Produced on a modest budget with a cast made up largely of unknown actors, it was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Claude, a mining engineer, is in town visiting his uncle, Sam Packard (Barry Kelley), a well-known local businessman, who attempts to use his influence to get his nephew out of police custody.
The sheriff requests that the mayor order state assistance to put down the potentially serious disturbances and readies voluntary deputies to break up the growing white mob at Sam's warehouse.
[2] The film, produced on a modest budget of $450,000,[1] largely featured unknown actors, with the exception of Richard Rober, Harry Morgan, Tom Powers, and Barry Kelly.
[1] Its planned premiere in Cincinnati in October 1951 was delayed when the Ohio Film Censor Board informed the distributor, United Artists, that its deliberations were ongoing due to "the presence of Negro characters in the plot".
[5] The Philadelphia Inquirer review noted that the film, which it called "[t]ersely written, unflinchingly directed, expertly played by a cast boasting no 'big' names ... underscores the value of an independent producer".
However, Crowther noted that the sudden onset of racial tensions in a town that purportedly never had any trouble between blacks and whites before strained credibility: "Prejudice and antagonism are arbitrarily and recklessly assumed and portrayed in a manner which appears less calculated to understand society than to create an effect.
[7] The Detroit Free Press review notes the "[u]nique use of machinery for dramatic effect", overlaid by Dmitri Tiomkin's pounding musical score, as the workers sink the rescue shaft.