LOOK Magazine’s Original Review of
\nTO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
\nPublished February 26, 1963 (pp. 84-87)<\/p>\n
(NOTE: original review contains four photos with captions)<\/p>\n
To make a movie out of a world-favorite book is a heavy responsibility.
\nEveryone involved in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird has done his
\njob with love and skill. This Universal-International film is, like the book,
\na magical masterpiece. It relates the story of a tomboy nicknamed Scout,
\ngrowing up in an Alabama town, “where there’s no hurry, for there’s nowhere
\nto go.” But, as in a child’s world, marvelous, unexpected things happen
\njust the same. Like Scout, we watch her quiet, widowed father
\n(Gregory Peck, in his best role in years) become a rare hero as he attacks
\ndangers that can destroy everybody’s peace: a mad dog on the loose,
\nand racial prejudice that boils over into another kind of madness.<\/p>\n
The book’s rape trial is shown intact<\/p>\n
Ordered by their father to stay home on the day of the trial, Atticus Finch’s
\nchildren go secretly to the courthouse anyway, determined not to “miss
\nthe most excitin’ thing that ever happened in this town.” The trial is also
\none of the most exciting things that ever happened in a movie. A Negro
\nfarmhand, Tom Robinson, is accused of “taking advantage of” a white girl.
\nAs the trial develops, lawyer Finch reveals that the accuser, a lonely,
\nback-country girl, actually made a sexual pass at the accused. Discovered
\non the spot, she was beaten by her father, who then cynically pinned the
\n“unspeakable crime” on Tom.<\/p>\n
The truth doesn’t matter to the jury: the accused is pronounced guilty. But
\nnot before some of the most eloquent words ever uttered in a film for the
\nbasic right of Negroes are said by Finch, in defense of “this quiet, respectable
\nNegro who had had to put his word against two white people.” The tragedy
\nof this trial is so profound that audiences may feel like heeding a Negro preacher
\nwho tells Atticus’ children to “stand up–your father is passing,” as Atticus Finch,
\na brave white man who defended a black, walks out of the courtroom, defeated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOOK Magazine’s Original Review of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Published…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-to-kill-a-mockingbird-popular"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36903,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23201\/revisions\/36903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankwbaker.com\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}