Editing Mervyn LeRoy (section)

=== ''They Won't Forget'' (1937) ===

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote="LeRoy's Thirties reputation [as a director] rests today on two films: ''They Won't Forget'' (1937), and Edward G. Robinson vehicle ''Little Caesar'' (1931)" – Film historian [[John Baxter (author)|John Baxter]]<ref>Baxter, 1970 p. 79</ref>}}

LeRoy's penultimate film for Warners was ''[[They Won't Forget]]'' (1937), a harsh indictment of [[Lynching|lynch law]] based on the [[Ward Greene]] novel, ''Death in the Deep South'' (1936).<ref>Barson, 2020: "They Won't Forget (1937) was the most serious drama LeRoy had been given in years. Based on a novel by Ward Greene that dramatized the 1913 rape and murder of a 15-year-old Atlanta girl (played by Lana Turner, who was under personal contract to LeRoy) and the subsequent trial, the film was a powerful indictment of political ambition."<br />Looney, 2002. TMC<br />Canham, 1976 p. 151-152: "...a stinging attack on [racial] prejudice and mob law..."</ref> According to critic Kingsley Canham, LeRoy's handling of tracking and low-angle shots, overhead composition, close-ups and dissolves possess a "visual power" that "retains its impact for modern audiences."<ref>Canham, 1976 p. 152: "The film's visual power retains its impact for modern audiences..." And: Canham describes the scene depicting the murder of Mary Clay [[Lana Turner]] (in her feature debut) and "the mail-sack [visual] metaphor for the off-screen lynching."<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 86: Baxter notes the films "is visually patchy" but achieves "the visual triumph" of some of his earlier work, citing the "mailbag" visual metaphor re: the lynching and the scene depicting Lana Turner's sordid demise "at the bottom of a lift shaft."</ref> LeRoy's unmitigated condemnation of lynching rejects misanthropy and adopts a tone of "righteous anger", in which there "is no forgiveness" for the instigators of mob law.<ref>Baxter, 1970 p. 86: Leroy's "refusal to mitigate the mob's act by suggesting as did [[Fritz Lang]]'s [[Fury (1936 film)|''Fury'']] (1936), that lynchers are only human, gives it a typical LeRoy tone of righteous outrage. There is no forgiveness, he suggests, for people like [prosecutor] [[Claude Rains|Rains]], least of all from their own consciences. They won't forget, and nor do we."</ref>

LeRoy was poised to move to M-G-M as head of production in 1938, with the fulsome support of the studio's [[Louis B. Mayer]] where "[LeRoy] would establish himself as a major force in Forties cinema."<ref>Whiteley, 2020: "In 1938 LeRoy's successful record was recognized when he was offered and accepted the title of Production Executive at MGM, the most successful studio in Hollywood.<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 89: A major force "financially, at least"..."<br />LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 134-135: Leroy: "The idea of going over to MGM appealed to me...Mayer offered me a fantastic salary..."And: LeRoy describes his close personal relationship with Mayer.</ref> Before departing Warners, LeRoy directed and produced his final film, ''[[Fools for Scandal]]'' (1938), the studio's second – and failed attempt – to launch the American film career of French actor Fernand Gravet. Comedienne Carole Lombard co-starred.<ref>Baxter, 1970 p. 89: The film "interesting for its French star, Fernand Gravet, but little else."<br />Canham, 1076 p. 177<br />LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 133<br />Barson, 2020: "But then came the frothy ''Fools for Scandal'' (1938), starring Carole Lombard and Fernand Gravet...These last two films were also produced by LeRoy, but it was becoming clear that Warner Brothers had no sense of what projects best suited him."<br />Whiteley, 2020: "In 1938 LeRoy's successful record was recognized when he was offered and accepted the title of Production Executive at MGM, the most successful studio in Hollywood."</ref>