNOCENT WHO APPEARS TO BE DEAD WHEN THE PRISON HOLDING HIM ON A CHARGE OF MURDER IS BURNED DOWN BY AN ANGRY MOB. THE ACTRESS SYLVIA SYDNEY TURNS IN ANOTHER GREAT PERFORMANCE AS HIS GIRLFRIEND. THE TITLE REFERS TO THE FURY FELT BY TRACY AND THE SUBSEQUENT TURN OF EVENTS IS HANDLED IN MASTERLY FASHION BY LANG. HE WAS, OF COURSE, VERY DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH BUT THE TENSION THAT ALONE CREATED IS PART OF THE SUSPENSE THAT PERMEATES THIS GREAT THRILLER. NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

Spencer Tracy and a top cast in this 1936 classic on the reality of mob lynching of innocent people. A beautiful restoration by Warner Archive up to the usual top standards and NY Times regarded as "the finest original drama the screen has provided this year."

It was a delight to see this seldom seen classic. It was one I hadn't seen before and to see great people who seemed to be great even early in their careers. So grateful for DVD and Blu Ray to be preserving all these wonderful works.

Warner Archive released this 1936 drama directed by Fritz Lang and starring Spencer Tracy as an innocent man who is mistaken for a kidnapper, then targeted by an angry mob of townspeople who burn down the jail he was held at. Believed dead, 22 of the attackers are put on trial for his murder, except that he escaped, and now deeply embittered, wants to punish them by letting them be convicted and executed. Sylvia Sydney plays his devoted fiancée who tries to help him.Looking quite good in HD, porting over the extras from the 2005 DVD, though nothing new was added. Compelling anti-lynching film has fine acting and direction, only let down by a too abrupt ending.

German born diector Fritz Lang's first American film tells the story of how mass hysteria can led to tragic results.Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) driving West,from Chicago,to meet his bride-to-be Katharine,touchingly played by Sylvia Sidney,is arrested on kidnapping charges.Lies and whispers spread thru the small town which leads to a mob marching on the city jail,which results in Tracy being lynched(?),a body is not found and the "leaders" of the mob are put on trial.Lang,who also co-wrote the screenplay,captures the essence of small town bigotry and the effects that"group think" can have a society,large or small.Edward Ellis,Walter Brennan,Bruce Cabot,and Frank Albertson lend excellant surpport.Commetary by Peter Bogdanovich,with inserts from director Lang,culled from interviews,over the years,by Bogdanovich is OK.

This is one the best 30's movies I have ever seen! The "fury" that Spencer Tracy brings to the role is absolutely excellent. The supporting cast is right on. I suppose what is terrible about the story is that it is very easy to see the string o events possible playing itself out in the 1930's. Tracy's plan for revenge is both understandable and worrisome as it gets near the end of the film and you wonder if he will see his plan all the way through. I highly recommend this film !