Surprisingly incoherent and boring

i must have seen a different film!!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A harrowing indictment of lynch mob violence, The Sound of Fury (AKA Try and Get Me) pulls no punches. Out of work family man Frank Lovejoy gets involved in small time stick-ups with sociopath narcissist, Lloyd Bridges (yes, the Sea Diver star). Eventually, they progress to kidnapping. Bridges' true character comes out and leads to murder. Lovejoy's family man breaks down, drinks heavily and confesses his duplicity to a woman he has picked up. She goes to the police and the two are arrested. A local scandal sheet starts whipping the community into a frenzy, an announcer actually calls for a lynching on the radio and soon a mob takes out Lovejoy and Bridges as they await trial. That's it -- and that last scene is absolutely terrifying. This was a courageous movie to make at the height of the McCarthy era (1950). The story was inspired by a 1933 lynching in San Jose of two kidnapping suspects; a murder by mob that was actually condoned by then Calif. Gov. James Rolph. The movie conveys a real ambiance of poverty and grittiness beyond the typical film noir posturings of the era. Lovejoy and Bridges are at their best. The Lovejoy character is sympathetic and fragile while the Bridges character is a true predator. And dig the weird narcissism and almost gay vibe that Bridges gives off when he poses in the mirror for Lovejoy at their first meeting. Director Cy Enfield was gray-listed and split for the UK where he did the great Hell Drivers (1957) and Zulu (1964). This is his forgotten masterpiece and actually outdoes the similar Fury (1936) by director Fritz Lang.

A bit preachy in the style of the day but a remarkable film. The opening is especially strong. Among the interesting touches, the movie lynch mob is made up mainly of college students wearing their school t-shirts. New York Model Adele Jergens didn't have much of a Hollywood career but she's right on the money in this one. Although the time frame is post WWII, the story is based on an actual lynching in San Jose, California, in 1933. Reporter Royce Brier of the San Francisco Chronicle won a Pulitzer for his account of the event.California Governor James Rolph Jr. was quoted as saying he would like to turn over all jail inmates serving sentences for kidnapping to the custody of "those fine patriotic San Jose citizens, who know how to handle such a situation."

As others have said.....This movie stays with you....I was 10.. probably younger..when I saw it....and I can still recall the feeling in my stomach and aching in my heart. I don't remember much of the details of the movie......just the overall feeling I came away with....the pain...of something terribly wrong, injustice... I don't believe that it could have been "workmanlike" in any way since I remember the feelings so strongly.....A "Workmanlike" made film could not have made that happen to me...I would really like to see it again as an adult....I hope I can find it on DVD. It's revealing to me that someone else.. as a child.. after so many years.. could have come away from the film with the same, exact feelings. Thanks!

I, too, saw this picture as a child, on television, alone, late at night, and I can still recall the powerful impression it made. Truly frightening in its revelations of human depravity and mob violence. Lloyd Bridges' best performance by far, he is absolutely gripping as the deranged and heartless murderer. The scene in which he is in his cell, with the mob breaking into the prison and coming to get him, is stunning in its power. I haven't seen the film in a half century, but I still remember those moments.