Outrage (1950)

“You know, I believe in miracles. ” – Rev. Bruce Ferguson

Number of Times Seen – 1 (5 May 2019)

Brief Synopsis – After being assaulted and raped by a stranger, a young girl engaged to be married feels so much hurt and shame along with the psychological torture of this assault that she runs away to the country where no one knows her.

My Take on it – This is a film that I had never heard of before it was suggested by Will Slater of the Exploding Helicopter Podcast for this month’s MOTM at the The LAMB (Female Director Edition).

They do a wonderful job telling a story that was quite ahead of its time.

The storyline depicted here was quite difficult to present due to the censorship laws on films at the time and the end result is a very toned down version of a story which is quite a shame since it could be told outright if it were made today.

It’s quite easy to feel the pain and suffering of the main character as she tries to deal with both the physical and emotional pain of her assault.

Mala Powers does a great job in the lead and we can see the feelings of guilt and humiliation that her character must endure just by her body language.

This is accentuated by the fact that she has no one to turn to who can understand her plight.

Tod Andrews also is great here in a role of a former pastor trying to find his own way after seeing the horrors of the world during the War which cause him to question his faith in the world and life and yet still chooses to move on in search of his lost faith.

The two of them have a nice connection and the decision not to complicate things with a romance aspect of the story is a great choice.

They do a nice job of keeping the story short and concise while also allowing us to get a look at this kind of situation from the perspective of a time and place where things like this were hushed and swept under the carpet even if they were occurrences that did happen since it caused shame not only to the women themselves but also to those around her.

Bottom Line – Great film that was quite ahead of its time. The censors had a field day with this movie and tried quite hard to keep it toned done which is a shame. We can easily feel the pain and suffering of the main character played by Powers as she tries to find a way to overcome her own guilt and humiliation especially when she has no one to turn to who can understand her plight. The story is short and concise and allows us to get a real look at this kind of situation from a perspective of a time and place where these matters were never discussed despite the fact that they unfortunately occurred. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The Production Code office rejected the script in January 1950, objecting to the words “sex maniac”, “sex fiend”, “rape”, and “rapist”. These were removed from the screenplay and the PCA approved the film on February 8, 1950 allowing the production to commence 12 days later. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)