Direct Fritz Lang's first American film is an indictment of mob violence. Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) is the target of mob 'justice' when circumstantial evidence built up by rumor and exaggeration lead most of the residents of a small town to believe him responsible for the kidnapping of a young girl. A mob forms with the intent to lynch Wilson, and they burn down the jail were he was being held. Wilson is presumed dead, but miraculously he escapes alive to secretly plot with his two brothers to put a number of local residents on trial for his murder (newsreel footage helps identify the would be killers). Wilson does not however inform his fiance (Sylvia Sydney) of his survival, as her testimony will be vital to the case. Will a sense of guilt over trying to legally lynch the hysterical townsfolk who tried to lynch him prompt Joe to reveal to the world his survival? I recommend you watch as this is the type of movie Fritz Lang did better then any director of his time (sort of the anti-Frank Capra).
See Also: M (1931) and The Big Heat (1953)
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