The Well (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Well (1951) – L. Popkin & R. Rouse

A young African-American girl goes missing and a white man passing through town is accused of kidnapping her.  Thus begins a tense day for the head of police, as things break down along racial lines with each group suspecting unfair biases at play.  To be fair, the film is very explicit that African-Americans suffer more prejudice and injustice at the hands of whites than the other way around but it is also open to the possibility that the white man (Harry Morgan, the only cast member I recognised) is being assumed guilty without a trial by some.  The editing of the film (lots of montage) ratchets up the tension – which is almost at boiling point as mobs form and senseless violent acts are committed.  But then the girl is found (we knew in advance that she had fallen down a well) and the town rallies to use heavy machinery to extract her from the 60 ft. deep shaft.  Uniting around this common goal seems to completely dissipate any racial animosity that existed in the previous 12 hours (as social psychological theory would predict).  It’s all a bit unbelievable (partly due to some wooden acting) yet still gives you a warm feeling when things work out.  If only our real problems were so easily allayed.