I happen to be watching this film (on television) for something like the 12th time in my lifetime, after having missed the opening titles as usual, and it finally dawned on me, this time, that the part of the benighted Bible-thumping counselor is played by Fredric March. That Fredric March, whom I have seen in every phase of his evolution from matinée idol in "Sign of the Cross" to middle-aged war veteran in "The Best Years of Our Lives". It never dawned on me before that that majestic and imposing but frightening patriarchal figure was actually achieved by purely actorly means - great talent, hard work, supreme concentration, attention to details and to the actors around him, magnificent make-up and outstanding mimicry. I somehow always assumed they had found a stage actor who fit the part to a "t", both physically and mentally, and who had never done film work before. Or maybe I thought they asked the real guy to reprise his courtroom performance for the cinema... That's how good March's performance is in this film. And he's just one of a hundred elements (including Gold's film score and Spencer Tracy's performance, of course) that make this a stupendous film.
Review of Inherit the Wind
